After a lengthy summer absence (we had a lot on our plate), the infamous Tin House Podcast returns with a fantastic lecture on dialogue from our good friend (and literary crush) Dorothy Allison.

Gifted with a voice that could command an audience in any era, Dorothy treated the participants of this past summer’s Tin House Writer’s Workshop to a spirited discussion (you can listen here) on how characters should speak on the page.  Not only ‘he said, she said, none of them said a thing’, but a whole range of language issues–what is said and not said, dialect and rhythm, pacing, patterns in speech, and most importantly, the language of gesture and avoidance.

Yes, there was a bit of cursing involved in the lecture, but to be cursed at by Dorothy Allison is an experience to be treasured. Trust us, we have firsthand experience.