Raymond Carver Podcast

We are very excited to publish details about the first annual Raymond Carver and Tess Gallagher Creative Writing Festival to be held in Port Angeles, Washington: April 25-27, 2024. Listen here to learn more. 

In this episode I interview Guggenheim Fellow and Pulitzer Prize winning writer, Susan Cheever. We begin by discussing what might be Raymond Carver's most unusual story, "The Train". "The Train" is a sequel to "The Five-Forty-Eight", a beloved short story by her father, John Cheever. We met at the OSU archives in Columbus, Ohio (where Carver’s papers are kept) to discuss "The Train", Raymond Carver and John Cheever's friendship, and Susan Cheever’s many fine books of fiction and nonfiction. 

Archival recordings of Raymond Carver reading his poems "Grief" and "Happiness" at Peninsula College in 1987. Bonus material for Season Two Episdoe One with Billy Collins, who discusses these and other poems by Carver.     

Poet Billy Collins discusses five poems by Raymond Carver. Collins then gives a brief interview and reads his own work, including several pieces from his new book of short poems: Musical Tables. 

This teaser episode inlcudes clips from Episode One of Season Two of the Raymond Carver Podcast with special guest, poet Billy Collins. Episode One will officially launch in the Fall of 2022. 

Here you will find background information and anecdotes related to Season 2 Episode 2 with Susan Cheever, including: the ghost of John Cheever, a Carver interview about Cheever, a relevant bible verse explained, and more. 

Novelist, short story writer, and Carver translator, Haruki Murakami answers three questions for the Raymond Carver Podcast.

In this episode we discuss Carver's story "Nobody Said Anything" with novelist and short story writer TC Boyle, and follow with a handful of questions for Boyle about his own life and work.

An interview with academy award winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu about his film Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virture of Ignorance) in which protagonist Riggan Thompson adapts Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" for broadway. 

In this special episode we visit Raymond Carver's birthplace, where a new Carver mural is underway on the former hospital where he was born. We interview a journalist and newspaper owner, local artists, and more about Carver's past...and his future, in Clatskanie, Oregon. 

Rena Priest, Washington State Poet Laureate, discusses Raymond Carver's poem "Your Dog Dies" and speaks to us about her poetry and Lummi culture.

For the premiere episode of the Raymond Carver Podcast, we interview the writer, Tess Gallagher, Raymond Carver's widow. We discuss parallel stories they wrote about an overnight guest: Carver's "Cathedral" and Gallagher's "Rain Flooding Your Campfire". Gallagher also talks about her life with Carver and her work as his literary executor. 

Announcing the launch of the Raymond Carver Podcast. This podcast is explores creative writing. Our first guest will be poet, Tess Gallagher, Ray's widow, who will talk about Carver's short story "Cathedral" alongside her story written about the same event. Our podcast honors the work of one of America's most influential writers. Our guest writers and filmakers are invited to choose a story or poem by Carver to discuss. This conversation is followed by an interview about their own body of work. Along with these deep dives into the individual works of Carver and our guests, we will bring listeners along to Carver related places and events, and share rare recordings, peeks into his archives, and more.