Episode 395
with Dina Nayeri, Adam Mansbach, Shain Brenden, and LaRhonda Steele
Host Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello describe the moments that make them feel most at home; writer Dina Nayeri discusses the immigrant experience from interviews in her new book The Ungrateful Refugee and fleeing Iran herself as a child; author Adam Mansbach reflects on the surprise success of his children's book parody series; comedian Shain Brenden compares his former "single dad" status to a foreclosed home; and Portland's first lady of blues, LaRhonda Steele, soars through a cover of Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good.”
Dina Nayeri
Writer
Dina Nayeri has always written searing prose that is relevant worldwide. Born in Iran during the revolution, she’s the winner of the UNESCO City of Literature Prize and a National Endowment for the Arts grant. She’s written two novels – Refuge and A Teaspoon of Earth and Sea – and her work has been translated into fourteen languages and published around the globe in places like The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Best American Short Stories. Her new book of nonfiction, The Ungrateful Refugee, tracks her experience leaving Iran at age eight, living in a refugee camp, and eventually resettling in America. Through her own story and the stories of others, she challenges the reader to rethink their assumptions about refugees in this timely, meaningful work of global scope. Website • Twitter
Adam Mansbach
Author
Adam Mansbach is the king of feeding you hard truths alongside a bellyful of laughs. The massive #1 New York Times best-selling author of Go the F*ck to Sleep and You Have to F*cking Eat, Mansbach is back with the third book in the beloved series, F*ck, Now There Are Two of You. As with the first two books in the series, his use of profanity serves to hilariously channel the frustration and loving despair felt by parents around the world. Website • Twitter
Shain Brenden
Comedian
Shain Brenden started off in comedy telling jokes as a combat medic in Afghanistan, and soon found that comedy was essential to helping lift spirits during rough times. Since then he’s moved from San Diego to LA to Portland, finished in the top 3 of Portland’s Funniest Person Contest, and was named an “Undisputable Genius of Comedy” by the Portland Mercury. He’s the co-host of his own weekly stand-up show, “DOUGH” every Wednesday at Mississippi Pizza Pub, and he’s also on your television after every Trail Blazers game as the co-host of the hit NBC Sports show “Blazers Outsiders.” Website • Twitter
LaRhonda Steele
Singer-Songwriter
Vocalist LaRhonda Steele is on a long-term musical journey. A singer since the age of 13, she’s brought her award-winning blues and soul music from her home in Portland, Oregon to Italy, Spain, Colombia, and beyond as an international artist. Steele is a three-time winner of the Muddy Award for Best Female Vocalist and has worked together with artists like Curtis Salgado, Norman Sylvester, Janice Marie Scroggins, and Gin Vannelli. Locally, LaRhonda directs the Portland Interfaith Gospel Choir and works with her own band, The LaRhonda Steele Band, in which her husband Mark is the keyboardist and co-producer of their twelve-song collaboration “Artistic Differences.”
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