09: Mentorship, Jealousy, and Writing an Artist with Lydi Conklin

In this episode, writer Lydi Conklin chats with host Catherine LaSota about their first novel, Song of No Provenance (Catapult, 2025), and the many themes explored in this book: artists in community, teaching, mentorship, jealousy, creative competition, and, ultimately, the relationship of an artist (and the public) to their artwork and the artmaking process. Tune in to learn not only about Lydi's own process in making this book, but also for a wonderful and informative conversation on what it means to grow as an artist and build a creative life!

About our guest:
Lydi Conklin has received a Stegner Fellowship, four Pushcart Prizes, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, a Creative Writing Fulbright in Poland, a grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation, and fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo, Bread Loaf, Sewanee Writers Conference, Emory University, Hedgebrook, Djerassi, the James Merrill House, Lighthouse Works, and elsewhere. Their fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, One Story, McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction,and VQR. They have drawn cartoons for The New Yorker and Narrative Magazine, and graphic fiction for The Believer, Lenny Letter, and the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. They’ve served as the Helen Zell Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan and are now an Assistant Professor of Fiction at Vanderbilt University. Their story collection, Rainbow Rainbow, was longlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Award and The Story Prize. Their novel, Songs of No Provenance, is out from Catapult in the US and Vintage in the UK.

More about Lydi:
website: lydiconklin.com

Instagram: @lydiconklin

Twitter/X: @lydiconklin

Bluesky: lydiconklin.bsky.social

Thanks for listening to Feed the Art!
Learn more about Catherine LaSota's offerings as a creativity coach at catherinelasota.com.
Looking for more ways to feed your art? Join Catherine's occasional newsletter, full of stories, prompts, inspirations, and resources, here.

Thank you to our podcast editor Jade Iseri-Ramos, and thank you to Pat Irwin for our theme music.