Writers, Ink: Your backstage pass to the world's most prolific authors

From bookseller to author with Nicholas Russell.

Episode Summary

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about Authors Guild, Anthropic, literary video games, and Simon & Schuster. Then, stick around for a chat with Nicholas Russell! Nicholas Russell: I’m a writer and editor from Las Vegas. My work has been featured in The Believer, McSweeney’s, The Yale Review, Reverse Shot,The Point, The Baffler, The Nation, and Dirt, among other publications. I’ve attended Short Fiction workshops at VQR and Tin House, as well as the Critics Academy for the New York Film Festival and the Press Inclusion Initiative at the Sundance Film Festival. I’ve also received support from MacDowell and the Nes Artist Residency. I’m a contributing writer at Defector (formerly at Gawker 2.0), managing editor at Still Alive Magazine, and a bookseller at The Writer’s Block. My debut novel Observer is out on September 15, 2026.

Episode Notes

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Jena Brown, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including stories about Authors Guild, Anthropic, literary video games, and Simon & Schuster. Then, stick around for a chat with Nicholas Russell!

Nicholas Russell: I’m a writer and editor from Las Vegas. My work has been featured in The Believer, McSweeney’s, The Yale Review, Reverse Shot,The PointThe BafflerThe Nation, and Dirt, among other publications. I’ve attended Short Fiction workshops at VQR and Tin House, as well as the Critics Academy for the New York Film Festival and the Press Inclusion Initiative at the Sundance Film Festival. I’ve also received support from MacDowell and the Nes Artist Residency. I’m a contributing writer at Defector (formerly at Gawker 2.0), managing editor at Still Alive Magazine, and a bookseller at The Writer’s Block. My debut novel Observer is out on September 15, 2026.