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Ursa Short Fiction Podcast Returns with the 20th Anniversary Celebration of ZZ Packer’s Drinking Coffee Elsewhere Ursa Short Fiction, named by Apple Podcasts as one of its "Shows We Love" for 2022, is returning for Season Two on March 29, with a very special episode celebrating the 20th anniversary of DRINKING COFFEE ELSEWHERE, the acclaimed short story collection by ZZ Packer that has inspired so many writers and kicked off a renaissance for short fiction.  Co-hosts Deesha Philyaw (THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES) and Dawnie Walton (THE FINAL REVIVAL OF OPAL & NEV) go in-depth with Packer about the origin of her collection and the writers who inspired (and continue to inspire) her own work.  *** DEESHA: So many of our interviews and stories have led us to this very exciting moment. In all of the conversations we've had here on Ursa Short Fiction, there are a few books and a few writers who keep coming up over and over again as a source of inspiration. So many of us read these stories and it opened us up to what was possible with short fiction. DAWNIE: I know exactly what you mean, and I also know exactly who you're talking about. DEESHA: That's right. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, by ZZ Packer, first published in 2003. We are now here celebrating the 20th anniversary of this wonderful collection by talking to ZZ Packer. We're gonna learn about her journey as a writer and who inspired her work, which in turn, inspired so many of us. *** Ursa Short Fiction is returning with a star-studded list of writers — including Nafissa Thompson-Spires, Dantiel W. Moniz, Jonathan Escoffery, Sidik Fofana, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, and Denne Michele Norris, among many others — as well as both original audio stories and modern classics.  Follow Ursa Short Fiction on Instagram! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tommy Davidson reads an excerpt from "Living in Color," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Tommy Davidson started his career as a stand-up comedian in Washington DC, and since then, he's done it all. His standup career has led him to share bills with the likes of Patti LaBelle and Kenny G, and he was a cast-member on the hit show "In Living Color," also starring Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey, and Damon Wayans. He's done three specials for Showtime and appeared on Disney's "The Proud Family" and Spike Lee's "Bamboozled." His book, "In Living Color," released in 2020, details his journey in show business and how he found success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Abraham reads an excerpt from "Age of Ash," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Daniel Abraham is the author of the critically acclaimed "Long Price Quartet," "The Dagger and the Coin series," and the "Kithamar Trilogy." He writes with Ty Frank as James S.A. Corey, and as MLN Hanover. He has been nominated for the Nebula and World Fantasy awards, and won the Hugo award and International Horror Guild award. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Imogen Binnie reads an excerpt from "Nevada," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Imogen Binnie is the author of the novel "Nevada," which won the Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award and was a finalist for the 2014 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction. In 2022, "Nevada" was reissued by FSG Books. A writer for several television shows and a former columnist for Maximum Rocknroll, she lives in Vermont with her family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vauhini Vara reads an excerpt from "The Immortal King Rao," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Vauhini Vara started as a journalist, working as a technology reporter at the Wall Street Journal and later launching, editing and writing for the business section of the New Yorker’s website. Since then, her writing has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Harper’s, The New Republic, Businessweek, Fortune, and elsewhere. She is a contributor to Wired and can sometimes be found working as a story editor at the New York Times Magazine. She has also edited for the website of the Atlantic and for the nonprofit Fuller Project. Her debut novel, "The Immortal King Rao" (W.W. Norton), is an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce selection, and New York Magazine’s Vulture, Esquire, Oprah Daily, the Times of India, and the Observer are among some publications that named it one of their most-anticipated books of the year. Her story collection, "This is Salvaged," is due out in 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Benjamín Labatut reads an excerpt from "When We Cease to Understand the World," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Benjamín Labatut is a Chilean author born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, in 1980 who spent his childhood in The Hague, Buenos Aires and Lima, before settling in Chile. His first book of short stories, "Antarctica" starts here, won the 2009 Caza de Letras Prize in Mexico, and the Santiago Municipal Prize, in Chile. His second book, "After the Light," consists of a series of scientific, philosophical and historical notes on the void, written after a deep personal crisis. "When We Cease to Understand the World" was published in September 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Soraya Nadia McDonald reads her essay "Wandering In Search of Wakanda," with sound design and music composition from Marco Pavé. Soraya Nadia McDonald is the senior cultural critic for Andscape (formerly known as The Undefeated). She writes about film, television, and the arts. She is the 2020 winner of the George Jean Nathan prize for dramatic criticism, a 2020 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism, and the runner-up for the 2019 Vernon Jarrett Medal for outstanding reporting on Black life. Marco Pavé ’s has opened for Mobb Deep, Waka Flocka Flame, and Young Dolph and worked with GRAMMY Award-winning producers like Carlos Broady. Pavé's work has been written up in outlets like The Source, The Root, and MTV News. His latest album, "Requiem for the Enslaved," is available now wherever you listen to music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Chaon reads an excerpt from his new book "Sleepwalk," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Dan Chaon is the author of three novels: "You Remind Me of Me," "Await Your Reply," and "Ill Will." He's also published three short story collections and has been featured in several anthologies, including "Best American Short Stories" and "The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses." Caregiver's (Lindsey Bitson) new track Everything was released in 2021 and her new album is set for release in 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lidia Yuknavitch reads her powerful short story “Street Walker," from her collection "Verge," with sound design and music composition from Whiston & Warmack. Lidia Yuknavitch is the National Bestselling author of the novels "The Book of Joan" and "The Small Backs of Children," winner of the 2016 Oregon Book Award's Ken Kesey Award for Fiction as well as the Reader's Choice Award, the novel "Dora: A Headcase," and a critical book on war and narrative, "Allegories Of Violence" (Routledge). Her widely acclaimed memoir "The Chronology of Water" was a finalist for a PEN Center USA award for creative nonfiction and winner of a PNBA Award and the Oregon Book Award Reader's Choice. "The Misfit's Manifesto," a book based on her recent TED Talk, was published by TED Books, and her new collection of fiction, Verge, was released in 2020. Lidia’s new novel, "Thrust," is forthcoming from Riverhead Books on June 28th, 2022. She has also had writing appear in publications including Guernica Magazine, Ms., The Iowa Review, Zyzzyva, Another Chicago Magazine, The Sun, Exquisite Corpse, TANK, and in the anthologies "Life As We Show It (City Lights)," "Wreckage of Reason (Spuytin Duyvil)," "Forms at War (FC2)," "Feminaissance (Les Figues Press)," and "Representing Bisexualities (SUNY)," as well as online at The Rumpus. Whinston & Warmack are a songwriting duo who perform in the Pacific Northwest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Antoine Wilson reads from his new book "Mouth to Mouth," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Antoine Wilson is the author of the novels "The Interloper" and "Panorama City," and his new novel "Mouth to Mouth" is out from Avid Reader (Simon & Schuster) in the US and Canada, and from Atlantic Books in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. His writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Quarterly West, and Best New American Voices, among other publications. He is a contributing editor at A Public Space. He has received the Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellowship at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing and the San Fernando Valley Award for Fiction, and has been a finalist for The National Magazine Award, the Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award, and the Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award. He has taught writing at the University of Iowa, the University of California San Diego, the University of California Los Angeles Extension Writers’ Program, Stanford Continuing Studies, and the Otis School of Art and Design. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tommy Orange reads his short story "Copperopolis" with sound design and music composition from Ryan Dann of Holland Patent Public Library. Tommy Orange is faculty at the Institute of American Indian Arts MFA program. He is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. He was born and raised in Oakland, California, and currently lives in Angels Camp, California. He’s the author of There There, which was one of the finalists for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize, a winner of the American Book Awards, was named one of the ten best books of 2018 by the New York Times Book Review, won the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, and was named one of the best books of the year by the The Washington Post, NPR, Time, O, The Oprah Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Entertainment Weekly, The Boston Globe, GQ, The Dallas Morning News, Buzzfeed, BookPage, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews. Ryan Dann is a sound designer and composer based in Brooklyn, New York. His resume ranges from festival circuit short films like The Music Lesson to composing all the original music for Joe Pera Talks With You, a comedy on Adult Swim, and producing podcasts through the Podglomerate network. He recently won the Brave+Bold Award at the Sarah Awards and has been in the process of pitching an original audio drama to Audible. Sandwiched in between these projects, he’s been working on a second album for his personal music project, Holland Patent Public Library. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Sherrell reads excerpts from his book "Warmth," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Daniel Sherrell is a climate movement organizer who has led successful campaigns to phase out coal-fired power plants, divest millions of dollars from the fossil fuel industry, and pass a Green New Deal bill for New York State. He is currently the Campaign Director for the Climate Jobs National Resource Center, where he is working with the American labor movement to tackle the climate crisis, reverse income inequality, and win millions of unionized clean energy jobs. He is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship in creative writing and has been awarded residencies at the Mesa Refuge and J.M. Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephanie Foo reads an excerpt from "What My Bones Know," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Stephanie Foo is a former producer for This American Life and Snap Judgment, and has worked on podcasts for The Cut, Nancy, Reply All and 99% Invisible. She currently produces audio pieces and has had her work featured in The New York Times and Vox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Phil Klay reads his essay "The Citizen-Soldier: Moral Risk and the Modern Military," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Phil Klay is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. His short story collection, "Redeployment" won the 2014 National Book Award for Fiction and the National Book Critics' Circle John Leonard Prize for best debut work in any genre, and was selected as one of the 10 Best Books of 2014 by The New York Times. His nonfiction work won the George W. Hunt, S.J., Prize for Journalism, Arts & Letters in the category of Cultural & Historical Criticism in 2018. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and the Brookings Institution's Brookings Essay series. He currently teaches fiction at Fairfield University. His debut novel, Missionaries, was released in October 2020 with Penguin Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kim Kelly discusses her book "Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Kim Kelly is a labor columnist at Teen Vogue, contributor to the Baffler, correspondent for Means Morning TV, and freelance contributor to all manner of other publications. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, Esquire, GQ, Rolling Stone, the Nation, and NPR. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anna Sale talks about her book "Let's Talk About Hard Things," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Anna Sale is a journalist, author and interviewer, likened to "a therapist at happy hour" by The New York Times. She hosts "Death, Sex & Money," the award-winning interview podcast from WNYC Studios, and her book, "Let's Talk About Hard Things," is available now.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Melissa Chadburn reads from her essay "The Throwaways," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Melissa Chadburn’s writing has appeared in The LA Times, NYT Book Review, NYRB, Longreads, Paris Review online, and dozens other places. Her essay on food insecurity was published in "Best American Food Writing 2019." She’s done extensive reporting on the child welfare system and appears in the Netflix docuseries "The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez." Her debut novel, "A Tiny Upward Shove," is forthcoming with Farrar, Straus, & Giroux. She is a Ph.D. candidate at USC’s Creative Writing Program. Melissa is a worker lover and through her own work and literary citizenship strives to upend economic violence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew Lipstein reads excerpts from "Last Resort," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Andrew Lipstein is a writer based in Brooklyn. His debut novel "Last Resort" is out now from Farrar, Straus & Giroux in the US, and Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK. His second novel will be published in 2023, also by FSG and W&N. He also works on the product design team at Kabbage, a fintech startup, and was previously at Meural, an art tech startup and his writing has appeared in Interview, the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Brooklyn Rail, The Millions, VICE, McSweeney's, The Rumpus, Electric Literature & more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tommy Tomlinson reads an excerpt from "The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man's Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Tommy Tomlinson has written for publications including Esquire, ESPN the Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, Garden & Gun, and many others. He spent 23 years as a reporter and local columnist for the Charlotte Observer, where he was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in commentary, and he is currently working on a new book about the Westminster Dog Show. He is also the host of the podcast “SouthBound” at WFAE, Charlotte’s NPR news station, and he also does weekly commentaries for the station. He has taught at colleges, workshops and conferences across the country. He’s a graduate of the University of Georgia and was a 2008-09 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel A. Olivas reads an excerpt from "How to Date a Flying Mexican," backed by an original Storybound remix with sound design and arrangement by Jude Brewer. Daniel A. Olivas is the author of ten books and editor of two anthologies. His latest books are "How to Date a Flying Mexican: New and Collected Stories," "The King of Lighting Fixtures: Stories," and "Crossing the Border: Collected Poems." Widely anthologized, Daniel has also written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Guardian, La Bloga, BOMB, High Country News, Huffington Post, Alta Journal, Los Angeles Times, El Paso Times, and the Jewish Journal. Daniel is also a playwright. He is a member of the Dramatist Guild, and his first full-length play, "Waiting for Godínez," was selected for the Playwrights' Arena Summer Reading Series in 2020, and The Road Theatre's 12th Annual Summer Playwrights Festival in 2021. Daniel was selected for Circle X Theatre's inaugural Evolving Playwrights Group where he adapted his novel, "The Book of Want," for the stage. Daniel's play, "Waiting," had its world premiere with Playwrights' Arena on July 24, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices