Ever Google, “What to do when an ex-boyfriend rejects your extended olive branch?” the first storyteller in our Valentine’s Day throwback podcast did, before peeling herself off the floor to attend a book signing in an attempt to get her groove back—or at least to get moving. First up from our alum on-the-spot story swap […]

No, YOU Tell It!

Episode 58 – Alum On The Spot Swap

Kicking off the second swap from our Precious show, our narrator time travels between Brooklyn and Oklahoma where she cares for her aging mother after her father’s death. Confronted with memories and physical artifacts from her past, she gains a new perspective on the hometown she had so desired to escape as her two worlds […]

Episode 57 – Precious (Part 2)

The top five answers are on the board – name something that is Precious. Our first story delivers us right into the mind of its author. But this seemingly humorous daydream leads her to recollect lost lives and haunting memories that have shaped the way she lives and copes. Written by Heather Quinlan and read […]

Episode 56 – Precious (Part 1)

The first story in our second “Coming and Going” swap places us in a New England suburb during the COVID-19 pandemic. A woman leaves her city life and is thrust into the role of caretaker for her elderly parents where, much like the pandemic, there is no end in sight. Experiencing a role reversal with […]

Episode 55 – Coming & Going (Part 2)

Have you ever wanted to be someone else? The opening story of “Coming & Going”— our second team-up show with Lambda Literary — follows Calvin…or as he’d like to be known, Craig, as he travels to Florida to become someone new. This journey to overcome grief caused by a death, a breakup, and an unforgiving […]

Episode 54 – Coming & Going (Part 1)

Our first story transports us to Lake Sunapee on a summer afternoon. Sounds peaceful enough, right? Except, once there, we find the narrator and his brother plotting over how to bait a porcupine (read: wild turkey hunter). The afternoon of googling best practices for said task leads to an examination of fear and how similar […]

Episode 53 – Stargazing

Our first story finds a dyed-in-wool New Yorker facing unforeseen suburban horrors. Negotiating neighborly encounters that make her question whether to recalibrate her moral barometer to keep up with the Joneses. Or, in this case, the Weavers. Kicking off the second half of our special Brooklyn Book Festival event at The Astoria Bookshop, here is […]

Episode 52 – a Muse (Part 2)

First up, Pichchenda Bao’s “Speak, Muse” contemplates the roles we are assigned in life and the roles we adopt: refugee, American, daughter, mother, artist, citizen; the compromises we make for survival and the ways we interpret silence, and ultimately how we can expand, not contract, our relationship to each other and the world. Read for […]

Episode 51 – a Muse (Part 1)

In celebration of Pride and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, for this, our 50th podcast episode, we wanted to share some of our favorite LGBTQ stories from years past. First up, from our recent “Snapped!” show at Dixon Place, a drag queen offers handy advice about standing one’s ground in “Lessons from The […]

Episode 50 – Pride and “Snapped!” Bonus

What begins as a simple cab ride to the airport becomes a shifting contest of power, imagination, and identity in Naomi Gordon-Loebl’s “Can I See It?” read by Kent D. Wolf in the first half of this special team-up show with Lambda Literary in celebration of Pride and the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. […]

Episode 49 – Snapped! Queer Storytelling with a Twist

Restoring old chairs and cooking dinner may first appear to be common creative acts but stripped down resides a pair of stories about life, death, near death, and second chances. First up, celebrated author Rebecca Chace (Leaving Rock Harbor, June Sparrow and the Million Dollar Penny) revisits a true-life tale she previously thought of as […]

Episode 48 – Crafty (Part 2)

The stress of planning and executing a family vacation to Las Vegas leaves the narrator of Vaughn M. Watson’s story with a need to escape, resulting in a low-key cannabis caper. From the first half of our “Crafty” show performed live at The Astoria Bookshop, whoosh of the nearby N train and all, here is […]

Episode 47 – Crafty (Part 1)

Since our own Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons started No, YOU Tell It! six, WOW, yes, six years ago one of her favorite things has been going out to Fairleigh Dickinson University to switch-up stories with students, faculty, and alums from their Creative Writing MFA program. Earlier this summer, authors Tiffany L. Berryman, Andrew Condouris, and Eliot […]

Episode 46 – Schooled

Angela Cobb’s story is a romantic liaison set against the backdrop of Hurricane Sandy. After the storm subsides, she finds the attempt to recapture that intimacy fraught and even the best-laid plans might require a “Plan B.” Kicking off the second half of our “Mayday” show, recorded live at The Astoria Bookshop on May 10th, […]

Episode 45 – Mayday (Part 2)

In the first half of our “Mayday” show, recorded live at The Astoria Bookshop on May 10th, Allison Escoto is forced to listen to an unexpected SOS of the heart. Here is M. Skye Holly reading, “Vessel in Distress.” Switching it up, M. Skye Holly goes back to school to receive her MFA in Creative Writing from […]

Episode 44 – Mayday (Part 1)

Switched Up Storytelling Series and Podcast

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No, YOU Tell It!

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