Writer's Voice with Francesca Rheannon

A slime mold travels to Pompeii. Four robots open a noodle shop. I talk with Annalee Newitz about what their science fiction tells us about care, consent, and how we build a community.

This week, we explore Nigeria’s romance scams with Carlos Barragán, author of The Yahoo Boys. Then Howard Mansfield joins us for a separate conversation about Invisible Monuments and what makes a memorial matter.

Four young people find refuge in a Lithuanian forest, where intelligent crows help them survive World War II. I talk with Ray Nayler about Palaces of the Crow, the pull of revenge, and how we learn to care for one another.

Who gets a say in what technology builds? I talk with Clarissa Redwine and JS Tan about challenging tech oligarchy, then revisit Noam Scheiber on Hollywood writers, AI and the possibility of a broader labor alliance.

A nuclear missile becomes part of the landscape. An ongoing atrocity gets buried in careful language. I talk with Tom Lin about Babylon, South Dakota, then revisit my March 2025 interview with Omar El Akkad about Gaza, complicity, and the gap between what we say and what we do.

Malavika Kannan explores what it means to come of age amid climate crisis, political upheaval and changing sexual norms in Unprecedented Times. Then Lauren Acampora talks about The Animal Room, stories that use our relationships with animals to illuminate care, power, privilege and our relationships with one another.

What can ordinary people do when immigration enforcement comes to their community? Sonali Kolhatkar talks about Breaking ICE and the networks of mutual aid, documentation and collective action that have emerged across the country.

Looking at James Baldwin through the relationships that shaped his art: Nicholas Boggs joins me to talk about Baldwin: A Love Story. Then Brad Gooch explores Keith Haring’s mission to make art available to everybody.

James Crawford asks what happens when extraction becomes civilization’s operating system, and whether repair can offer another way forward. Then, for the 25th anniversary of 9/11, an excerpt from my 2009 interview with Max Page about why generations of Americans imagined New York’s destruction long before the Twin Towers fell.

Beth Pinsker and L. Annette Binder explore caring for aging parents, from the financial realities of elder care to Alzheimer’s, memory, love and loss.