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