New Books Network

African American Studies August 11, 2022

Or, on Being the Other Woman

Simone White

Hosted by Brittney Edmonds

In or, on being the other woman (Duke UP, 2022), Simone White considers the dynamics of contemporary black feminist life. Throughout this book-length poem, White writes through a hybrid of …

Science Fiction August 11, 2022

The Women Could Fly

Megan Giddings

Hosted by Rob Wolf

The Women Could Fly (Amistad, 2022) is set in our contemporary world with one big difference. A belief in witches gives rise to laws and a culture that encourages women …

Children's Literature August 11, 2022

The Light of the Midnight Stars

Rena Rossner

Hosted by Mel Rosenberg

Rena Rossner is a literary agent at The Deborah Harris Agency, based in Jerusalem, Israel, which represents Israeli, Palestinian and other Internationally-based authors. She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins …

Literature August 9, 2022

The Extraordinary

Brad Schaeffer

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

The Extraordinary by Brad Schaeffer (Post Hill Press 2021) tells the story of a family that is forced to confront both autism and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Fourteen-year-old Wes is …

Burned by Books August 9, 2022

Vladimir

A Novel

Julia May Jonas

Hosted by Chris Holmes

Julia May Jonas is a writer, director, and the founder of theater company Nellie Tinder. She has taught at Skidmore College and NYU and lives in Brooklyn with her family …

Burned by Books August 5, 2022

The Last White Man

A Novel

Mohsin Hamid

Hosted by Chris Holmes

Mohsin Hamid is the author of five novels -- The Last White Man, Exit West, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and Moth Smoke -- …

The Common Magazine August 5, 2022

Three Omens of Federico da Montefeltro

The Common magazine (Spring, 2022)

Ben Stroud

Hosted by Emily Everett

Ben Stroud speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his story “Three Omens of Federico da Montefeltro,” which appears in The Common’s spring issue. The story fictionalizes a moment in …

Literature August 2, 2022

Iconoclast

A Sean McPherson Novel

Laurie Buchanan

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

A trained killer without a drop of human compassion shows up early in Laurie Buchanan’s second Sean McPherson thriller (Iconoclast (Spark Press 2022)). She has no problem murdering a woman …

Literature July 28, 2022

Where are the Snows

Poems

Kathleen Rooney

Hosted by Eric LeMay

Hello, this is Eric LeMay, a host on New Books in Literature, a channel on the New Books Network. Today I interview Kathleen Rooney about her new collection of poems, Where …

Literature July 26, 2022

Home So Far Away

A Novel

Judith Berlowitz

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

After author Judith Berlowitz found both Gestapo and Soviet records about a relative named Klara Philpsborn, she began thinking about writing Home So Far Away (She Writes Press 2022). Set …

Burned by Books July 26, 2022

Fellowship Point: A Novel

A Novel

Alice Elliott Dark

Hosted by Chris Holmes

Alice Elliott Dark is the author of the novels Fellowship Point and Think of England, and two collections of short stories, In The Gloaming and Naked to the Waist. Her …

The Vault July 25, 2022

Learning to Drive

A Talk by Katha Pollitt

Katha Pollitt

Hosted by New York Institute for the Humanities

A longtime Institute member, Katha Pollitt is an American poet, essayist and critic. She is the author of four essay collections and two books of poetry. Her column for The …

The Common Magazine July 22, 2022

The Woman in the Well

The Common magazine (Spring, 2022)

Anu Kumar

Hosted by Emily Everett

Anu Kumar speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her essay “The Woman in the Well,” which appears in The Common’s spring issue. Anu talks about the vivid memories from …

Recall This Book July 21, 2022

Pu Wang and John Plotz Look Back on their Cixin Liu Interview

Pu Wang and John Plotz

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz

Our first August rebroadcast was John and Pu's 2019 interview with SF superstar Cixin Liu (you may want to re-listen to that episode before this one!). Here, they reflect on …

Ukrainian Studies July 21, 2022

Mondegreen

Songs about Death and Love

Volodymyr Rafeyenko

Hosted by Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed

Today I talked to Mark Andryczyk, translator of Volodymyr Rafeyenko’s novel Mondegreen: Songs about Death and Love (Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 2022). A mondegreen is something that is heard improperly by someone …

Historical Fiction July 21, 2022

The Falcon's Eyes

A Novel

Francesca Stanfill

Hosted by C. P. Lesley

Twelfth-century Europe was not a good time or place to be born female. Even queens had few rights, garnered little respect, and were tolerated largely for their ability to produce …

Literature July 20, 2022

The Wrong Woman

A Novel

Leanne Kale Sparks

Hosted by Deidre Tyler

Today I talked to Leanne Kale Sparks, author of The Wrong Woman: A Novel (Crooked Lane Books, 2022). The only survivor of Denver's notorious "Reaper" serial murders, FBI Special Agent Kendall Beck grapples …

Literature July 19, 2022

This Place That Place

Nandita Dinesh

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

A nameless young woman from This Place, and a nameless young man from That Place are stuck together when That Place, the occupying force, imposes another curfew on This …

Burned by Books July 15, 2022

Rebecca van Laer, "How to Adjust to the Dark" (Long Day, 2022) & Shannon McLeod, "Whimsy" (Long Day, 2021)

A Discussion with Rebecca van Laer and Shannon McLeod

Rebecca van Laer and Shannon McLeod

Hosted by Chris Holmes

Rebecca van Laer’s writing appears in TriQuarterly Review, joyland, Columbia journal, the Florida review, Salamander, Hobart, mokeybicycle, electric literature and elsewhere. She holds a PhD in English from Brown University …

Science Fiction July 14, 2022

The Peacekeeper

B. L. Blanchard

Hosted by Brenda Noiseux

The rich worldbuilding of a never-colonized North America sets the stage for this unusual murder mystery debut by B. L. Blanchard. Chibenashi is a broken man. He’s a peacekeeper for …