- 1 hour 38 minutesREPLAY: Candace Jane Opper on Suicide, Obsession, and Radical Unforgetting
Today on the program, a trip into the archive and a return to Episode 693, my conversation with Candace Jane Opper, author of the debut memoir Certain and Impossible Events (Kore Press).
Air date: February 17, 2021.
Candace Jane Opper is a writer, a mother, and an occasional visual artist. She grew up in the woods of Southern Connecticut, in a house that alarmingly resembles the one from The Amityville Horror, where she learned to embrace the value of unconventionality. She holds an MFA in Nonfiction Writing from Portland State University and spent her undergraduate years in Providence studying Film History—a discipline her college advisor fondly described as the second most pointless major next to Art History, which she promptly declared as her minor. Opper's essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Longreads, Guernica, Creative Nonfiction, LitHub, Narratively, Brevity, and Vestoj, among others. She is a Creative Nonfiction Foundation Fellowship recipient and a member on the advisory council for Write Pittsburgh, a program collective that empowers writers to amplify their voices and strengthen their communities. Certain and Impossible Events is her first book.
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Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
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Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
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12 July 2026, 8:08 am - 23 minutes 12 secondsExcerpt from 'The Radiant Dark,' by Alexandra Oliva
Vol. 13 of Story Time, featuring an author reading aloud from her work. In this episode, Alexandra Oliva reads from her new novel, The Radiant Dark (SJP Lit). It is the official July pick of the Otherppl Book Club.
Oliva's other novels include Forget Me Not and The Last One, which was selected as a Best Book of 2016 by The Seattle Times and translated into twenty-five languages. She received her BA from Yale University and her MFA from The New School, and she now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family.
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Today's episode is brought to you by Rula. Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that’s actually covered by insurance. Visit www.rula.com/otherppl to get started.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
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11 July 2026, 8:08 am - 1 hour 20 minutesMore Mira Mayhem
Volume 95 of Brad & Mira For the Culture...Mira returns...two weeks of pure chaos...an airborne toxic event...a week of tending to a friend...convalescing in Vegas...getting her first (!!) massage...Brad's chipped tooth...annoyed on the 4th of July...Taylor Swift gets married to Travis Kelce...Graham Platner is very probably a sex pest...Olivia Nuzzi's new boyfriend...Mitch McConnell is brain dead, apparently...& more...
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Today's episode is brought to you by Rula. Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that’s actually covered by insurance. Visit www.rula.com/otherppl to get started.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores.
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9 July 2026, 8:08 am - 1 hour 12 minutes1043. Alexandra Oliva
Alexandra Oliva is the author of the novel The Radiant Dark, available from SJP Lit. It is the official July pick of the Otherppl Book Club.
Oliva's other books include Forget Me Not and The Last One, which was selected as a Best Book of 2016 by The Seattle Times and translated into twenty-five languages. She grew up in a tiny town in New York's Adirondack Mountains and received her BA from Yale University and her MFA from The New School. She now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
7 July 2026, 8:08 am - 1 hour 9 minutesREPLAY: Elizabeth Ellen on the Midwest, Indie Lit, and Being an Outsider
Today on the program, a trip into the archive and a return to Episode 99, my conversation with Elizabeth Ellen, author of American Thighs, editor of Hobart, and publisher of SF/LD Books.
Air date: August 26, 2012.
Elizabeth Ellen’s stories have been published in American Short Fiction, HARPER'S Magazine, Muumuu House, Joyland, and numerous other magzines and journals. She is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize for her story "Teen Culture," and is the author of several books including the cult classics Fast Machine and Person/a.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores.
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5 July 2026, 8:08 am - 1 hour 2 minutes1042. Zinzi Clemmons
Zinzi Clemmons is the author of the essay collection Freedom, available from Viking.
Clemmons is the author of What We Lose, which was a finalist for the NBCC John Leonard First Book Prize and the Aspen Words Literary Prize. A National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” honoree, she was raised in Philadelphia by a South African mother and an American father. A cofounder of the literary journal Apogee, she lives in Northern California, where she serves as director of the creative writing program at the University of California, Davis.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
30 June 2026, 8:08 am - 1 hour 30 minutesREPLAY: Mike DeCapite on Midlife Romance in New York City
Today on the program, a trip into the archive and a return to Episode 740, my conversation with Mike DeCapite, author of the novel Jacket Weather (Soft Skull).
Air date: November 14, 2021.
DeCapite has published the novel Through the Windshield, the chapbook Creamsicle Blue, and the short-prose collection Radiant Fog under the banner of Sparkle Street Books. Cuz Editions published his story "Sitting Pretty," later anthologized in The Italian American Reader. DeCapite grew up in Cleveland and has lived in London and San Francisco, but has spent most of his time in New York City, where he now resides.
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Today's episode is brought to you by Rula. Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that’s actually covered by insurance. Visit www.rula.com/otherppl to get started.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
28 June 2026, 8:08 am - 1 hour 22 minutes1041. Erin Van Der Meer
Erin Van Der Meer is the author of the debut novel The Scoop, available from Grand Central Publishing.
Van Der Meer is a writer and former journalist whose work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Daily Beast, and Elle. She was a Spruceton Inn Artist Resident in 2024. Born in Sydney, Australia, she now lives in Brooklyn.
***
Today's episode is brought to you by Rula. Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that’s actually covered by insurance. Visit www.rula.com/otherppl to get started.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
23 June 2026, 8:08 am - 1 hour 14 minutesREPLAY: Chantal V. Johnson on Trauma, Adulthood, and Contemporary Survival
Today on the program, a trip into the archive and a return to Episode 780, my conversation with Chantal V. Johnson, author of the debut novel Post-Traumatic (Little, Brown).
Air date: July 6, 2022.
Chantal V. Johnson is an attorney and writer whose fiction explores gender, personality, friendship, and all forms of art, but particularly music. Her debut novel, Post-Traumatic, was long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and selected as a New York Public Library book club pick. She has received fellowships and support from The Center for Fiction, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Chantal graduated from Stanford Law School and worked as a tenant lawyer for several years.
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Today's episode is brought to you by Rula. Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that’s actually covered by insurance. Visit www.rula.com/otherppl to get started.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
21 June 2026, 8:08 am - 20 minutes 57 secondsExcerpt from 'The Scoop,' by Erin Van Der Meer
Vol. 12 of Story Time, featuring an author reading aloud from her work. In this episode, Erin Van Der Meer reads aloud from her debut novel, The Scoop.
Erin Van Der Meer is a writer and former journalist whose work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Daily Beast, and Elle. She was a Spruceton Inn Artist Resident in 2024. Born in Sydney, Australia, she now lives in Brooklyn. The Scoop is her debut.
***
Today's episode is brought to you by Rula. Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that’s actually covered by insurance. Visit www.rula.com/otherppl to get started.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Support the show on Patreon
Merch
Instagram
TikTok
Bluesky
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
20 June 2026, 8:08 am - 1 hour 25 minutesThe Golden Sacrifice
Volume 94 of Brad & Mira For the Culture...Mira experiences multiple traumas in a single week...Disclosure Day nightmare...a rat in her kitchen...witnesses attempted human trafficking...talks to live human cops...buys Brad a Jerry Garcia tie-dye....Brad attends the World Cup...gets kinda drunk...Geoff from Tennessee weighs in...Angry Adam at his most authentically hostile and aggrieved...Spencer Pratt "graciously concedes"...acts like an insane drama queen on adderall...deranged tirade...calls Nithya and Karen "commie animals"....Elon Musk, low-key trillionaire man of the people...Knicks win the title...the bandwagon is packed...Timmy-Tim in the locker room...Mira, child of Venice Beach, claims fandom...the magical Mamdani Effect...& more...
***
Today's episode is brought to you by Rula. Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that’s actually covered by insurance. Visit www.rula.com/otherppl to get started.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
18 June 2026, 8:08 am - More Episodes? Get the App