Burned by Books

Burned by Books

episodes

A podcast for writers and readers who are obsessive about their books. Interviews with established and up-and-coming writers, and recommendations for the best in contemporary fiction, poetry, and drama. Hosted by Chris Holmes. Chris is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. You can visit the "Burned by Books" website here.

S J. Naudé, "Fathers and Fugitives" (Europa, 2024)

September 23, 2024

Fathers and Fugitives

S J. Naudé
Hosted by Chris Holmes

Daniel is a worldly and urbane journalist living in London. His relationships appear to be sexually fulfilling but sentimentally meager. A young gay m…

Rachel Kushner, "Creation Lake" (Scribner, 2024)

September 16, 2024

Creation Lake

Rachel Kushner
Hosted by Chris Holmes

Creation Lake (Scribner, 2024) is a novel about a secret agent, a thirty-four-year-old American woman of ruthless tactics, bold opinions, and clean be…

Mary Jones, "The Goodbye Process" (Zibby Books, 2024)

September 10, 2024

The Goodbye Process

Mary Jones
Hosted by Chris Holmes

In her stunning debut short story collection, The Goodbye Process (Zibby Books, 2024), Mary Jones uses her distinctive voice to examine the painful an…

Kaliane Bradley, "The Ministry of Time" (Avid Reader Press, 2024)

September 6, 2024

The Ministry of Time

Kaliane Bradley
Hosted by Chris Holmes

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she'll be working on. A recently …

Chelsea Bieker, "Madwoman" (Little, Brown, 2024)

September 3, 2024

Madwoman

Chelsea Bieker
Hosted by Chris Holmes

Today I talked to Chelsea Biker about her novel Madwoman (Little, Brown, 2024). Clove has gone to extremes to keep her past a secret. Thanks to her l…

C. Michelle Lindley, "The Nude" (Atria Books, 2024)

August 30, 2024

The Nude

C. Michelle Lindley
Hosted by Chris Holmes

1999: An island off the southern coast of Greece. Art historian Elizabeth Clarke arrives with the intent to acquire a rare female sculpture. But what …

Jessica Anthony, "The Most" (Little, Brown, 2024)

August 16, 2024

The Most

Jessica Anthony
Hosted by Chris Holmes

It's November 3, 1957. As Sputnik 2 launches into space, carrying Laika, the doomed Soviet dog, a couple begin their day. Virgil Beckett, an insurance…

Cally Fiedorek, "Atta Boy" (U Iowa Press, 2024)

August 9, 2024

Atta Boy

Cally Fiedorek
Hosted by Chris Holmes

In December 2018, we meet Rudy Coyle, a bar owner's son from Flushing, Queens, in the throes of a major quarter-life crisis. Cut out of the family bus…

Megan Nolan, "Ordinary Human Failings" (Little, Brown, 2024)

August 6, 2024

Ordinary Human Failings

Megan Nolan
Hosted by Chris Holmes

It's 1990 in London and Tom Hargreaves has it all: a burgeoning career as a reporter, fierce ambition and a brisk disregard for the "peasants" -- ordi…

Laura van den Berg, "State of Paradise" (FSG, 2024)

August 2, 2024

State of Paradise

Laura van den Berg
Hosted by Chris Holmes

It's another summer in a small Florida town. After an illness that vanishes as mysteriously as it arrived, everything appears to be getting back to no…

Aysegül Savas, "The Anthropologists" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

July 30, 2024

The Anthropologists

Aysegül Savas
Hosted by Chris Holmes

Asya and Manu are looking at apartments, envisioning their future in a foreign city. What should their life here look like? What rituals will structur…

Anthony Di Renzo, "Pasquinades: Essays from Rome's Famous Talking Statue" (Cayuga Lake Books, 2023)

July 18, 2024

Pasquinades

Anthony Di Renzo
Hosted by Chris Holmes

Anthony Di Renzo's Pasquinades: Essays from Rome's Famous Talking Statue (Cayuga Lake Books, 2023) is the most audacious guide to Rome you will ever r…

Iris Mwanza, "The Lions' Den" (Graydon House, 2024)

July 4, 2024

The Lions' Den

Iris Mwanza
Hosted by Chris Holmes

A missing boy. A corrupt system. A case that could change everything...When young queer dancer Wilbess "Bessy" Mulenga is arrested by corrupt police, …

Rachel Khong, "Real Americans" (Knopf, 2024)

June 17, 2024

Real Americans

Rachel Khong
Hosted by Chris Holmes

Real Americans (Knopf, 2024) begins on the precipice of Y2K in New York City, when twenty-two-year-old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media co…

Kimberly King Parsons, "We Were the Universe" (Knopf, 2024)

June 12, 2024

We Were the Universe

Kimberly King Parsons
Hosted by Chris Holmes

The trip was supposed to be fun. When Kit's best friend gets dumped by his boyfriend, he begs her to ditch her family responsibilities for an idyllic …

Jennine Capó Crucet, "Say Hello to My Little Friend" (Simon and Schuster, 2024)

June 3, 2024

Say Hello to My Little Friend

Jennine Capó Crucet
Hosted by Chris Holmes

Failed Pitbull impersonator Ismael Reyes--you can call him Izzy--might not be the Scarface type, but why should that keep him from trying? Growing up …

Jennifer Savran Kelly, "Endpapers" (Algonquin Books, 2023)

May 31, 2024

Endpapers

Jennifer Savran Kelly
Hosted by Chris Holmes

It's 2003, and artist Dawn Levit is stuck. A bookbinder who works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she spends all day repairing old books but hasn't…

Gina Chung, "Green Frog: Stories" (Vintage, 2024)

May 29, 2024

Green Frog

Gina Chung
Hosted by Chris Holmes

From the author of Sea Change comes Green Frog: Stories (Vintage, 2024) a short story collection that explores Korean American womanhood, bodies, anim…

Nell Freudenberger, "The Limits" (Knopf, 2024)

April 2, 2024

The Limits

Nell Freudenberger
Hosted by Chris Holmes

The most thrilling work yet from the best-selling, prize-winning author of The Newlyweds and Lost and Wanted, a stunning new novel set in French Polyn…

Marie Mutsuki Mockett, "The Tree Doctor" (Graywolf Press, 2024)

March 23, 2024

The Tree Doctor

Marie Mutsuki Mockett
Hosted by Chris Holmes

When the unnamed narrator of Marie Mutsuki Mockett's stirring second novel returns to Carmel, California, to care for her mother, she finds herself st…