Lost Ladies of Lit

Nettie Jones — Fish Tales with Hannah Eko

Amy Helmes & Kim Askew Episode 298

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0:00 | 46:28

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First published in 1983 after being championed by Toni Morrison, Nettie Jones’s Fish Tales recounts one woman’s trauma-filled, hedonistic quest for personal freedom amidst a “Disco-Era,” drug-fuelled backdrop — one inspired by Jones’s own lived experiences in 1970s Detroit and New York City. Nigerian-American author and Lit Club founder Hannah Eko joins us to discuss the ways power, pleasure and pain converge in Jones’s transgressive work, which was reissued by Farrar Straus and Giroux in 2025

Mentioned in this episode:

Fish Tales by Nettie Jones

Honey is the Knife by Hannah Eko

The Lit Club’s 2026 event calendar

Toni Morrison

Village Well bookstore

Lucumi

Oshun

Charles Abramson

Jean Toomer

Longreads article on Nettie Jones by Michael Gonzalez

Numa Perrier

Zola film

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis

Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerny

Hunter S. Thompson

Anais Nin

Gayl Jones

The Hitachi Magic Wand

Yoruba Art

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