PODRE

PODRE's newest bonus miniseries (yes, our highly-anticipated literary salon) kicks off with guest Kaveh Akbar, all-world poet and author of PILGRIM BELL and the forthcoming novel MARTYR, here to discuss poets who can handle the rock, the enduring cultural significance of The Simpsons, and three poems about fatherhood that will make your heart swell bigger than the rim when Steph Curry's on one of his heaters. It's basketball season. It's poetry season. It's PODRE, from the logo, BAAAAANG!

In case you're a little confused as to what's happening in the special show intro, here you go.

Each of Kaveh Akbar's several magnificent books can & should be purchased at the website of the man himself, here.

Marvelous poet and friend of the pod Hayan Charara's books, including his newest collection, can be found here.

Robert Hayden's incredibly rich body of poetic work is worth owning in this handsome volume.

Please head over to the website or find us on social media so you can see the gorgeous PODRE Review Issue 1 cover art made by David Wojciechowski.

And here are the poems we discuss on the episode: "Ode to an Abandoned House" by Hayan Charara. "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden. And "Learning to Pray" by Kaveh Akbar.

PODRE is back with two new miniseries to get you through the summer. First up: Bad Dads, in which Chris Brunt & cohost Brad Franco discuss, argue, and occasionally agree on the worst dads in the history of humanity. We all need something to aspire to, and what we've brought you is the bare minimum--the bar we all must clear. Please, please, be better than these dads.

In this episode, we asked to speak to the manager and went right for the Alpha & Omega of bad dadness, the Big Guy, El Primo Papa, L'uomo Del Cielo, the Original Godfather, the Logan Roy of the Holy Bible... He Who Shall Not Be Named. Dios mio, man.

(Warning: So much blasphemy. Untold amounts of blasphemy. But it's constructive criticism! We just want to help.)

You can learn more about God in The Bible or in lots of other books, not to mention the music of Bach or Amy Winehouse or the scent of lilacs opening to the spring or the eyes of a small child or the sound of the ocean at night.

Bad Dads cohost Brad Franco is an associate professor of history at the University of Portland, where he teaches courses in ancient & medieval history. He has published several books, including The World of St. Francis of Assisi (Brill 2015) and most recently, The History of Siena: From Its Origins to the Present Day (Routledge 2019). He lives in North Portland with his wife, two children, and their puppy, Luna.

Be sure you're subscribing to PODRE wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss the next installment of Bad Dads or our second upcoming bonus miniseries THE PODRE REVIEW, a literary roundup of some of the great representations of parenting and childhood in modern fiction & poetry, where I'll be joined by some of the most exciting writers in the whole damn world.

It's the season finale of PODRE. Congrats to us! To help us go out in style, George Saunders is here. The MacArthur Genius, the Man Booker Award winner, the National Book Award Finalist, the author of LINCOLN IN THE BARDO and TENTH OF DECEMBER and countless other surreal literary bangers. We talk about teaching Russian literature, how to see the best in people, how to write your dream novel, the all-too-human fatherly grief of Abraham Lincoln, and of course, having and being dads.

George is not only very famous and popular, he is a master teacher, storyteller, and unforgettable presence. We hope you enjoy hanging out with him for this very special finale.

And stick around for one last symposium on good dad-ness with cohosts Julian (7) & Nico (3). The next time you hear from us, they'll be older. That's the way with kids.

All of George Saunders' books can be had at a song right here. His excellent substack on writing and the writing life is available here. The awesome audio production of Lincoln in the Bardo is available here and stars an ungodly amount of major actors, from Nick Offerman to Don Cheadle to Susan Sarandon to Ben Stiller to [panting] Bill Hader to Keegan Michael-Keye to Julianne Moore to the author and his family. (Why not just get Lincoln himself?)

An insanely creative 3-D interactive New York Times VR rendition of the book is here.

Then head over to podrepod.com for more information about the show and to sign up for email updates so you never miss an episode or that moment in the near future when we blast out the special patented PODRE secret instructions for how to be the perfect dad.

This is our season one finale, but more bonus episodes are on the way, so keep up with us on Twitter, FB, and Insta, and at PodrePod.com. And of course, PODRE SEASON TWO is right around the corner.

Follow us @podrepod on all the socials to stay tuned in to the frequencies.

Has PODRE ever been credited with reviving an entire literary genre? No, but our guest today has. Mary Karr, author of THE LIARS CLUB (Viking 1995), two other best-selling memoirs, and five collections of poetry, comes from a long line of legendary storytellers. Mary talks to PODRE about her new memoir-in-progress, her famed childhood with a larger-than-life father, being a single mom in the 80s, and what makes Texas storytellers different. Then, a very special conferring of the Not A Terrible Father In This One Instance Award (NATFITOIA) upon poet, playwright, and gourmand John Harvey.

Mary Karr's many bestsellers, including THE LIAR'S CLUB, CHERRY, LIT, and THE ART OF MEMOIR, are available to order here.

You can read John Harvey's blogs on gourmet cooking, literature, and life here, or follow his Instagram for his series on Dante's Divine Comedy, food, and the meaning of life here.

Julian's favorite podcast, Circle Round, from WBUR Boston, can be found here. But don't forget, PODRE is "also... pretty good."

For our beloved close listeners, yes, the host does claim in the monologue that it's been 12 years since March 12, 2010, when in fact it's now been 13 years since that day when he began his recovery. But what happens when you produce a podcast by yourself is: it takes a while. All special edition collector DVDs of this and future episodes will come with AI-enhanced *years-elapsed technology* to account for those kinds of necessary temporal modifications, including the one in this paragraph.

Please head over to podrepod.com for more information about the show and to sign up for email updates so you never miss an episode or that moment in the near future when we blast out the super special patented PODRE secret instructions for how to be the perfect dad.

New episodes every Monday.

Follow us @podrepod on all the socials to stay tuned in to the frequencies.

PODRE. A new podcast about all things fatherhood. Hosted by writer, professor, and father of two Chris Brunt. Premiering this March. Listen now to check the vibes.