The Drunken Odyssey with John King: A Podcast About the Writing Life
John King
Join author John King for eclectic interviews with writers from a variety of genres, including fiction writing, poetry, memoirs, and journalism. From literature to genre writing to the movies, all writing is up for discussion. In particular, The Drunken Odyssey features discussion of all aspects of the writing process—not just the published manuscript, pristinely presented to the entire literate world, but also the scrawled notes and tortured drafts that lead writers there. In long-form interviews, writers discuss their process and the way that writing has influenced their lives. Besides this interview, each episode also features a short memoir essay from a writer about a beloved book, plus John King responds to listener's questions and observations about the writing (and the drinking) life.
For more information, see our website at www.thedrunkenodyssey.com.
For more information, see our website at www.thedrunkenodyssey.com.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 28, 2026 • 1h 5min
709: Philip Schultz!
In this week's show, John speaks with the poet Philip Schultz about his wonderful new poetry collection, Enormous Morning. We discuss the self-critical voices that Philip calls the shit-bird, how personas can empower us to become more of ourselves, and the ironies of finding gratitude in our depression in observing how the world tears itself apart.
Mar 21, 2026 • 57min
708: Felicia Day!
In this week's show, John speaks with the writer and actor, Felicia Day about her extraordinary page-turner of a graphic novel, The Lost Daughter of Sparta. We discuss how to regulate our bodies as writers, how rich the literature of ancient myth absolutely still is, and how to read for audiobooks, since she has a wealth of acting experience and John doesn't.
Mar 14, 2026 • 47min
707: Shawn Welcome!
In this week's show, the poet Shawn Welcome and I talk about how to love poetry, how to gather together our literary communities, and our beloved city of Orlando, Florida.
Mar 7, 2026 • 55min
706: Richard Blanco!
On this week's program, I catch up with the amazing Richard Blanco about his recent collected poems, Homeland of my Body, a book sandwiched with two sections of exciting new work.
Feb 28, 2026 • 57min
705: Mamie Pound!
On this week's program, I talk to Mamie Pound about how flash fiction works, poetry, and finding the authentic, messy, true emotion and understanding despite the editors in our brains.
Feb 22, 2026 • 46min
704: Elliot Ackerman
On this week's program, I talk to Elliot Ackerman about his new novel, Sheepdogs, a hell of a military caper story.
Feb 14, 2026 • 51min
703: A Discussion of Anaïs Nin's Delta of Venus, with Dianne Turgeon Richardson!
Happy Valentine's Day, world! Listen to Dianne Turgeon Richardson and I discuss the memorable, occasionally exhausting, and morally iffy smut of Anaïs Nin's Delta of Venus.
Feb 7, 2026 • 1h 7min
702: A Discussion of Lucasta Miller's The Brontë Myth, with Sophia Ferrara.
After reading some of Charlotte Brontë's Tales of Angria (#682), John and Sophia go a-Brontë-ing again. They discuss Lucasta Miller's extraordinary survey of the Brontë cult and the durable, troubled legacy of their fiction.
Jan 31, 2026 • 1h 12min
701: Greg Proops!
In this week's show, I speak with the comedian Greg Proops about comedy writing, comedy performance, improv, politics, film, and more.
Jan 17, 2026 • 1h 7min
700: Chuck Klosterman!
On #700, John speaks with the underrated novelist and essay writer Chuck Klosterman about his wickedly funny and ever-insightful new book called Football. They also speak about post-modernism and humor and how audiences perplexingly invert their expectations about reality when reading fiction and non-fiction. John perhaps goes on a rant about the 1985 New England loss in the Super Bowl.
