Hilary Plum discusses her new novel, State Champ, which surrounds an abortion clinic employee who goes on a hunger strike to protest her boss’s imprisonment. In this far-reaching conversation, Plum sheds light on the spontaneity of art and protest; the history of the hunger strike; the dark joys of writing a complicated, acerbic protagonist; elite athletes; eating disorders; crafting a novel’s plot (or not); small press publishing vs. the Big 5 and larger independent publishing houses; the value of MFA programs; and a lot more.  

Hilary Plum is the author of six books, including, most recently, State Champ (Bloomsbury, May 2025), an Indie Next List pick. With Zach Savich, Plum edits the Open Prose Series at Rescue Press. With Zach Peckham, she co-hosts the podcast Index for Continuance. She teaches at Cleveland State University and serves as associate director of the CSU Poetry Center.

Page Count is produced by Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library. For full show notes and an edited transcript of this episode, visit the episode page. To get in touch, email ohiocenterforthebook@cpl.org (put “podcast” in the subject line) or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.