Join award-winning writer Erika Krouse as she dives into this eternal question: is talent really that important for success?

Talent is Cheaper than Table Salt with award-winning writer Erika Krouse

Join the writer Erika Krouse for an exploration of literary and recognized talent—what it might be, what it pretends to be, what it most definitely isn’t. What has talent meant in literary history and how have authors even manufactured their talent from dubious means? Talent is often the expected ingredient for success, but Krouse will examine this misconception with comedy and good humor and will show us how even talent can be replicated or improved.

Erika Krouse’s newest short story collection, Save Me, Stranger (Flatiron Books) was called “a dozen little masterpieces” by Adam Johnson, “remarkable” by Ann Beattie, and Louise Erdrich said, “Read these stories with a buddy, because someone will have to scrape you off the floor.” “Eat My Moose” from the collection is the winner of the 2025 Edgar Award for Best Short Story, and will be included in 2025 Best Mystery Stories of the Year and The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2025. Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation (March 2022, Flatiron Books): winner of the 2023 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, the Colorado Book Award for Creative Nonfiction, and the Housatonic Book Award for Nonfiction. Tell Me Everything is also a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a Book of the Month Club pick, a People Magazine People Pick, named “Best Nonfiction of 2022” by BookPage and Kirkus Reviews, and “Best 10 Books of 2022” by both Slate & Jezebel.