This week on The Working Songwriter, we’re thrilled to step out of our normal comfort zone by welcoming one of the country’s most acclaimed young novelists. Originally from Mount Vernon, Ohio, author Stephen Markley now makes his home in Los Angeles. He attended Miami University (of Ohio) for his undergraduate degree before being accepted into the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
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Simon & Schuster published his debut novel, Ohio, in 2018. The book was widely praised for its unflinching portrait of post-9/11 Rust Belt America. Then, in 2023, he returned with the massively popular novel, The Deluge, a work of ficiton about climate change that The New York Times named as one of its notable books. The NYT Book Review also said that, “The Deluge shows the range of its author’s gifts: polyphonic narration, silken sentences and elaborate world-building.”
Of the same book none other than Stephen King said, “[It is] simply put a modern classic. If you read it you’ll never forget it.” He also named it as the favorite book he had read the year that he read it.
Markley also works as a screenwriter in LA as a member of the writers room for the Hulu comedy series Only Murders in the Building, which stars Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Selena Gomez.
What a thrill it is to welcome onto the show such a profoundly talented artist who falls outside our normal realm of expertise… I think there’s a lot for songwriters to learn on this cross-discipline episode of the podcast.
Photo Credit: Michael Amico
