This week we are listening back to an episode from earlier this year. Eric Newman and Kate Wolf speak with Sarah Schulman about her latest book, "The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity." With a focus on practical politics, Schulman explores both how we imagine solidarity and what the work of solidarity requires. Rather than a horizontal movement, the book focuses on the ways achieving today’s most pressing political goals—from Palestine’s self-determination to immigration reform and protecting LBGTQ rights—requires working across various levels of individual privilege and power. With both historical and present day examples, Schulman presents a clear-eyed, long-term vision of a life in activism, laying out stumbling blocks and failures alongside meaningful progress, and the steps it takes to get there.

Sarah Schulman's "The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity"

Brett came thru on his way down to NYC from Montreal to talk about his influences and his work and his writing. Read his story Cheryl on Blast 2: https://blast2mag.substack.com/

Full hour: https://www.patreon.com/c/1storypod

153. Brett Gifford (first 30)

Eric Newman speaks to Brandon Taylor about his latest novel, “Minor Black Figures.” It centers on Wyeth, a Black artist in his thirties wrestling with creative stagnation and the pressures of sudden fame after some of his paintings unexpectedly go viral. As he resists the temptation to produce the sort of identity-based art the market seems to want, Wyeth engages in recovering the life and career of a forgotten Black artist from the 1970s. He also finds himself entangled in a romance with a former seminarian whose views on art and faith challenge and inspire him amid the humid swirl of summer in New York. Taylor discusses the novel's origins, the white gaze and the struggles faced by Black artists, and how to write a good sex scene. 

Brandon Taylor's "Minor Black Figures"

Kate Wolf and Eric Newman speak with Robin Coste Lewis about her new poetry collection, "Archive of Desire." The four part collection emerged out of a collaboration with other artists commissioned by the Onassis Foundation to celebrate the 160th birthday of poet Constantin Cavafy, exploring Lewis's encounters with Cavafy's life, work, and sexual history. Lewis discusses her experience poring over the materials from Cavafy's archives in Athens, how his poetry still speaks to us so profoundly more than a century later, and their queer kinship.

Robin Coste Lewis's "Archive of Desire"

Harold finished The Man Without Qualities by Musil, Sean finished The Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede and revisited Zarathustra.

155. Love and Greatness

Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman speak with director Julia Loktev about her new documentary "My Undesirable Friends." Filmed in 2021, just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the five-hour epic follows independent journalists at TV Rain as they navigate escalating government repression and the “foreign agent” laws designed to silence dissent. The film is a moving, unsettling portrait of resilience and a stark reminder of the global stakes of Russia's suppression of independent media. Medaya and Eric talk to Julia about her experience filming the documentary in a moment of intense political upheaval, as well as what the disturbing parallels between the campaign against the press in Russia and the United States. 

Julia Loktev's "My Undesirable Friends"

It's that time of the year again! Hosts Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman look back on some of the bright lights from a pretty dark year with a rundown of their favorite books, movies, TV shows, music, and scandals from 2025. For a full list of this year's picks, visit lareviewofbooks.org/podcasts/larb-radio-hour/

LARB Best of 2025

Tracklist:

Dregs - Swampy
Radart - Flying Fox Colony
Now Always Fades - Into The Doldrums
Depeche Mode - Useless (Kruder & Dorfmeister Session)
DIIV - Raining On Your Pillow (Daniel Avery Remix)
Hayes Bradley - Dear Treasure ft. Luna
Dear Park - Red Gold White
Sees00000 - RAL22222 (Radio Edit)
Car Culture - Rest Here
Acopia - Falter
School Fair - kick the stars around the trashy sky
Beck - Broken Drum (Boards of Canada Remix)
Sassy 009 - Tell Me ft Blood Orange
Sophia Stel - Everyone Falls Asleep In Their Own Time
Hayes Bradley - Satellite ft. Bennett Coast
Hayes Bradley - Airwash

Sex Mix 033: Hayes Bradley

Kate Wolf is joined by two of today's finest film critics to discuss the current state of Hollywood—including the sale of Warner Brothers Discovery—the art of writing about movies, and some of the year's best films. Up first is critic A.S. Hamrah, author of two new books: "Last Week In End Times Cinema," which compiles the relentless follies of the film industry from March of 2024 to 2025 in an annals of ever-winnowing corporate conglomeration and AI speculation, and "Algorithm of the Night: Film Writing 2019-2025." Next, Melissa Anderson discusses her latest book, "The Hunger: Film Writing 2012-2024." A self-proclaimed "acteurist" whose attention often centers on a film’s star rather than its plot, Anderson’s criticism engages with movies on an affective level, charting her own pleasure, desire, and occasional disgust. Here she talks about grounding her writing in queer and feminist politics and how her ardent cinephilia is born of a sense of open-minded curiosity, hopefulness, and the willingness to be transported.

Tales from Two Critics: A.S. Hamrah and Melissa Anderson on the Year in Film

Gravity's Rainbow, The Tain (the Irish Iliad), Sean's Writing Desire talk with Jen Beagin, pulling up on Danielle Chelosky's reading, and whether or not the Apostle Paul was a gooner.

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#deathcrush

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