New Books Network Podcast

Literary Studies March 10, 2023

Botanical Poetics

Early Modern Plant Books and the Husbandry of Print

Jessica Rosenberg

Hosted by John Yargo

Today’s guest is Jessica Rosenberg, who is the author of a new book titled Botanical Poetics: Early Modern Plant Books and the Husbandry of Print (U Pennsylvania Press, 2022). An …

Italian Studies March 2, 2023

Veronica Franco in Dialogue

Marilyn Migiel

Hosted by Kate Driscoll

Since the late twentieth century, the Venetian courtesan Veronica Franco has been viewed as a triumphant proto-feminist icon: a woman who celebrated her sexuality, an outspoken champion of women and …

Ukrainian Studies February 17, 2023

Today is a Different War

Lyudmyla Khersonska

Hosted by Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed

Today is a Different War (Arrowsmith Press, 2023) is Lyudmyla Khersonska's striking portrayal of life from inside war-torn Ukraine. Masterfully translated into English by Olga Livshin, Andrew Janco, Maya Chhabra, and …

Jewish Studies January 30, 2023

Anthology of Religious Poetry from the Mexican Inquisition Trials of 16th-Century CryptoJews

Mark A. Schneegurt

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

A century after being expelled from Portugal, cryptoJews in Mexico, false converts to Christianity, could not speak of their beliefs for fear of becoming embroiled in the imprisonment, torture, and …

Poetry January 29, 2023

Hereafter

The Telling Life of Ellen O'Hara

Vona Groarke

Hosted by Hal Coase

Ellen O'Hara was a young immigrant from Ireland at the end of the nineteenth century who, with courage and resilience, made a life for herself in New York while financially …

African American Studies January 28, 2023

Soundworks

Race, Sound, and Poetry in Production

Anthony Reed

Hosted by Henry Ivry

In Soundworks: Race, Sound, and Poetry in Production (Duke UP, 2020), Anthony Reed argues that studying sound requires conceiving it as process and as work. Since the long Black Arts …

Nomads, Past and Present January 27, 2023

Words Like Daggers: The Political Poetry of the Negev Bedouin

Kobi Peled

Hosted by Maggie Freeman

For generations, the composition and recitation of poetry has been a key mode of expression among Bedouin populations in the Middle East, reflecting social norms, religious practices, relationships with the …

Jewish Studies January 12, 2023

The Religious Poetry of El'azar Ben Ya'aqov Ha-Bavli (Baghdad, 13th C.)

Wout J. van Bekkum

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Wout J. van Bekkum's The Religious Poetry of El'azar Ben Ya'aqov Ha-Bavli (Baghdad, 13th C.) (Brill, 2022) is a comprehensive edition of Hebrew hymns composed by Eleazar the Babylonian, a prolific …

Islamic Studies January 6, 2023

An Evening with a Sufi

Afsar Mohammad

Hosted by Shobhana Xavier

Afsar Mohammad's An Evening with a Sufi (Red River, 2022) is a collection of Afsar's Telugu poems translated into to English by Asfar and Shamala Gallagher. The stunning poems in the collection capture the …

The Vault January 5, 2023

On W. H. Auden

A Discussion with Christopher Isherwood and Stephen Spender

Christopher Isherwood and Stephen Spender

Hosted by New York Institute for the Humanities

In 1983, ten years after W. H. Auden’s death, the New York Institute for the Humanities organized a series of readings and discussions of his work. In this episode from …

Ukrainian Studies December 31, 2022

Carbon

Song of Crafts

Svetlana Lavochkina

Hosted by Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed

Donetsk, the black gem of Ukraine―Eden and Sodom in one, a stew steaming with coal fever, Manifest Destiny of Europe's east: Svetlana Lavochkina sends readers on a double odyssey with …

Princeton UP Ideas Podcast December 28, 2022

What the Thunder Said

How The Waste Land Made Poetry Modern

Jed Rasula

Hosted by Mark Klobas

When T. S. Eliot published The Waste Land in 1922, it put the thirty-four-year-old author on a path to worldwide fame and the Nobel Prize. "But," as Jed Rasula writes …

Science December 20, 2022

The Poetry and Music of Science

Comparing Creativity in Science and Art

Tom McLeish

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

What human qualities are needed to make scientific discoveries, and which to make great art? Many would point to 'imagination' and 'creativity' in the second case but not the first …

Poetry December 13, 2022

Wilder

Jemma Borg

Hosted by Hal Coase

What is still wild in us – and is it recoverable? The poems in Wilder (Liverpool UP, 2022), Jemma Borg’s second collection, are acts of excavation into the deeper and …

Literary Studies December 11, 2022

Words Is a Powerful Thing

Twenty Years of Teaching Creative Writing at Douglas County Jail

Brian Daldorph

Hosted by Carmen Gomez-Galisteo

Brian Daldorph first entered the Douglas County Jail classroom in Lawrence, Kansas, to teach a writing class on Christmas Eve 2001. His last class at the jail for the foreseeable …

Indian Religions December 8, 2022

Words for the Heart

A Treasury of Emotions from Classical India

Maria Heim

Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Words for the Heart: A Treasury of Emotions from Classical India (Princeton UP, 2022) is a captivating treasury of emotion terms drawn from some of India’s earliest classical languages. Inspired …

Digital Humanities November 30, 2022

Ourboox

A Conversation with Mel Rosenberg

Mel Rosenberg

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

In this interview, Mel Rosenberg discusses his love for children's literature, what makes for a memorable picture book, and the company he created, Ourboox. Ourboox is a free site that …

Writ Large November 4, 2022

On John Milton's "Paradise Lost"

A Discussion with Erik Gray

Erik Gray

Hosted by Zachary Davis

As a young student at Christ’s College Cambridge, John Milton announced to the world that he was going to write the greatest poem that the world has ever seen. He …

Poetry October 26, 2022

Temple Lamp

Verses on Banaras by Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan

Maaz Bin Bilal

Hosted by Iqra Shagufta Cheema

Today I talked to Maaz Bin Bilal about Temple Lamp: Verses on Banaras by Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan (India Penguin Classics, 2022). The poem ‘Chirag-e-Dair’ or Temple Lamp is an eloquent …

The Common Magazine October 14, 2022

In Which Raging Weather is a Gift

The Common magazine (Spring, 2022)

Ellen Doré Watson

Hosted by Emily Everett

Ellen Doré Watson speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her poem “In Which Raging Weather is a Gift,” which appears in The Common’s spring issue. Ellen talks about the …