About this episode

Joe Pug interviews acclaimed novelist Stephen Markley about his works and insights into writing.

This week on The Working Songwriter, we're thrilled to step out of our normal comfort zone by welcoming one of the country's most acclaimed young novelists. Originally from Mount Vernon, Ohio, author Stephen Markley now makes his home in Los Angeles. He attended Miami University (of Ohio) for his undergraduate degree before being accepted into the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop. Simon & Schuster published his debut novel, 'Ohio,' in 2018. The book was widely praised for its unflinching portrait of post-9/11 rust-belt America. Then, in 2023, he returned with the massively popular novel, 'The Deluge,' a work of ficiton about climate change that 'The New York Times' named as one of its notable books. 'The NYT Book Review' also said that, "'The Deluge 'shows the range of its author's gifts: polyphonic narration, silken sentences and elaborate world-building." Of the same book none other than Stephen King said, "[It is] simply put a modern classic. If you read it you'll never forget it." He also named it as the favorite book he had read the year that he read it. Markley also works as a screenwriter in LA as a member of the writers room for the Hulu comedy series 'Only Murders in…

People in this episode

Host: Joe Pug

Guest: Stephen Markley

Topics covered

• novel writing
• climate change
• cross-discipline learning
• post-9/11 America
• screenwriting
• literature

Keywords

• Stephen Markley
• Ohio
• The Deluge
• novelist
• screenwriter
• climate change
• Iowa Writers Workshop

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Simon & Schuster, Hulu

Books & works: Ohio, The Deluge

Places: Mount Vernon, Ohio, Los Angeles

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