298. Nettie Jones — Fish Tales with Hannah Eko
First published in 1983 after being championed by Toni Morrison, Nettie Jones’s Fish Tales recounts one woman’s trauma-filled, hedonistic quest for personal freedom amidst a “Disco-Era,” drug-fuelled backdrop — one inspired by Jones’s own lived experiences in 1970s Detroit and New York City. Nigerian-American author and Lit Club founder Hannah Eko joins us to discuss the ways power, pleasure and pain converge in Jones’s transgressive work, which was reissued by Farrar Straus and Giroux in 2025
Mentioned in this episode:
Fish Tales by Nettie Jones
Honey is the Knife by Hannah Eko
The Lit Club’s 2026 event calendar
Village Well bookstore
Longreads article on Nettie Jones by Michael Gonzalez
Zola film
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerny
Lost Ladies of Lit Patreon page