In advance of his appearances in Montana, poet, essayist, and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib speaks with host Lauren Korn about There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension (Penguin Random House), a book as much about home—what it means to be from and honored by a place—as it is about the subjects of its title: basketball, longing, and success. There’s Always This Year, structured into the quarters and countdown clocks of a basketball game, also reckons with grief and devotion; time and aging; Hanif’s specific and moving philosophies of witness; and, admittedly, so much more—all written in careful-though-playful language, an attention to craft and musicality Hanif’s growing fan base has come to expect across each genre he inhabits.
This conversation has been edited for time.
NOTE! Hanif will be in Missoula at the Missoula Public Library, in partnership with Fact & Fiction Books, on October 2, 2024; and in Hamilton at the Hamilton Rocky Mountain Grange #116 with Montana Poet Laureate Chris La Tray, in partnership with Chapter One Bookstore, on October 3rd.
NEW! “The Cover Story” is a new online and podcast segment from The Write Question in which Lauren asks her guests about the stories and the processes behind their book covers, debuting during TWQ’s eighteenth season. Learn about the cover of There’s Always This Year soon!
About Hanif:
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio, and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” grant. His most recent book, A Little Devil in America, was the winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Gordon Burns Prize and a finalist for the National Book Award. His first collection of essays, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, was named one of the books of the year by NPR, Esquire, BuzzFeed, O: The Oprah Magazine, Pitchfork, and Chicago Tribune, among others. Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest was a New York Times bestseller, a National Book Critics Circle Award and Kirkus Prize finalist, and was longlisted for the National Book Award. He is a graduate of Beechcroft High School.
Mentioned in this episode:
The writing of fantasy author Lloyd Alexander
The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by Franny Choi (Ecco Press)
Hanif Abdurraqib recommends:
Bluff by Danez Smith (Graywolf Press)
Deed by Torrin A. Greathouse (Wesleyan University Press)
Cloud Missives by Kenzie Allen (Tin House Books)
Becoming Little Shell: A Landless Indian’s Journey Home by Chris La Tray (Milkweed Editions)
Lauren Korn recommends:
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension and A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance (Penguin Random House); Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to a Tribe Called Quest (University of Texas Press); They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us (Two Dollar Radio); A Fortune for Your Disaster (Tin House Books); and The Crown Ain't Worth Much (Button Poetry) by Hanif Abdurraqib
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (Graywolf Press)
Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago’s South Side by Eve L. Ewing (University of Chicago Press)
I’ve Had to Think Up a Way to Survive: On Trauma, Persistence, and Dolly Parton by Lynn Melnick (University of Texas Press; Spiegel & Grau)
Just Kids by Patti Smith (Ecco Press)
Pilgrim Bell by Kaveh Akbar (Graywolf Press)
Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay (University of Pittsburg Press)
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The Write Question team is Lauren Korn, host, co-producer, and editor; and Chris Moyles, co-producer and sound engineer. This episode is supported by Chapter One Bookstore in Hamilton, Montana, a literary and community resource for the Bitterroot Valley—providing space to explore, discover, and share passions since 1974. More information can be found at Chapter1Bookstore.com.
The Write Question logo and brand (2022) was designed by Molly Russell. You can see more of her work at iamthemollruss.com and on Instagram @iamthemollruss.
Funding for The Write Question comes from Humanities Montana; members of Montana Public Radio; and from the Greater Montana Foundation—encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.
The Write Question is a production of Montana Public Radio.
