In episode six, Nicole chops it up with DJ Ben Ha Meen. DJ Ben Ha Meen is a native of Third Ward, Texas. He is an alumnus of Howard University, where he studied film and television. Ben Ha Meen is the co-creator of the graphic novel Jimi Hendrix: Purple Haze (Penguin Randomhouse). and a self-published author of the children's book The World Is Yours. A world-renowned DJ and music producer, a WGA screenwriter (American Gods), and a pioneering podcaster (FORALLNERDSSHOW, The Combat Jack Show). ...
In episode five, Nicole chats with Erika T. Wurth. Erika's novel, WHITE HORSE, is a New York Times Editors Pick, a Good Morning America Buzz Pick, an Indie Next List Book of the Month, and a Target Book of the Month. She is both a Kenyon and Sewanee fellow, and Kenyon faculty. She’s published in Buzzfeed and The Writer’s Chronicle and is a narrative artist for the Meow Wolf Denver installation. She is an urban Native of Apache/Chickasaw/Cherokee descent. She’s a professor of creative writing ...
In episode four, Nicole chats with Luminous author Silvia Park. Silvia grew up in Seoul and split their time between Korea and America. They received a BA from Columbia and MFA from NYU, in addition to completing the Clarion Workshop in 2018. Their short fiction has been published in Black Warrior Review, Joyland, Reactor, and reprinted in the 2019 Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. Luminous is their first novel. In this conversation, Silvia discusses the complexities of launching her...
In episode three, Nicole kicks the Willie with José Pablo Iriarte, a nonbinary Cuban-American writer, high school math teacher, and parent of two. Their fiction has been finalist for the Nebula, Hugo, Locus and Sturgeon Awards, longlisted for the Otherwise Award, and reprinted in various Year's Best compilations. Their debut novel, BENNY RAMÍREZ AND THE NEARLY DEPARTED was published in 2024 by Knopf Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House. Their follow up, AJ TORRES AND THE TREASU...
In episode two, Nicole chops it up with the award-winning author of speculative and literary fiction, Rivers Solomon. Rivers writes about life in the margins, where they're much at home. Their work has appeared in The Paris Review, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere. They are the author of An Unkindness of Ghosts, The Deep, Sorrowland, and Model Home. A refugee of the transatlantic slave trade, Solomon was born on Turtle Island. The...
For the very first Of Monsters Podcast ep, Nicole kicks it with Ibi Zoboi, the New York Times Bestselling author of books for children and teens, including American Street, Pride, and the Walter Award and LA Times Book Prize-winning Punching the Air, co-written with Exonerated Five member Yusef Salaam. Ibi is the winner of the 2024 CSK Author Award for Nigeria Jones. She is the editor of the anthology Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America and has written Okoye to the Peopl...