The Big Idea

Fiction doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It lives in dialogue with every other human endeavor: psychology, science, philosophy, politics, music, and everything in between. The Big Idea pairs novelists with thought leaders from other fields for wide-ranging moderated conversations about the big ideas we all wrestle with in contemporary life. Their crackling, unpredictable exchanges will enlighten and entertain audiences and connect contemporary novels to the broader world.

Reality TV is the ultimate cultural lightning rod. Love it or hate it, it fuels our obsessions with fame, authenticity, and fulfillment. For the latest installment of The Big Idea, we’ll pair two-time Survivor contestant and debut novelist Stephen Fishbach, author of Escape!, with Pop Culture Happy Hour’s Linda Holmes. In a conversation moderated by Chris Klimek, they’ll dive into the dramatic, larger-than-life world of survival reality TV: why contestants subject themselves to its gut-wrenching challenges–and why viewers can’t look away. 

After the program, we’ll have a book signing with sales from our season-long partner, East City Bookshop. 

Stephen Fishbach is a bestselling novelist and Pushcart Prize-winning short story writer. His novel Escape! was an instant national bestseller and received praise in the Atlantic, Slate, Los Angeles Review of Books, People, and many others.  Through Stephen’s corporate work, he has tried to use media superpowers for positive social change. At MTV and Logo TV, he worked on campaigns that used those channels’ broad reach to raise awareness about discrimination, marriage equality, and school violence.In 2008, he was runner-up on the TV show Survivor, and in 2015, he was voted by fans to return for an all star season of the show. He is currently the cohost of the podcast Survivor Know-It-Alls. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and two children.

Chris Klimek has written for The Washington Post, The Washington City Paper, NPR, Vulture, The Atlantic, Slate, and Rolling Stone. He is the host of the podcast Movie Death Match and a frequent panelist on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour.

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