Thirty years after it first appeared in The New Yorker, Alice Elliott Dark's story "In the Gloaming" has been published as a standalone book. In this conversation, Alice takes us back to the strange visitational experience of writing it. She talks about “the internal other,” where stories come from, and how she listens for them. She shares her 7-minute writing practice, her sunrise ritual, and her unusual perspective on grief. We also get a preview of Wherever You Are, her forthcoming novel which returns to the characters of "In the Gloaming," (Scribner, fall 2027). Enjoy this deep dive into the creative process.

Alice Elliott Dark is the author of the novels Fellowship Point and Think of England, and two collections of short stories, In The Gloaming and Naked to the Waist. Her story, "In the Gloaming," was chosen by John Updike for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories of The Century and adapted for film by HBO and Trinity Playhouse (starring Glenn Close, directed by Christopher Reeve). Dark is the recipient of a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a 2026 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She is a Professor of English and the Director of the MFA in Creative Writing program at Rutgers-Newark.

Find out more about her work here: https://www.aliceelliottdark.com/

Tess Callahan is the author of the novels APRIL & OLIVER and DAWNLAND. She holds an MFA from Bennington College and is a certified Mindfulness Meditation teacher taught by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. She offers author interviews on her Substack: https://tesscallahan.substack.com, and guided meditations on her sister podcast Heart Haven Meditations, available on Apple, Spotify and elsewhere.

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Host: Tess Callahan
Substack: Writers at the Well
Guided Meditation Podcast: Heart Haven Meditations
Meditations on Insight Timer
Meditations on ...

Ayad Akhtar, Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright and novelist, author of American Dervish and Homeland Elegies, joins host Tess Callahan to talk about his new novel, The Radiance. The book follows a writer (also named Ayad) who wakes from a hit-and-run accident into an unbidden state of heightened perception that unfolds over eight months as he navigates an academic scandal in a politically divided town.

Ayad talks about writing as “melding” with a register of experience rather than executing a plan; the idea of autofiction as “doing the truth, but better”; the influence of Montaigne, Rousseau, and Plato’s cave; and what it means to come back down the mountain after a genuine experience of grace. He asks the political meaning of grace. We also get into Falstaff, Ayad’s father, and what constitutes greatness in a person.

The Radiance was published September 29, 2026. Ayad is touring 28 cities this fall, dates available here: https://ayadakhtar.com/

Tess Callahan is the author of the novels APRIL & OLIVER and DAWNLAND. She holds an MFA from Bennington College and is a certified Mindfulness Meditation teacher taught by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. She offers author interviews on her Substack: https://tesscallahan.substack.com, and guided meditations on her sister podcast Heart Haven Meditations, available on Apple, Spotify and elsewhere.

By tapping "like" and "follow" you help others find the show. Thank you for listening!

Host: Tess Callahan
Substack: Writers at the Well
Guided Meditation Podcast: Heart Haven Meditations
Meditations on Insight Timer
Meditations on ...

Novelist Tess Callahan interviews screenwriter, actress, and producer Hallie Shepherd about her debut novel Call Off the Dark, just out from HarperCollins. Shepherd’s dramatic and cinematic instincts are evident in this genre-bending gothic thriller/love story about a grieving young widow who reinvents herself as a tradwife in the dense woods of the Pacific Northwest. The novel is being adapted for TV by Warner Bros. and Berlanti Productions.

Shepherd is co-owner of Fireshoe Productions, whose films have featured Academy Award–winning actors and played in theaters across the United States. Her work as a writer and actor has appeared on Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, Amazon Prime, and Paramount Plus. She grew up on a farm in a small town in western Washington, the same landscape that inspired the setting of her novel. She lives in Los Angeles with her filmmaker husband, Eric Colley.

Tess Callahan is the author of the novels APRIL & OLIVER and DAWNLAND. She holds an MFA from Bennington College and is a certified Mindfulness Meditation teacher taught by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. She offers author interviews on her Substack: https://tesscallahan.substack.com, and guided meditations on her sister podcast Heart Haven Meditations, available on Apple, Spotify and elsewhere.

By tapping "like" and "follow" you help others find the show. Thank you for listening!

Host: Tess Callahan
Substack: Writers at the Well
Guided Meditation Podcast: Heart Haven Meditations
Meditations on Insight Timer
Meditations on ...