Mining the Dalkey Archive Podcast

Available Episodes

5 of 11

"Sleepwalker" by John Toomey
John Toomey joins Chad and Vince to talk about his debut novel, Sleepwalker, his experience being published by Dalkey Archive, and what it was like working for John O’Brien (very touching story in this section), looking back on your work from a 20-year distance, how many Dalkey titles have pink covers, and much more.The music in this episode is “Spun” by Wavves.You can subscribe to the Mining the Dalkey Archive podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and watch us on YouTube.And be sure to follow our sister podcasts: Two Month Review (Apple, Spotify) and Three Percent (Apple, Spotify) for more book talk! Get full access to Mining the Dalkey Archive at dalkeyarchive.substack.com/subscribe
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1:08:53
Special Edition Podcast: Why Fund a Nonprofit Publisher?
In the final entry in this series of podcasts on the NEA (for now . . . there may be a return to industry-based Three Percent episodes in the near future), Chad welcomes Hilary Plum (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, Rescue Press, author of State Champ) and Lissie Jaquette (executive director of Words Without Borders, translator from the Arabic of Minor Detail, Thirteen Months of Sunrise, The Queue, among others) to discuss the way in which nonprofit literary presses distinguish themselves from their for-profit counterparts, and what makes a convincing narrative to attract public and private funding. Specifically: what value can a nonprofit press provide to culture that goes beyond the transactional nature of producing and selling books?Part One of this series is available here and is a scripted presentation on the history of the NEA and various attacks it has suffered over the years. (Possibly the most professional Three Percent Podcast episode ever?) And Part Two is a conversation with three literary organizations and presses about the immediate impact of these lost grants.The music for these NEA episodes is the Matmos version of “Stars and Stripes Forever,” which deconstructs John Philip Sousa’s patriotic march.If you want to support Open Letter’s publications and all related activities—such as this podcast, reading tours, etc.—consider contributing to Deep Vellum Publishing, the nonprofit organization subsidizing and supporting OL’s operations.You can subscribe to the Mining the Dalkey Archive podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and watch us on YouTube.And be sure to follow our sister podcasts: Two Month Review (Apple, Spotify) and Three Percent Podcast (Apple, Spotify) for more book and industry talk! Get full access to Mining the Dalkey Archive at dalkeyarchive.substack.com/subscribe
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1:17:51
Special Edition Podcast: Three Percent Podcast: The Impact of the Terminated and Withdrawn Grants
Our series on the National Endowment for the Arts continues by talking with three organizations and publishers about both the specific impact of the May 2nd “termination/withdrawal” emails, and the broader impact the shuttering of the NEA could have on the literary arts in the long term. Featured on this episode are: Michael Holtmann of the Center for the Art of Translation, Adam Levy of Transit Books, and, Mary Gannon of the Community for Literary Magazines and Presses.Part One of this series is available here and is a scripted presentation on the history of the NEA and various attacks it has suffered over the years. (Possibly the most professional Three Percent Podcast episode ever?) The music for both these episodes is the Matmos version of “Stars and Stripes Forever,” which deconstructs John Philip Sousa’s patriotic march.If you want to support Open Letter’s publications and all related activities—such as this podcast, reading tours, etc.—consider contributing to Deep Vellum Publishing, the nonprofit organization subsidizing and supporting OL’s operations.You can subscribe to the Mining the Dalkey Archive podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and watch us on YouTube. And be sure to follow our sister podcasts: Two Month Review (Apple, Spotify) and Three Percent Podcast (Apple, Spotify) for more book and industry talk! Get full access to Mining the Dalkey Archive at dalkeyarchive.substack.com/subscribe
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1:04:37
Special Edition Podcast: The History of the NEA (and the Attacks on It)
This is part one of a two part series (for now) on the National Endowment for the Arts and the, by now, much reported on letters that NEA grantees received on May 2nd, 2025 terminating or withdrawing their approved funding.In this scripted episode, Chad goes over much of the history of the founding of the NEA, its core mission, the “Culture Wars” in the 1990s, trying to articulate how things are different today, and essentially providing a primer on what the NEA is, what nonprofit publishing is, and what the termination of this funds and possible dissolution of the agency might mean.Again, and for the first time, this is a scripted podcast loaded with information for anyone curious about this particular government organization—much more professional than the usual episode. That said, he’s joined by Kaija Straumanis (The River, High Tide), Tom Flynn (Paratext Publicity), and Brian Wood (Joytime Killbox) to comment on this history and reflect on where we are now with arts in America.Stay tuned for part two, which will be a conversation with three organizations impacted by this letters and how this will impact both their orgs—and the field of literary as a whole.The music for these episodes is the Matmos version of “Stars and Stripes Forever,” which deconstructs John Philip Sousa’s patriotic march.If you want to support Open Letter’s publications and all related activities—such as this podcast, reading tours, etc.—consider contributing to Deep Vellum Publishing, the nonprofit organization subsidizing OL’s operations.You can subscribe to the Three Percent Podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Mining the Dalkey Archive podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and watch us on YouTube.And be sure to follow our sister podcasts: Two Month Review (Apple, Spotify) and Mining the Dalkey Archive (Apple, Spotify) for more book and industry talk! Get full access to Mining the Dalkey Archive at dalkeyarchive.substack.com/subscribe
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1:43:19
"Teethmarks on My Tongue" by Eileen Battersby
A bit longer than the usual podcast, in this episode of Vince Francone and Chad Post’s tour through the Irish section of the Dalkey Archive catalog, you get to hear them go from appreciators to huge fans of Eileen Battersby’s Teethmarks on My Tongue over the course of the conversation. They also discuss some of Vince’s favorite Irish women writers and announce that they’ll be reading Sleepwalker by John Toomey for May’s episode.The music in this episode is “Winter Beats” by I Break Horses.You can subscribe to the Mining the Dalkey Archive podcast at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and watch us on YouTube.And be sure to follow our sister podcasts: Two Month Review (Apple, Spotify) and Three Percent (Apple, Spotify) for more book talk! Get full access to Mining the Dalkey Archive at dalkeyarchive.substack.com/subscribe
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1:37:40