In the fifth episode of Endgame with Fintan O’Toole, the poet and novelist Ben Lerner speaks with O’Toole about his latest novel, Transcription. The novel’s concern with the human voice and the technologies that reproduce it—or fail to do so—leads O’Toole and Lerner to discuss the screen-mediated experience of the pandemic, the tradition of literary mentorships, the ways that human voices are embedded in historical memory, and the uncanny sublime of “Zoom funerals” and “remote learning.”

Ben Lerner is the author of nine books of poetry and prose as well as several collaborations with visual artists. His honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation, and his latest novel, Transcription, received the 2026 George Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. His recent essay for the Review, “Cardiography,” was included in The Best American Essays 2026. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at Brooklyn College.

Endgame with Fintan O'Toole is a New York Review podcast. Our theme music is "Political World" by Bob Dylan, courtesy of Universal Music Publishing Group and Sony Music Entertainment. Our show art is designed by Jason Logan. And our producer is Erica Getto.

New episodes drop every Tuesday across podcast platforms and at YouTube.com/@nybooks. For more, head to nybooks.com.