Episode 502

with Karen Russell, Marcella Arguello, and Ani DiFranco

Host Luke Burbank and announcer Elena Passarello share some listener-submitted DIY projects; New York Times best-selling author Karen Russell explains how she creates fantastical worlds in her stories to get at truth; comedian Marcella Arguello makes the case for staying single over 30; and folk icon and activist Ani DiFranco reflects on going her own way in the music industry and releasing her 22nd album Revolutionary Love.

Karen Russell

Author

Karen Russell won the 2012 and the 2018 National Magazine Award for fiction. Her first novel, Swamplandia!, about a family living in a gator-wrestling theme park in the Everglades, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, won the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, and was one of The New York Times’ Ten Best Books of 2011. She has received a MacArthur Fellowship and a Guggenheim award and is a former fellow of the NYPL Cullman Center and the American Academy in Berlin. Her latest book, Sleep Donation, came out in 2020. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, she now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, son, and daughter. Website

Marcella Arguello

Comedian

When you’re as tall, outspoken, and hilarious as Marcella Arguello, you see the world from a unique vantage point. As a stand-up comedian, Marcella discusses everything from dating short guys (because, at 6’2”, she has no other options), to being mistaken for a man, her Latinx identity, her takes on race and gender, and wild situations she’s gotten herself into and out of. She currently hosts the clip show The Cache, on Tubi, and co-hosts the podcast The Scroll Down. She’s a fan favorite and six-time winner on Comedy Central’s @midnight, a Time Out Magazine “LA Comedian to Watch,” and has written for and appeared on numerous cable and streaming TV shows. Her Twitter account (@marcellacomedy) has been featured on CNN, Fox, TIME.com, HuffingtonPost.com and elsewhere. Twitter · Website

Ani DiFranco

Singer-songwriter

GRAMMY award-winning singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco began her career at age 9 when she landed her first gig performing a set of Beatles covers at a coffeehouse. At 19, she founded her own label, Righteous Babe Records, which has since released music from artists such as Andrew Bird, Anaïs Mitchell, and Utah Phillips, as well as all 22 of Ani’s own studio albums. As an activist, Ani has lent her voice and her platform to a broad range of social movements. Her latest album, Revolutionary Love (2021), showcases her rare ability to give voice to our deepest frustrations and tensions, on both a personal and a political level. Listen · Website