The Paris Review
The Paris Review Podcast brings to life the best interviews, fiction, essays, and poetry from America's legendary literary quarterly. Each episode features intimate conversations with renowned authors, readings of short stories and poems, and performances by notable actors. The podcast showcases works by writers such as Sharon Olds, Olga Tokarczuk, Rivers Solomon, and Terrance Hayes, among others. It offers a rich audio experience that captures the spirit of the print magazine.
Episodes
Inside the Issue | “I Don’t Do Innocents: A Radio Play in One Act” by Anne Carson
A special production of Anne Carson’s “I Don’t Do Innocents," which first appeared in issue no. 253 (Fall 2025). Produced by Complicité for The Paris Review, directed by Simon McBurney, and featuring Carson herself reading the stage directions, this radio play takes place during a wedding party as the bride’s younger sister eavesdrops from the roof through a drainpipe.I Don’t Do Innocents
Inside the Issue | "My Life, By Barbara Rosenberg," by Jordy Rosenberg
Jordy Rosenberg reads his story “My Life, by Barbara Rosenberg,” from issue no. 253 (Fall 2025), told from the perspective of Barbara, a mother from Brooklyn who is ready to battle a corduroy blazer and the child who wants to wear it freely. This episode was produced by John DeLore, Lori Dorr, and Emily Stokes. The music used in this episode is “Gamelan Ornaments,” composed and performed
Personals | “I Got Snipped”
Joseph Earl Thomas reads his essay “I Got Snipped: Notes after a Vasectomy,” about the best sexual decision he ever made.This episode was produced by John DeLore and Helena de Groot, and was mixed by John DeLore. Our theme song for this series is “Bryant Park and Ride,” composed and performed by David Cieri.Joseph Earl Thomas’s essay can be found online at:https://www.theparisreview.org/b
Personals | "Two Strip Clubs, Paris and New Hampshire"
Lisa Carver reads an essay about visiting two strip clubs with her French husband: first the Moulin Rouge, then a dive bar in Bedford, New Hampshire. At the Moulin Rouge, she has a revelation: “Even though the women had naked boobies, they still looked like angels. I think angels do have naked boobies, now that I’ve seen this show.”This episode was produced by John DeLore and Helena de Gr
Personals | “Wax and Gold and Gold," by Mihret Sibhat
Mihret Sibhat reads her essay “Wax and Gold and Gold,” about a friendship she formed with a prostitute in Addis Ababa while attempting to teach her about Jesus.This episode was produced by John DeLore and Helena de Groot, and was mixed by John DeLore. Our theme song for this series is “Bryant Park and Ride,” composed and performed by David Cieri.Mihret Sibhat’s essay can be found online a
Personals | “What I Want to Say About Owning a Truck,” by J. D. Daniels
“When people see your truck, they tend to see what you can do for them,” J. D. Daniels writes in his essay about a black Nissan hardbody pickup he owned many years ago.This episode was produced by John DeLore and Helena de Groot, and was mixed by John DeLore. Our theme song for this series is “Bryant Park and Ride,” composed and performed by David Cieri.J. D. Daniels’s essay can be found
Personals | “The Smoker,” by Ottessa Moshfegh
Ottessa Moshfegh reads her essay “The Smoker,” about renovating a house soaked in nicotine—and a haunting encounter with its former owner.This episode was produced by John DeLore and Helena de Groot, and was mixed by Helena de Groot. Our theme song for this series is “Bryant Park and Ride,” composed and performed by David Cieri.Moshfegh's essay can be found online at:https://www.theparisr
Trailer: The Paris Review presents "Personals," a new audio series
“Personals” is a new audio series from The Paris Review, featuring writers reading first-person essays. Featuring essays from Ottessa Moshfegh, Mihret Sibhat, Joseph Earl Thomas, Lisa Carver, and J.D. Daniels. The series is produced by Sophie Haigney, Lori Dorr, Olivia Kan-Sperling, John DeLore, and Helena de Groot.Many thanks to our sponsor: MUBI. MUBI is the curated streaming service de
S4E12 | Concerning the Future of Souls, by Joy Williams
The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Joy Williams reads entries from “Concerning the Future of Souls” (issue no. 247, Spring 2024), a collection of stories following Azrael, the angel of death and transporter of souls.
This episode was produced by John DeLore and Helena de Groot, and was mixed and sound-designed by John DeLore. Our theme song this season is “Shadow,” compo
S4E11 | Trial Run
In Zach Williams’s “Trial Run” (issue no. 239, Spring 2022), an employee is subjected to two coworkers’ conspiracy theories when their office is targeted by an anonymous white supremacist hacker. The story is read by Michael Chernus, Danny Mastrogiorgio, and Gabriel Marin.
This episode was produced by John DeLore and Helena de Groot, and was mixed and sound-designed by John DeLore. Our t
S4E10 | Foley’s Pond
“We were thirteen and conspiratorial and what was said is now out of reach.” Jim Fletcher reads Peter Orner’s “Foley’s Pond” (issue no. 202, Fall 2012), a quietly devastating short story about the effects of a tragic accident on a boy and his community.
This episode was produced by John DeLore and Helena de Groot, and was mixed and sound-designed by John DeLore. Our theme song this seaso
S4E9 | “The Victim” by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
The legendary actor George Takei reads one of the oldest stories in the Review’s archive. Published by the magazine in 1957, “The Victim” is Ivan Morris’s English translation of the Japanese author Jun'ichirō Tanizaki’s 1910 literary debut.
This episode was produced by John DeLore and Helena de Groot, and was mixed and sound-designed by John DeLore. Our theme song this season is “Shadow,
S4E8 | The Walk Book
Sean Thor Conroe shares entries from “The Walk Book”—his meticulous, funny travelogue about his 2014 attempt to walk across the United States—including some rain-soaked field recordings.
This episode was produced by Helena de Groot and John DeLore, and was sound-designed by Helena de Groot. Our theme song this season is “Shadow,” composed and performed by Ernst Reijseger.
Additional Li
S4E7 | Olga Tokarczuk’s Divine Cosmos
The Nobel Prize–winning Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk discusses the souls of animals, discovering feminism, and her home in the village of Krajanów where she was once neighbors with “three different translators of William Blake in an excerpt from her Art of Fiction interview with Marta Figlerowicz.
This episode was produced and sound-designed by John DeLore. Our theme song this season is
S4E6 | About Ed
“We needed erotic touch to tell us what we were.” Robert Glück reads from About Ed, a memoir about his relationship with his former partner Ed Aulerich-Sugai. The performance is paired with excerpts from his Art of Fiction interview with Lucy Ives.
This episode was produced by Helena de Groot and John DeLore, and was mixed and sound-designed by Helena de Groot. Our theme song this season
S4E5 | Scenes from an Open Marriage
“Nothing reifies a romance like proximate disaster.” Seated at her kitchen table, Jean Garnett reads her essay “Scenes from an Open Marriage” and chats with the Review’s deputy editor, Lidija Haas, and senior producer of the podcast, Helena de Groot.
This episode was produced, sound-designed, and mixed by Helena de Groot. Our theme song this season is “Shadow,” composed and performed by
S4E4 | Bob Ross Paints Your Portrait
“The only colors we’re going to use will be blacker than most blacks. Mm-kay.” Terrance Hayes reads his poem, “Bob Ross Paints Your Portrait.” An homage to the iconic host of the PBS show The Joy of Painting, and an exploration of Blackness: “deep-space black, black-hole black … lampblack and ink black, boot black and blackjack and blacker.”
This episode was produced by Helena de Groot
S4E3 | The I is Made of Paper
The Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Sharon Olds discusses sex, religion, and writing poems that "women were definitely not supposed to write,” in an excerpt from her Art of Poetry interview with Jessica Laser. Olds also reads three of her poems: “Sisters of Sexual Treasure” (issue no. 74, Fall–Winter 1978), “True Love,” and “The Easel.”
This episode was produced and sound-designed by John De
S4E2 | The Same IKEA Bed
A stealth poetry reading inside a bustling IKEA. Poet Maggie Millner reads her own poem (Issue no. 239, Spring 2022), as well as two more from the archive: Toi Dericotte’s “Bird” (Issue No. 124, Fall 1992) and Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Death” (Issue No. 82, Winter 1981). This episode was produced by Helena de Groot and John DeLore, and was sound-designed by John DeLore. Our theme song this se
S4E1 | “This is Everything There Will Ever Be” by Rivers Solomon
Actor, producer, and screenwriter Lena Waithe reads Rivers Solomon’s “This Is Everything There Will Ever Be,” which was published in issue no. 243 of the Review. The story, dark and uplifting by turns, is a portrait of “just another late-forties dyke entirely too into basketball, dogs, and memes.” This episode was produced and sound-designed by Helena de Groot. Our theme song this season
Season 4 Trailer: The Paris Review Podcast
The Paris Review Podcast returns with a new season on November 15, 2023. Selections of interviews, fiction, essays, and poetry from America’s most legendary literary quarterly, brought to life in sound. Catch up now on earlier seasons & then tune in November 15th for the fourth season.
S3E5 | A Strange Way to Live (with Phoebe Bridgers, Connor Ratliff, Joan Didion, Natalie-Scenters Zapico, Bud Smith, Jericho Brown, Jessica Hecht, Avery Trufelman)
Our Season 3 finale opens with “The Trick Is to Pretend,” a poem by Natalie Scenters-Zapico, read by the singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers: “I climb knowing the only way down / is by falling.” The actor Jessica Hecht plays Joan Didion in a reenactment of her classic Art of Fiction interview with Linda Kuehl. Jericho Brown reads his poem “Hero”: “my brothers and I grew up fighting / Over o
S3E4 | Form and Formlessness (with Rachel Cusk, Aisha Sabatini Sloan, Allan Gurganus, Deborah Landau)
In an essay specially commissioned for the podcast, Aisha Sabatini Sloan describes rambling around Paris with her father, Lester Sloan, a longtime staff photographer for Newsweek, and a glamorous woman who befriends them. In an excerpt from The Art of Fiction no. 246, Rachel Cusk and Sheila Heti discuss how writing her first novel helped Cusk discover her “shape or identity or essence.” N
S3E3 | Without Malice, Without Triumph (with Edward P Jones, Hilton Als, Amber Gray)
This episode focuses exclusively on the work of fiction writer Edward P. Jones, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Known World and All Aunt Hagar’s Children, and subject of the Art of Fiction no. 222. The episode opens with an excerpt from that interview, a conversation between Jones and Hilton Als. Then actor Amber Gray (Hadestown) reads Jones’s story “Marie” from issue no. 122.
This
S3E2 | A Gift for Burning (with Monica Youn, Molly McCully Brown, Venita Blackburn, George Saunders)
George Saunders, in an excerpt from his Art of Fiction interview, explains how his teenage job delivering fast food prepared him to write fiction; Monica Youn reads her poem “Goldacre,” which tells the truth about Twinkies; Molly McCully Brown reads her essay “If You Are Permanently Lost,” in which she confesses that “space makes no sense”; and Venita Blackburn reads “Fam,” a very short s
S3E1 | A Memory of the Species (with Robert Frost, Yohanca Delgado, Antonella Anedda)
Robert Frost defines modern poetry in an excerpt from his [Art of Poetry interview](https://urldefense.com/v3/ https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4678/the-art-of-poetry-no-2-robert-frost ;!!NUnUjx3wvH5xgA!La9JzfrCxrTLTJC-BUCjhUWQaEI9PUYzjObTI7BHU1X34cu0PG5sG9hZ3SP6-g%24); the Italian poet Antonella Anedda discusses her poem “[Historiae 2](https://urldefense.com/v3/ https://theparis
Season 3 Trailer: The Paris Review Podcast Returns
The celebrated podcast returns for its third season. Join us on an audio odyssey through the pages of The Paris Review, featuring the best fiction, poetry, interviews, and archival recordings, from the world's most legendary literary quarterly.
This season features fiction by Yohanca Delgado, Venita Blackburn, Bud Smith, Allan Gurganus, and Edward P Jones. Poetry from Monica Youn, Debora
Celebrating N. Scott Momaday
A special bonus episode of The Paris Review Podcast celebrating N. Scott Momaday, the winner of the Review’s 2021 Hadada Award, which recognizes a distinguished member of the writing community who has made a strong and unique contribution to literature. What you are about to hear is an exclusive excerpt of the first step in the process of conducting Momaday’s Writers at Work interview, a
A Tree Grows Live in Brooklyn (A Live Recording at On Air Fest 2020)
A special bonus episode, recorded live at On Air Fest on March 8, 2020 (just before social distancing sent everyone home), featuring a crowded room of lovely human beings enjoying an immersive live performance of The Paris Review Podcast. The show opens with excerpts of Toni Morrison’s 1993 Art of Fiction Interview, scored live by some of the musicians that created the score for Seasons 1
S2E5 | Odd Planets (with Charlotte Rampling, Simone de Beauvoir, Danez Smith, Griffin Dunne, Henry Green, Sarah Manguso, and WS Merwin)
The final episode of Season 2. The incomparable Charlotte Rampling reenacts Simone de Beauvoir’s classic 1965 Paris Review interview; Danez Smith reads their poem “my bitch!”; Sarah Manguso shares her lyric essay “Oceans,” about moving to California, cancer, and writing oceanically; actor Griffin Dunne reads Henry Green’s story “Arcady; or a Night Out.”; and we close with a recording of t
S2E4 | Lift and Fall (with Tennessee Williams, Charles Wright, Bill Callahan, J.M. Holmes, Anne Sexton, and Jenny Slate)
Singer/songwriter Bill Callahan reads “Laguna Blues,” a poem by former U.S. poet laureate Charles Wright; J.M. Holmes reads his Pushcart Prize–winning story “What’s Wrong with You? What’s Wrong with Me?”; seminal dramatist Tennessee Williams describes his daily rituals in an archival interview; and comedian Jenny Slate channels Anne Sexton in her reading of the poet’s “Admonitions to a Sp
S2E3 | Memory, Rich Memory (with Dylan Thomas, Salman Rushdie, Sharon Olds, Alexandra Kleeman, Devendra Banhart, and Paulé Bártón)
Salman Rushdie reads an apologetic letter written by Dylan Thomas to his editor; poet Sharon Olds identifies “The Solution” to America’s problems; Alexandra Kleeman reads her haunting story “Fairy Tale”; and singer/songwriter Devendra Banhart reads the little-known legend of “The Woe Shirt,” as written by Paulé Bártón.“Mea Culpa” © The Dylan Thomas Trust. www.discoverdylanthomas.com.
S2E2 | Making Light (with Philip Roth, Jason Alexander, Lucille Clifton, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Brenda Shaughnessy)
Actor Quincy Tyler Bernstine revisits one of the most unsettling scandals of the nineties with her reading of Lucille Clifton’s poem “lorena”; Jason Alexander brings Philip Roth’s early story “The Conversion of the Jews” to vivid life; and poet Brenda Shaughnessy contemplates “All Possible Pain.”Lucille Clifton, “lorena” from The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton. Copyright © 1996 by Luc
S2E1 | Before the Light (with Toni Morrison, Molly Ringwald, Mary Terrier, Alex Dimitrov)
Legendary novelist and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison explains why beauty is absolutely necessary in an interview from the magazine’s archives; Molly Ringwald channels adolescent grief in her reading of “Guests,” a story by Mary Terrier; and poet Alex Dimitrov reads his poem “Impermanence.”
Season 2 Trailer: The Paris Review Podcast Returns
The celebrated podcast from the legendary literary magazine returns! Join us for new audio adventures through The Paris Review's fiction, poetry, interviews, archival recordings, and sonic imaginings with the likes of Simone de Beauvoir , Tennessee Williams, and today's leading writers.
Featuring readings and writings from Charlotte Rampling, Jason Alexander, Jenny Slate, Devendra Banhart
Time Has Stood Still: Philip Roth (1933–2018)
Before Philip Roth was an American icon, he published one of his first short stories in The Paris Review in 1958. In 2010 he received the Hadada, our award for lifetime achievement. Here is his acceptance speech.
S1E12 | Thunder, They Told Her (with Jamaica Kincaid, James Salter, Dick Cavett, Sadie Stein, Frederick Seidel, Robert Bly, and Caitlin Youngquist)
The final episode of Season 1. Jamaica Kincaid in conversation and reading her short story WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING LATELY; James Salter’s story BANGKOK read by Dick Cavett; Sadie Stein encounters a literary specter on the 1 Train; Frederick Seidel reads his poem THE END OF SUMMER; and Caitlin Youngquist reads Robert Bly’s CHORAL STANZA NUMBER ONE, which appeared in the very first issue of
S1E11 | Tomorrow's Reason (with Hunter S. Thompson, George Plimpton, Terry McDonell, Pablo Neruda, Antonio Gueudinot, Amie Barrodale, Paul Heesang Miller)
Shotguns, peacocks, golf, acid. Editor Terry McDonell recounts his 1984 visit, along with George Plimpton, to Hunter S. Thompson's home in Colorado, including never-before-heard archival tape; a poem by Pablo Neruda, translated by Alastair Reid and read by Antonio Gueudinot; and actor Paul Heesang Miller reads WILLIAM WEI, a short story by Amie Barrodale.
"Emerging" from EXTRAVAGARIA by
S1E10 | The Occasional Dream (with Frank O'Hara, David Sedaris, Joy Williams, Mary-Louise Parker, Roberto Bolaño, Dakota Johnson, John Ashbery, Steve Gunn, John Jermiah Sullivan, Robert Johnson)
David Sedaris reads Frank O'Hara; Mary-Louis Parker reads Joy Williams; Dakota Johnson reads Roberto Bolaño; John Ashbery is scored by musician Steve Gunn; and The Paris Review's Southern Editor John Jeremiah Sullivan sings Robert Johnson.
"A True Account of Talking to the Sun at Fire Island" from THE COLLECTED POEMS OF FRANK O'HARA by Frank O'Hara, copyright © 1971 by Maureen Granville-
S1E9 | God, Etc. (with Jesse Eisenberg, Benjamin Nugent, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Kristen Dombek)
A frat boy encounters the divine in Benjamin Nugent's story GOD, performed by Jesse Eisenberg; Rowan Ricardo Phillips examines the difference between heaven and paradise in his poem KINGDOM COME; and Kristin Dombek sends us a LETTER FROM WILLIAMSBURG.
S1E8 | Questionable Behavior (with Dorothy Parker, Stockard Channing, Anna Sale, Alexia Arthurs, Helga Davis, Blair Fuller, John Guare, Idra Novey, Elena Wilkinson, Jeff Gleaves)
Stockard Channing and Anna Sale recreate the Review's 1956 interview with Dorothy Parker; writer Idra Novey talks about the taste of the letter "H"; Helga Davis reads Alexia Arthurs short story BAD BEHAVIOR; acclaimed playwright John Guare shares former Review editor Blair Fuller's true story AN EVENING WITH JD SALINGER; and Jeff Gleaves, the Review's Digital Director, recites Elena Wilki
S1E7 | The Listening Forest (with Eudora Welty, George Plimpton, Denise Levertov, Ottessa Moshfegh, Glynis Bell)
Denise Levertov's poem SOUND OF THE AXE, read by actor Glynis Bell; Eudora Welty tells George Plimpton about the time Henry Miller visited her in Jackson, Mississippi, and recounts the mysterious tale of Thelma; Ottessa Moshfegh reads her story A DARK AND WINDING ROAD.
This episode is sponsored by Audible. Go to audible.com/PARIS for a 30-trial and free first audiobook.
S1E6 | The Beetle and the Butterfly (with David Sedaris, Eudora Welty, George Plimpton, Sharon Olds, Peter Ho Davies)
Eudora Welty recalls the time her mother saved Dickens; David Sedaris ponders the unsettled dead in his essay LETTER FROM EMERALD ISLE; Nadja Spiegelman reads Sharon Olds's poem THE BEETLE; and Peter Ho Davies's short story THE ENDS tells a tale of Nazis, gallows, and basketball.
S1E5 | To See You Again (with Lucia Berlin, Alison Fraser, Brian Cullman, Eileen Myles, Caleb Crain)
Acclaimed poet Eileen Myles reads SWEET HEART; two-time Tony nominee Alison Fraser lends her voice to Lucia Berlin's story B.F. AND ME; author Caleb Crain encounters the angel of death; and Brian Cullman shares a story about the time Van Morrison bought him a drink.
S1E4 | Missed Connections (with Marc Maron, Sam Lipsyte, Robert Pattinson, James Wright, Sadie Stein, George Plimpton)
Marc Maron reads THE WORM IN PHILLY, a story by Sam Lipsyte; Robert Pattinson reads a poem by James Wright; George Plimpton recalls a boxing match in Hemingway's dining room; and Sadie Stein shares a true story about missed connections.
S1E3 | I Was There (with James Baldwin, LeVar Burton, Morgan Parker, Dorothea Lasky, Dakota Johnson, Raymond Carver)
LeVar Burton recreates the Review's Art of Fiction interview with James Baldwin; Morgan Parker reads her poem HOTTENTOT VENUS; Dakota Johnson reads a poem by Dorothea Lasky; and Lorin Stein reads WHY DON'T YOU DANCE, a classic story by Raymond Carver.
“Soonest Mended” from The Double Dream of Spring by John Ashbery. Copyright © 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966 by John Ashbery. Used by permis
S1E2 | Always Leaving (with Jack Kerouac, Hailey Gates, Erica Ehrenberg, Shelly Oria, Donnetta Lavinia Grays)
A visit to Jack Kerouac’s house ends with the story of Buddha; Hailey Gates reads a poem by Erica Ehrenberg about love and moving on; and MY WIFE, IN CONVERSE, Shelly Oria’s tale of marriage, poetry, and cooking class, as performed by Donnetta Lavinia Grays.
S1E1 | Times of Cloud (with Eileen Myles, Wallace Shawn, Maya Angelou, Sadie Stein)
Poet and downtown icon Eileen Myles reading a poem by James Schuyler; archival tape of Maya Angelou interviewed by George Plimpton, the founding editor of the Review; the legendary actor and writer Wallace Shawn reading Denis Johnson’s famous story “Car-Crash While Hitchhiking”; and a true story by Sadie Stein, read by herself, about doing the twist alone on a Tuesday night.
Coming soon: The Paris Review Podcast
The world's most legendary literary magazine invites you on an audio odyssey through fiction, archival tape, interviews and late nights with the likes of James Baldwin, Dorothy Parker, and the cutting edge writers of our time. Featuring readings from LeVar Burton, Stockard Channing, Jesse Eisenberg, Marc Maron, Eileen Myles, David Sedaris, Dick Cavett, Dakota Johnson, and more! Check out
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