Storytelling Animals

03/08/2023

New episode! What are the obstacles to improving public transit, and how might they be overcome? Link in comments.

14/07/2023

You might think sci-fi would tend to glorify the fanciest technologies. But in his book FUTURISTIC CARS AND SPACE BICYCLES, Jeremy Withers shows that from Ray Bradbury to Octavia Butler, Kim Stanley Robinson to Ursula Le Guin, sci-fi authors have often lifted up biking and walking, and been extremely attuned to the destructive impacts of the automobile. We discussed his book here:

‎Show Storytelling Animals, Ep How Science Fiction Depicts Cars and Bikes, with Jeremy Withers - Jul 11, 2023

07/06/2023

New episode! On the efforts at VINE Sanctuary to create a space where birds can be birds and cows can be cows, with cofounder pattrice jones.

https://shows.acast.com/storytelling-animals/episodes/vine-sanctuary-pattrice-jones-animal-agency

23/05/2023

New episode out! On de-extinction, dinosaur agency, and the wonder of Jurassic Park with Matt Haugen of Terrain (https://terrain.substack.com/).

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/de-extinction-and-jurassic-park-with-matt-haugen/id1604296764?i=1000614107259
Spotify: https://t.co/1IXOF6Ce98

Or wherever else you get your podcasts: https://pod.link/1604296764/episode/d40a87417c700a26ea01ba2fcc53d100

Storytelling Animals is a green new podcast where we use books to help make sense of the ecological crisis – and think about what comes next. For most episodes, host Dayton Martindale will interview authors about their new or recent fiction and nonfiction, and talk about how we might build better ...

16/05/2023

New episode on Jurassic Park now available to Patreon subscribers! (link in comment)

11/05/2023

We typically don't think of nonhumans as political--but that's due to a limited conception of both politics and other animals. In my new interview with philosopher Eva Meijer, author of When Animals Speak: Toward an Interspecies Democracy, we talk about how we might build a democracy that is inclusive of all species, and adequately represents nonhuman voices.

Links in comments!

01/05/2023

Book club tomorrow! Comment or message for details. 5:30 Pacific/8:30 Eastern via Zoom.

25/04/2023

Season 2 Episode 1 now live! It's an interview with author and artist Carol Gigliotti on the creative lives of animals. We talk bower bird architecture, alligator play, and bee decision-making. Check it out on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-creative-lives-of-animals-with-carol-gigliotti/id1604296764?i=1000610519198

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/67GIa5w3Y0myefcJwBoVC9

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YpeEY-tfuk

Or other podcast apps! https://pod.link/1604296764/episode/582e9b5d9726e85bf700607f5eb127ef

05/04/2023

Two new Storytelling Animals Book Club meetings coming up on Zoom this spring/summer!

First, on May 2, we will be discussing Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Nonhuman World by Emma Marris, exploring possible tension and overlap between individual animal well-being and more holistic ecological goals.

Next, on June 27, we will be discussing the animal-rights novel The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams. Both at 5:30 Pacific/8:30 Eastern. Message me for more details or go to my website!

25/01/2023

New episode in celebration of Virginia Woolf's 141st birthday!

January 25, 2023, is acclaimed writer Virginia Woolf's 141st birthday! To celebrate, I invited scholar of modernist literature Bonnie Kime Scott to talk abou...

24/01/2023

We are 5 weeks out from our next Storytelling Animals Book Club, a discussion of Matt Bell's APPLESEED--a sweeping work of climate fiction spanning centuries, from manifest destiny to a global winter.

2/28, 8:30 Eastern, on Zoom.

More info in comments!

17/01/2023

Storytelling Animals Book Club meets tonight! We'll be discussing Ed Yong's AN IMMENSE WORLD: HOW ANIMAL SENSES REVEAL THE HIDDEN REALMS AROUND US. More details in the comments.

03/01/2023

New episode out! With philosopher Martha C. Nussbuam on her new book, Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility. We talk about canine citizenship, the ethics of killing, and the need for new laws and governmental institutions to protect our fellow creatures.

Apple:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/storytelling-animals/id1604296764?i=1000592013552
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2WDsqiwt4vHuGzz41q6yJK?si=hHKQH32SR5eHkAALZav7HA
And you can find links to other podcast players here:
https://pod.link/1604296764/episode/b685b30e20ec9f22cde9179f2df59a67

29/12/2022

A year-end episode on some of my favorite books I read in 2022! Including new releases such as Sequoia Nagamatsu's How High We Go in the Dark and Matthew Cobb's As Gods by Matthew Cobb, and older releases such as Virigina Woolf's The Waves and Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-2022-storytelling-animals-book-awards/id1604296764?i=1000590721703

07/12/2022

New episode out! Biologist Matthew Cobb discusses his new book, As Gods: A Moral History of the Genetic Age, spurred by alarm over several potential CRISPR applications. In our interview, he guides me through decades of genetic engineering, the strengths and weaknesses of CRISPR, and why he doesn't think we should bring back the wooly mammoth.

More links in comments

With CRISPR technology, it is easier than ever for geneticists to alter human DNA, make deadlier pathogens, render mosquitoes infertile, and make other drama...

15/11/2022

Storytelling Animals well represented in the American Library Association Carnegie Medal for Excellence finalists!
1) Va**na Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage is a nonfiction finalist--listen to my author interview here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-duck-vaginas-to-the-human-egg-an-anatomical/id1604296764?i=1000585434445
2) An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong is another finalist--this is our December book club book! More info here on how to join: https://daytonmartindale.com/book-club/

3) What We Fed to the Manticore: Stories by Talia Lakshmi Kolluri was on the fiction longlist--I interviewed the author here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talia-lakshmi-kolluri-on-writing-the-animal-voice/id1604296764?i=1000581629257

4) Bonus: Also on the fiction longlist was Emily St. John Mandel. I reviewed on of her previous books, Station Eleven, for one of my first episodes--check that out! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/civilization-and-its-discontents-on-station-eleven/id1604296764?i=1000551135170

‎Show Storytelling Animals, Ep From Duck Va**nas to the Human Egg, an Anatomical Voyage with Rachel E. Gross - Nov 7, 2022

08/11/2022

New episode with science writer Rachel E. Gross! On her book Va**na Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage, profiling a new generation scientists changing how we understand female (and other) bodies. Link in comments.

12/10/2022

New episode up! Interviewing Dan Chodorkoff, cofounder of the Institute for Social Ecology, on his new novel Sugaring Down, the 1960s, utopianism, working with Murray Bookchin, and more. Links in comment!

29/09/2022

Tonight! Zoom discussion of Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
at 5:30 Pacific/8:30 Eastern. Message or comment for details!

16/09/2022

New episode! I look at what Pakistan's flooding says about the case for global climate reparations, then tackle debates over permitting reform and plastic bags.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/on-pakistan-permitting-reform-and-plastic-bags/id1604296764?i=1000579712946

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5zijGaxNf3xXDKFkY6RBO4?si=7488a64b83724c47

And you can get a link to almost any podcast app here: https://pod.link/1604296764/episode/9d50a27b2110f113782c611793fbe17e

14/09/2022

I loved talking with the Rev. Tom Emanuel on what Treebeard and the ents mean to him, and how The Lord of the Rings changed how he looks at the rest of the living world (starting at 28:10):

With a new Lord of the Rings television series out, I thought it was high time to explore the powerful environmental themes of Middle-Earth. Alongisde Tolkien expert Tom Emanuel, I dig deep into Treebeard, Tom Bombadil, power's corrupting force, and finding courage to resist in the face of overwhelm...

06/09/2022

New episode! With Tolkien expert the Rev. Tom Emanuel
on the beasts, trees, and Bombadils of Middle-Earth, and J.R.R. Tolkien's depiction of power, courage, and ecological care.


See comments for links!

30/08/2022

New episode--an interview with Ron Broglio, author of Animal Revolution. We talk about the myriad ways in which nonhuman creatures through sand in the gears of the capitalist machine, and how we might respond to better share the earth. Link in comments!

27/08/2022

Very excited about our next four book club meetings! Hope y'all can make at least one!

16/08/2022

The Inflation Reduction Act is the biggest US investment in climate action ever, and it's quite the mixed bag. Today's episode aims to make sense of the good, bad, and ugly of the Inflation Reduction Act's climate measures and think about what comes next, with Johanna Bozuwa of the Climate and Community Project. Hope you find this helpful!

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-does-the-inflation-reduction-act-mean-for/id1604296764?i=1000576208590
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xkhSKW1plfVBd7kyM7E38?si=RST0sagxRt6IRMKPNjvmNg&nd=1
Or open on another app here: https://pod.link/1604296764/episode/531c167153953d325caeec9513ee43d0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NItk71wrEd8&list=PLLb8wMULCZlvE6zsI-UL6tFJB5v0znd4J&index=24&ab_channel=DaytonMartindale

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the biggest climate legislation in US history, just passed Congress. What is the good, the bad, and the ugly of the bill? ...

09/08/2022

New episode out! On the trouble with mainstream approaches to animal ethics, and the need to grapple with broader systems of oppression, with Alice Crary and Lori Gruen, authors of the new book Animal Crisis.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/animal-crisis-a-new-ethical-paradigm-with-alice/id1604296764?i=1000575454305

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7fFgMH4D0ftwMGQZwPEN4N

Or listen on other podcast players: https://pod.link/1604296764/episode/22c158723e002d4dab935c2fe752c518

Storytelling Animals is a green new podcast where we use books to help make sense of the ecological crisis – and think about what comes next. For most episodes, host Dayton Martindale will interview authors about their new or recent fiction and nonfiction, and talk about how we might build better ...

25/07/2022

This week's episode explores Amitav Ghosh's charge to elevate nonhuman voices in stories, using as a case study T.C. Boyle’s novel Talk To Me, much of which is from a chimpanzee’s perspective. What are your favorite works of fiction that highlight nonhuman voice and agency?

https://pod.link/1604296764/episode/22494dc41c2b8323200a0242bcfcf46b

Storytelling Animals is a green new podcast where we use books to help make sense of the ecological crisis – and think about what comes next. For most episodes, host Dayton Martindale will interview authors about their new or recent fiction and nonfiction, and talk about how we might build better ...