New Books Network
Literature
Literature October 27, 2020

Death of the Chinese Field Hands

Anne Louise Bannon

Hosted by Galit Gottlieb
When Anne Louise Bannon heard her husband, then archivist for the City of Los Angeles, speak about the how early Angelenos dug a large ditch (a zanja) to cull water …

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Literature October 23, 2020

Underground, Monroe, and the Mamalogues

Three Plays

Lisa B. Thompson

Hosted by Andy Boyd
Lisa B. Thompson is equally renowned as a scholar of African and African-American studies and as a playwright. Her latest book Underground, Monroe, and the Mamalogues: Three Plays (Northwestern University …
Literature October 21, 2020

Of Bears and Ballots

An Alaskan Adventure in Small-Town Politics

Heather Lende

Hosted by Christina Gessler
Heather Lende was one of the thousands of women inspired to take a more active role in politics during the past few years. Though her entire campaign for assembly member …
Literature October 21, 2020

Once I Was You

A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America

Maria Hinojosa

Hosted by David-James Gonzales
Maria Hinojosa is an award-winning journalist who, for nearly thirty years, has reported on stories and communities in America that often go ignored by the mainstream media—from tales of hope …
Literature October 20, 2020

Leave It Raw

Shakira Croce

Hosted by Athena Dixon
Like a storm waiting to break over a plain, Shakira Croce pulls at tensions and heartstrings in a debut collection filled with longing, wit, and intelligence. Through masterful imagery, Croce …
Literature October 19, 2020

Stone Motel

Memoirs of a Cajun Boy

Morris Ardoin

Hosted by John Marszalek III
In the summers of the early 1970s, Morris Ardoin and his siblings helped run their family's roadside motel in a hot, buggy, bayou town in Cajun Louisiana. The stifling, sticky …
Literature October 13, 2020

The Last Interview

Eshkol Nevo

Hosted by Galit Gottlieb
Eshkol Novo's The Last Interview was published in Hebrew in 2018 and was at the top of Israel’s bestseller list for 30 weeks. It is currently on the short list …
Historical Fiction October 13, 2020

Atomic Love

Jennie Fields

Hosted by Galit Gottlieb
Inspired by Leona Woods, the only woman who worked on the Manhattan Project, Atomic Love (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2020) tells the story of Rosalind Porter, a physicist recruited by …
Literature October 9, 2020

The Names of All the Flowers

A Memoir

Melissa Valentine

Hosted by Christina Gessler
Set in rapidly gentrifying 1990s Oakland, this memoir explores siblinghood, adolescence, and grief in a family shattered by loss. Melissa Valentine and her older brother Junior grow up running around …
Fantasy October 9, 2020

The Sisters Grimm

Menna Van Praag

Hosted by Gabrielle Mathieu
Today I talked to Menna Van Praag about her new book The Sisters Grimm (Harper Voyager, 2020)... In a set up reminiscent of the show Orphan Black, four feisty young …
Literature October 8, 2020

The Constant Rabbit

Jasper Fforde

Hosted by Rob Wolf
In Jasper Fforde’s The Constant Rabbit (Viking, 2020), residents of the United Kingdom live among human-sized anthropomorphized rabbits. The rabbits make fine citizens—more than fine, in fact. They in live …
Literature October 7, 2020

The Bear

Andrew Krivak

Hosted by Yakir Englander
A cautionary tale of human fragility, of love and loss, The Bear (Bellevue Literary Press) is a stunning tribute to the beauty of nature’s dominion. In an Edenic future, a …
Literature October 6, 2020

A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son

Sergio Troncoso

Hosted by Galit Gottlieb
A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son (Cinco Puntos Press, 2020) is a collection of linked short stories, which Luis Alberto Urrea called “a world-class collection.” The book won the Kay …
Historical Fiction October 6, 2020

Midnight Fire

P. K. Adams

Hosted by Carolyn Pouncy
Most novels about the sixteenth century written in English take place in Italy, France, or England—with the occasional foray into Spain or Portugal. P. K. Adams’ Jagiellonian Mystery series is …
Literature October 5, 2020

The Red Shirt

Corey Sobel

Hosted by Galit Gottlieb
At first, Miles Furling plays football to fit in. By eighth grade he realizes that he is both gay and a football player. After an unsuccessful attempt at honesty, he …
Literature October 5, 2020

Freedom Knows My Name

Kelly Harris-DeBerry

Hosted by Athena Dixon
In Freedom Knows My Name (Xavier Review Press, 2020), Kelly Harris-DeBerry creates the world anew from scraps of memories and rhythm. She bounces between the pages, as well as the …
Literature October 1, 2020

Seconds and Inches

Carly Israel

Hosted by Eric LeMay
Today I interview Carly Israel about her bold new memoir, Seconds and Inches (Jaded Ibis Press). In the opening sentence of her introduction, Israel writes, “My last name, Israel, means …
Literature September 25, 2020

Hysteria

Jessica Gross

Hosted by Christopher Russell
“But creative writers are valuable allies and their evidence is to be prized highly for they are apt to know a whole host of things between heaven and earth of …
Historical Fiction September 24, 2020

Estelle

Linda Stewart Henley

Hosted by Carolyn Pouncy
Most people think of Edgar Degas as a French painter of ballerinas. But few have heard that his mother came from New Orleans or that he spent five months in …