99.1 WQRT-LP Indianapolis

Readers will find a whole lot of characters riding The Paris Express, Emma Donaghue’s latest historical novel. How much fun is it to ride with them? Barb Shoup, Laurel Judkins, Kate Shoup, and Ken Honeywell have opinions on the December 2025 edition of Radio Free Book Club.

Lee Alig and Steve Mannheimer interview Big Car Collaborative’s Jim Walker and Shauta Marsh. Hear how the Contemporary Art Museum of Indianapolis (CAMi) is emerging as a cultural campus in the Garfield Park neighborhood—the culmination of Big Car’s 10-year vision.

Real Life, Revised - A reading series of "stories, poems & other truths" featuring Indiana writers and produced by Sam Ferrante and John Strauss, with the support of Indiana Humanities, the Butler University MFA Program in Creative Writing, and WQRT Radio, part of the Garfield Park Creative Community from Big Car Collaborative. This show was recorded Dec. 14, 2025. Our next live event, featuring invited readers and open-mic opportunities, is Jan. 18 at 4 p.m. at Indiana Humanities, 1500 N. Delaware St. in Indianapolis. Real Life, Revised No. 3, Dec. 14, 2025. 00:05 - Auboni open 00:25 - Sam Ferrante open 02:02 - Auboni 05:56 - Steve Berta 10:40 - Ebony Chappel 16:50 - Tracy Mishkin 20:15 - Nasreen Khan 24:30 - Ariana Beedie 29:40 - Marissa Dooley 34:00 - Januarie York 39:13 - Kandace w/ a K 42:45 - Sam Reflection 43:45 - Sam Close 44:23 - Music Out

00:00 - Sam Ferrante Open 01:50 - Thanks WQRT/Big Car, Butler, Indiana Humanities 04:18 - Sam reads Burning Haibun by torrin a. greathouse 07:00 - Mitchell L. H. Douglas 10:50 - Jane Ristine Hixon 16:40 - Rosaleen Crowley 19:53 - Samantha Fain 23:20 - Anastacia Cohen 29:40 - Vinny Corsaro 35:40 - Aaron Thomas 39:12 - Monica Lewis 45:50 - Kenneth Foran 51:23 - Sam Close and December preview 51:50 - MFA, Indiana Humanities, and Booth Thanks 53:14 - Megan Telligman, Indiana Humanities 53:51 - John Strauss, Close 54:17 - Music Out

Hear a discussion between Kimi Katada, curator at Kansas City’s Charlotte Street, and artist Amy Kligman as they discuss Amy’s exhibition ‘Shrines of the Luminous Halo’.

FLICK FIX | BUGONIA | with Anne Laker & Tracy Ball Five-time Flick Fix guest and queen of rabbit holes Tracy Ball eats up the full-throttle sci-fi absurdity of Stone and Plemons in BUGONIA (2025, dir. Yorgos Lanthimos), while Anne reflects on the film’s politics. Discussed: Christian Louboutin shoes, self-delusion, KILL BILL, Noxema, crafting, and AIR FORCE ONE. Tracy rewinds to the golden age of sci-fi TV with THE TWILIGHT ZONE (1959-64) and THE OUTER LIMITS (1963-65) for the segment *YOU'VE NEVER SEEN*.

Radio Free Book Club - A university researcher in a dystopian 2119 searches for a famous poem that was read only once and disappeared without a trace. That’s the intriguing subject of Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know—which is the subject of the November 2025 meeting of Radio Free Book Club. Steve Woods, Christine Hudson, and Craig Von Deylen join Ken Honeywell for the discussion.

Lee Alig and Steve Mannheimer interview authors and photographers, Phillip Cox and Niall Cronin. Their new book, “What a Building Does: The Hoosier Modernisms of Evans Woollen,” expands the narrative of modern architecture and its legacy in the American Midwest.

Real Life, Revised - A reading series of stories, poems & other truths featuring Indiana writers and produced by Sam Ferrante and John Strauss, with the support of Indiana Humanities, the Butler University MFA Program in Creative Writing, and WQRT. This show was recorded Oct. 26, 2025. Other shows in the "Real Life" series, which include featured readers and open mic slots, are scheduled for Nov. 9 and Dec. 14 at Indiana Humanities, 1500 N. Delaware St. in Indianapolis. 00:11 - Sam Ferrante, Open 01:24 - Booth: A Journal shout-out and contest promo 03:39 - "Hummingbird" by Fady Joudah read by Sam 04:49 - Scoot Swain 10:56 - Logan Taylor 16:00 - Taylor Lewandowski 20:36 - D'Mon Jones 25:27 - David Strange 29:03 - Jennifer DelGadillo 34:49 - JD Amick 40:03 - Imani Lehté 45:46 - Cayden 49:54 - Sam Ferrante, Wrapup 50:55 - Megan Telligman, Indiana Humanities 52:25 - John Strauss, Close 52:54 - Music Out

Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita has been described as a moral fable, a moral outrage, a censor’s temptation, a formal maze, a parody, an exposé of male desire, a resplendent romance, a catalog of sexual abuse, a redemption tale, and a black comedy. How do you deal with all that? Ken Honeywell asked writers Susan Neville, Dan Barden, Anne Laker to give it a try on this month’s meeting of Radio Free Book Club.

Lee Alig and Steve Mannheimer talk to Scott Travis, vice president of development for Simon Property Group, They discuss the 50-year evolution of retail design and development, from urban/suburban to total live-work-play destinations.

HIGHEST 2 LOWEST | guest: Jarrod Dortch | air date 9/13/25 | FLICK FIX | WQRTDr. Dortch offers some tough love for both Spike and Denzel in a wide-ranging confab with Anne re: HIGHEST 2 LOWEST (2025, dir. Spike Lee) — an action-packed moral quagmire of class, money, and murky redemption.Jarrod’s *YOU'VE NEVER SEEN* pick is HIGH AND LOW (1963, dir. Akira Kurosawa), Spike Lee’s springboard for his 21st-century reinterpretation.

On this month’s episode, Ken Honeywell reunites the team of Radio Free Book Club members Robin Beery, Jen Bingham, and Alex Mattingly to deal with the many bad decisions made by the cast of Jess Walter’s latest novel, So Far Gone. Have you read it? Join us for the discussion.

Indianapolis-based visual artist Jamila Martin discusses her ongoing photographic project, Caregiver’s Journey, and the 2025 Aurora Workspace Residency with Mary Goodwin, Director at Aurora PhotoCenter. Caregiver’s Journey documents the lives of those who care for loved ones with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Jamila Marin has a BFA in Photography, with additional studies in Psychology and Art History, from Indiana University, South Bend. She is also the sole proprietor, designer, and photographer for the company Eye4Design.

In this episode of Create Hear, Big Car Collaborative Co-founder & Director of Programs & Exhibitions Shauta Marsh speak with guest curator Yashi Davalos about her practice and curating her upcoming exhibit SOMA at Tube Factory artspace.

Flick Fix: SORRY, BABY Artists Megan Hart and Rachel Leigh huddle with Anne to dish on the dark corners, goofy laughs, and flat wit of SORRY, BABY (2025, dir. Eva Victor), a no-filter, post-#MeToo story of will, irony, and healing on one’s own terms in a world of friends, strangers, and stray cats. And also a mouse.

Lens-based artist Shawn Bush speaks with Mary Goodwin from Aurora PhotoCenter about his series Land, Sea & Air, his August 2025 Aurora + Herron Residency in Indianapolis, publishing photobooks, and being an artist/educator/father. Land, Sea & Air uses layering and collage techniques to explore how corporations and governments use visual media to shape public opinion and policy regarding critical issues, including climate change, while simultaneously downplaying the dangers and their own role in creating crisis.

Flick Fix: SORRY, BABY Artists Megan Hart and Rachel Leigh huddle with Anne to dish on the dark corners, goofy laughs, and flat wit of SORRY, BABY (2025, dir. Eva Victor), a no-filter, post-#MeToo story of will, irony, and healing on one’s own terms in a world of friends, strangers, and stray cats. And also a mouse.

Lee Alig and Steve Mannheimer talk to Bill Brooks, editor and publisher of the downtown Indianapolis newsletter, Urban Times. “The lowdown on Indy’s historic neighborhoods” is now in its 31st year. They discuss urban sociology and the evolution of downtown Indy through the lens of a newsman.

Lee Alig and Steve Mannheimer talk with Emily Krueger, President and CEO of 16 Tech Innovation District, about what it takes to lay the groundwork for Indianapolis’ future economy.