New Books Network Podcast

MIT Press Podcast May 31, 2023

Neighbor George

Victoria Nelson

Hosted by MIT Press

Tariq Goddard (author, publisher and co-founder of Repeater Books) speaks with Victoria Nelson about her book Neighbor George. Do you know the language of the birds? Summer, 1979: A lonely …

Literature May 30, 2023

Our Lying Kin

Claudia Hagadus Long

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

The story of middle-aged sisters Zara and Lilly begins in Long’s fast-paced, first novel in this witty series, Nine Tenths of the Law, when Zara recognizes a family menorah in …

Literature May 28, 2023

Martha Moody

A Novel

Susan Stinson

Hosted by Kendall Dinniene

Winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award in Fiction, Susan Stinson's Martha Moody (Small Beer Press, 2020) is a speculative western that follows Amanda, a woman with a vibrant, sensuous imagination, as …

Burned by Books May 26, 2023

The Society of Shame

Jane Roper

Hosted by Chris Holmes

In this timely and witty combination of So You've Been Publicly Shamed and Where'd You Go, Bernadette? a viral photo of a politician's wife's "feminine hygiene malfunction" catapults her to …

The Common Magazine May 26, 2023

Reading the Ashes

The Common Magazine (Fall, 2022)

Robin Lee Carlson

Hosted by Emily Everett

Robin Lee Carlson speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her essay “Reading the Ashes,” which appears in The Common’s fall 2022 issue. Robin talks about the many-year process of …

Ukrainian Studies May 24, 2023

In the Hour of War

Poetry from Ukraine

Carolyn Forché and Ilya Kaminsky

Hosted by Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed

Ukraine may be the only country on earth that owes its existence, at least in part, to a poet. Ever since the appearance of Taras Shevchenko's Kobzar in 1840, poetry …

Literature May 23, 2023

After the Barricades

Jessica Stilling

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

Today I talked to Jessica Stilling about her new novel After the Barricades (DX Varos, 2023). After her mother dies in a tragic accident, Anna cleans out her closet and finds …

Literature May 23, 2023

As Long As I Know You

The Mom Book

Anne-Marie Oomen

Hosted by Megan Wildhood

In As Long As I Know You: The Mom Book (U Georgia Press, 2022), Ann-Marie Oomen offers a real-time narrative of walking her mother through dementia to the end of …

MIT Press Podcast May 23, 2023

Girls Against God

Jenny Hval

Hosted by MIT Press

Cathi Unsworth, journalist and author of Bad Penny Blues, as well as numerous other novels, speaks with artists and author Jenny Hval about her recent book Girls Against God. At …

Burned by Books May 19, 2023

The Disappeared

Stories

Andrew Porter

Hosted by Chris Holmes

A husband and wife hear a mysterious bump in the night. A father mourns the closeness he has lost with his son. A friendship with a married couple turns into …

Recall This Book May 18, 2023

David Plotz: Books in Dark Times (JP)

David Plotz

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz

Aside from being John’s (younger, suaver and beardier) brother, what has the inimitable David Plotz done lately? Only hosted “The Slate Political Gabfest“, written two books (“The Genius Factory” and …

Novel Dialogue May 18, 2023

The Meat and Bones of Life

A Discussion with Erika T. Wurth, Leif Sorensen, and Rebecca Evans

Erika T. Wurth, Leif Sorensen, and Rebecca Evans

Hosted by Novel Dialogue

Listen:

With the publication of her most recent novel, White Horse (Flatiron Books, 2022), Erika T. Wurth breaks from the realism that characterized her earlier fiction and ventures into horror. White …

Literature May 16, 2023

Hotel Cuba

A Novel

Aaron Hamburger

Hosted by G. P. Gottlieb

Today I talked to Aaron Hamburger about his new novel Hotel Cuba (Harper Perennial, 2023). Two sisters fleeing the horror of the Soviet Revolution and aftermath of WW1 are disappointed when …

Literature May 13, 2023

Sidle Creek

Jolene McIlwain

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In her debut short story collection, Sidle Creek (Melville House, 2023), Jolene McIlwain skillfully interrogates the myths and stereotypes of the mining, mill, and farming towns where she grew up. With stories …

Burned by Books May 12, 2023

The Dead are Gods

Eirinie Carson

Hosted by Chris Holmes

After an unexpected phone call on an early morning in 2018, writer and model Eirinie Carson learned of her best friend Larissa's death. In the wake of her shock, Eirinie …

Historical Fiction May 9, 2023

Out of Ireland

Marian O'Shea Wernicke

Hosted by C. P. Lesley

Today I talked to Marian O’Shea Wernicke about her new novel Out of Ireland (She Writes Press, 2023). Most people have heard of the Irish famine in 1848 and of the resistance movement …

Poetry May 9, 2023

Monarch

Heather Bourbeau

Hosted by Megan Wildhood

Heather Bourbeau’s poetry and fiction appeared in 100 Word Story, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Kenyon Review, Meridian, The Stockholm Review of Literature, and SWWIM. She is the winner of La …

Literature May 7, 2023

The World and All That It Holds

A Novel

Aleksandar Hemon

Hosted by AJ Woodhams

Today I talked to Aleksandar Hemon about his new novel The World and All That It Holds (MCD, 2023). As the Archduke Franz Ferdinand arrives in Sarajevo one June day in 1914 …

Science Fiction May 4, 2023

Descendant Machine

Gareth L. Powell

Hosted by Rob Wolf and Brenda Noiseux

Gareth L. Powell’s Descendant Machine (Titan Books, 2023) is set about 200 years in the future, and yet the recent explosion in A.I. technology suggests Powell’s imagined future—in which the …

Fantasy May 4, 2023

Loki

A Novel

Melvin Burgess

Hosted by Latoya Johnson

In his new novel Loki (Pegasus Books, 2023), Melvin Burgess follows the antics of Norse mythology’s trickster god as he takes the reader on a wild ride through legendary stories …