Weird Era

Dedicated to asking authors the right questions.

About the show

Hosted by Sruti Islam and Alex Nierenhausen
Theme Songs by Gino Visconti and Michael Jaworski (@mikejaws)
Audio Production by Kyel Loadenthal

Weird Era on social media

Episodes

  • Episode 63: Weird Era feat. Emerson Whitney

    August 24th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  38 mins 36 secs
    2022books, authors, bookclub, books, daddy boy, emerson whitney, fiction, interviews, literature, montreal, mtl, weirdera, weirderapod

    Sruti sits down with Emerson Whitney to discuss Daddy Boy, how elders are a map, the appeal of masculinity and the simultaneous disdain for toxic masculinity, storm chasing, and how to foster independence without it resulting in isolation.

  •

    Episode 62: Weird Era feat. Hilary Leichter

    August 18th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  39 mins 9 secs
    2022books, authors, bookclub, books, fiction, hilary leichter, interviews, literature, montreal, mtl, terrasse story, weirdera, weirderapod

    This week, Alex talks to Hilary Leichter (in her sophomore Weird Era interview!) about her latest novel Terrace Story, how time and space can be manipulated in writing, what constitutes magical realism, creating space vs taking up space, and so much more.

  • Episode 61: Weird Era feat. Kyle Dillon Hertz

    August 11th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  46 mins
    2022books, authors, bookclub, books, fiction, interviews, kyle dillon hertz, literature, montreal, mtl, the lookback window, weirdera, weirderapod

    Alex sits down with Kyle Dillon Hertz to discuss his debut novel, The Lookback Window, trauma narratives, bad MFA writing, and why it’s so easy to focus on the past and ignore the present.

  • Episode 60: Weird Era feat. Deborah Willis

    August 3rd, 2023  |  Season 1  |  34 mins 27 secs
    2023books, authors, bookclub, books, deborahwillis, fiction, girlfriendonmars, interviews, literature, montreal, mtl, weirdera, weirderapod

    Sruti talks to author Deborah Willis about monogamy, megalomaniac CEOS, how, "a human being is a mystery, as dark and expanding as the universe," and why on earthlings themselves love reality TV so much.

  •

    Episode 59: Weird Era feat. Ottessa Moshfegh

    June 29th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  46 mins 49 secs
    2022books, authors, bookclub, books, fiction, interviews, lapvona, literature, montreal, mtl, ottessa moshfegh, weirdera, weirderapod

    Alex sits down with the legend herself, Ottessa Moshfegh, to talk about Lapvona, whether or not her novels exist in one shared literary universe, what makes her stories so appealing to different types of readers, and what she thinks about happy endings.

  • Episode 57: Weird Era feat. Sarah Blakley-Cartwright

    June 28th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  21 mins
    2022books, alice sadie celine, authors, bookclub, books, fiction, interviews, literature, montreal, mtl, sarah blakley-cartwright, weirdera, weirderapod

    Sruti talks to Sarah Blakley-Cartwright about her novel Alice Sadie Celine, how mid-life crises can come for older lesbians, the cons of being overeducated, and what about goodness threatens eroticism.

  • Episode 56: Weird Era feat. Andrew Sullivan

    June 15th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  44 mins
    andrew sullivan, author, books, bookstagram, fiction, lit, literature, the marigold, weird era, weird era pod, weird era podcast, weirdera, writers

    Alex talks to Andrew about his latest novel, The Marigold, the illusion of choice when it comes to ordering takeout, body horror, conspiracy theorists, and finding optimism about the future.

  •

    Episode 55: Weird Era feat. Marta Balcewicz

    June 9th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  41 mins 29 secs
    author, big shadow, books, bookstagram, fiction, lit, literature, marta balcewicz, weird era, weird era pod, weird era podcast, weirdera, writers

    Sruti talks to Marta Balcewicz about her debut novel Big Shadow, how intimacy can tether us to things (and people) we don't actually like, Sarah Schulman novels, why young women seek to feel singular, and much more.

  • Episode 54: Weird Era feat. Dizz Tate

    June 1st, 2023  |  Season 1  |  35 mins 18 secs
    author, books, bookstagram, brutes, dizz tate, fiction, lit, literature, weird era, weird era pod, weird era podcast, weirdera, writers

    Sruti talks to Dizz Tate about her debut novel Brutes, how girlhood is a religion itself, how humiliating a woman is the only way some men know how to love, and the thread that laces female friendship with both adoration and jealousy.

  • Episode 53: Weird Era feat. Henry Hoke

    May 26th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  40 mins 19 secs
    author, books, bookstagram, fiction, henry hoke, lit, literature, open throat, weird era, weird era pod, weird era podcast, weirdera, writers

    Alex sits down with Henry Hoke to discuss Open Throat, fight or flight mentalities, existentialism as a tool, and the labels we impose on queer characters.

  • Episode 52: Weird Era feat. Stephanie LaCava

    May 18th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  32 mins 22 secs

    Sruti talks to Stephanie LaCava about the ways the , "throb of prying eyes (is) harder to sit with than the pain of a bruised leg," daddy issues, if things can be real without conflict, and so much more.

  •

    Episode 51: Weird Era feat. Catherine Lacey

    May 11th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  47 mins 56 secs
    2023, books, catherine lacey, lit, literary podcast, literature, publishing, weird era, weird era pod

    Sruti sits down with Catherine Lacey and talks about merging genres, how to spend a fictional biography describing a person who self-identifies as, "personless," what is something worse that grief wants, the ways in which first wives can look to the partners who follow, and so much more.

  • Episode 50: Weird Era feat. Lindsay Wong

    April 27th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  36 mins 15 secs
    author, books, bookstagram, era, fiction, lindsay wong, literature, novel, stories, weird, weird era, weird era podcast

    Alex sits down with Lindsay Wong to talk about family dynamics, the difference between Eastern and Western trauma narratives, possessing characters versus haunting them, and what constitutes genre literature.

  • Episode 49: Weird Era feat. Michael DeForge

    April 18th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  37 mins 30 secs
    alex nierenhausen, birds of maine, book podcast, books, bookstagram, literary, literature, michael deforge, reading, sruti islam, weird era, weird era podcast

    Alex talks to Michael DeForge about Birds of Maine, as well as his general body of work, illustrating the cover of Weird Era Issue 2, how an email to Seripop started it all, and the appeal, though not promise, of building Utopian worlds.

  •

    Episode 48: Weird Era feat. Colin Winnette

    April 12th, 2023  |  Season 1  |  41 mins 58 secs
    alex nierenhausen, book podcast, books, bookstagram, colin winnette, literary, literature, reading, sruti islam, users, weird era, weird era podcast

    Sruti sits down with @colinwinnette to discuss his latest novel, Users. For a tech novel, they talk at great length about parenting, what an incandescent moment in literature is, and how the novel was inspired by the concept of guilt.

  • Episode 47: LSHB's Weird Era feat. Sean Thor Conroe

    September 8th, 2022  |  Season 1  |  47 mins 22 secs
    2022books, authors, bookclub, bookish, books, bookstore, fiction, fuccboi, interviews, literature, montreal, sean thor conroe, weirdera, weirderapod

    Sruti talks to Sean Thor Conroe about the line between mimicry and influence, white fuck boys vs ethnic fuck boys, and if fiction, like fuck boys, can manipulate.