Peter Coviello is Professor of English at the University of Illinois–Chicago, where he specializes in American literature and queer studies. He’s the author of several books, including Tomorrow’s Parties: Sex and the Untimely in Nineteenth-Century America (2013), which was a finalist for a Lambda Award in LGBT Studies. His most recent book is Long Players: A Love Story in Eighteen Songs, out now from Penguin. He has written about queer childhood, Mormon polygamy, the history of sexuality, stepparenthood, Justin Bieber, Walt Whitman, and, whenever he’s had occasion to, Prince. He lives in Chicago.

Peter and Michael talk about building love with rituals, songs as archives for feelings, the difficulty of grief and consolation, the nature of prayer, and punk music as the place where rage can transmute into joy.