Episode 470

with Hanif Abdurraqib, Eula Biss, and Lydia Loveless

Host Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello discuss personal theme songs; cultural critic and poet Hanif Abdurraqib describes how his playlist project 68to05 reflects the origins of his personal music fandom; author Eula Biss unpacks the intersection of homeownership and white privilege in her newest collection of essays Having and Being Had; and alt-country singer Lydia Loveless performs "Say My Name" from her latest album Daughter.

Hanif Abdurraqib
Poet

Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, OH. His first full length poetry collection, The Crown Ain't Worth Much, was released in June 2016 from Button Poetry, and his first collection of essays, They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, was released in winter 2017 by Two Dollar Radio and named a book of the year by NPR, Esquire, Oprah Magazine, and The Los Angeles Review, among others. Abdurraqib’s 2019 book Go Ahead In The Rain: Notes To A Tribe Called Quest was a New York Times bestseller, a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, and longlisted for the National Book Award. His second poetry collection, A Fortune For Your Disaster, was released in 2019 by Tin House and was awarded the 2020 Lenore Marshall Prize. Abdurraqib’s latest book, A Little Devil In America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance was released by Random House in March of 2021. He is a graduate of Beechcroft High School. Website • Twitter

Eula Biss
Author

Eula Biss is the author of four books, the most recent of which, Having and Being Had, is a provocative exploration of the value system behind American home ownership. Her book On Immunity was named one of the Ten Best Books of 2014 by the New York Times Book Review, and Notes from No Man’s Land won the National Book Critics Circle award for criticism in 2009. Her essays and prose poems have appeared in the Guardian, the New York Review of Books, The Believer, The Baffler, Harper’s, New York Times Magazine, and elsewhere. She teaches nonfiction writing at Northwestern University. Website

Lydia Loveless
Singer

Lydia Loveless is an alternative country singer-songwriter from Columbus, OH, whose music combines elements of classic country, pop, honky tonk, and punk rock. Her early records, including Real and Somewhere Else, were embraced by critics and listeners alike, causing luminaries like Lucinda Williams and Jason Isbell to count themselves among her growing fanbase. Daughter is Loveless’s first album in four years and marks her triumphant return. The album documents a period of personal upheaval--including a divorce and an interstate move away from her longtime home--and is also Loveless’s first release on her own label, Honey, You’re Gonna Be Late Records. Website • Twitter • Spotify