Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud
Oct 9, 2026 · 15 min · 8 segments
This week, Canadian writer Anne Carson was announced as the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her masterpiece, Autobiography of Red, changed literature. Heated Rivalry creator Jacob Tierney…
Jacob TierneyGuest
Elamin AbdelmahmoudHostOkay, first of all, I should describe to folks who are listening on the radio, you're literally jumping up and down as you talk about Anne Carson, and I, I-
Okay, you're bouncing up and down in your bouncy chair because of Anne Carson.
... that's the, that's the kind of reaction that I think she engenders, and it makes sense to me, because I'm just gonna read you-
Like, when they give, when giving her the citation, they said, you know, "For playful dialogue with the cla- with the classical tradition, she's created new forms for contemporary literature." I mean, like, the-
... recognition is being like, "Oh, she just did a thing that no one had done before with language." Like, that's-
Well, and I think, and, and a way of, uh, and, and history and structure, like, structure to me is always the kind of final frontier.
I saw this, uh, interview with her recently where she, somebody asked her about, like, recommen- "What is your recommendation to young writers or new writers?" And she, she said, "Start in the middle-"
Okay, first of all, I should describe to folks who are listening on the radio, you're literally jumping up and down as you talk about Anne Carson, and I, I-
Okay, you're bouncing up and down in your bouncy chair because of Anne Carson.
... that's the, that's the kind of reaction that I think she engenders, and it makes sense to me, because I'm just gonna read you-
Like, when they give, when giving her the citation, they said, you know, "For playful dialogue with the cla- with the classical tradition, she's created new forms for contemporary literature." I mean, like, the-
... recognition is being like, "Oh, she just did a thing that no one had done before with language." Like, that's-
Well, and I think, and, and a way of, uh, and, and history and structure, like, structure to me is always the kind of final frontier.
I saw this, uh, interview with her recently where she, somebody asked her about, like, recommen- "What is your recommendation to young writers or new writers?" And she, she said, "Start in the middle-"
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