On our Best July Books episode, Kirkus’ editors share their top titles for the month. Then essayist and critic Maris Kreizman joins us to discuss I Want To Burn This Place Down (Ecco, July 1). Kirkus calls Kreizman’s latest “an intelligent and entertaining read” featuring “unexpectedly charming personal essays about disillusionment, diabetes, and despair.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Jul 01, 2025•52 min•Ep. 431
Grace Flahive joins us to discuss her debut novel, Palm Meridian (Avid Reader Press, June 24). Kirkus: “The funnest book about death and post-apocalyptic living to date.” Then our editors recommend their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
Jun 24, 2025•50 min•Ep. 430
Caro De Robertis joins us to discuss So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color (Algonquin, May 13). Kirkus: “A colorful tapestry of potent, radiant, and relevant testimonials from queer people of color” (starred review). Then our editors recommend their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Jun 17, 2025•53 min•Ep. 429
On a special episode celebrating Sci-Fi and Fantasy, #1 New York Times- bestselling author V.E. Schwab joins us to discuss Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil (Tor, June 10). Kirkus: “Three women deal very differently with vampirism in Schwab’s era-spanning follow-up to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue…. A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop” (starred review). Then our editors recommend their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19...
Jun 10, 2025•56 min•Ep. 428
On our Best June Books episode, Kirkus’ editors share their top titles for the month. Then New York Times- bestselling author Ibi Zoboi joins us to discuss First Day Around the World, illustrated by Juanita Londoño (Versify, June 3). Kirkus calls Zoboi’s latest picture book “both monumental in scope and tightly focused, with an emotionally resonant core.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Jun 03, 2025•47 min•Ep. 427
Sarah Miller joins us to discuss Hick: The Trailblazing Journalist Who Captured Eleanor Roosevelt’s Heart (Random House Studio, May 27), which Kirkus calls “a substantial biography of a noteworthy figure.” Then our editors share their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
May 27, 2025•51 min•Ep. 426
Debut novelist Naomi Xu Elegant joins us to discuss Ginko Season (Norton, May 20), a “beautifully wrought” story about a young woman trying to find her footing—socially, politically, romantically—in modern-day Philadelphia. Then our editors share their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
May 20, 2025•44 min•Ep. 425
Atlantic staffer David A. Graham joins us to discuss The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America (Random House, April 22). “A close look at the ultra-rightist Project 2025, now playing in a capital near you,” Kirkus writes in a review that calls Graham’s work “essential reading for anyone trying to make sense of the Trumpian maelstrom.” Then our editors share their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art...
May 13, 2025•39 min•Ep. 424
On our Best May Books episode, Kirkus’ editors share their top titles for the month. Then novelist Brendan Slocumb joins us to discuss The Dark Maestro (Bloomsbury, May 13), a musical thriller in which a cello prodigy must battle a cadre of criminals to reclaim his promising future. Kirkus: “This novel should catapult Slocumb into the upper echelon of thriller authors" (starred review). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-...
May 06, 2025•58 min•Ep. 423
Award-winning actor and avid birder Lili Taylor joins us to discuss Turning to Birds: The Power and Beauty of Noticing (Crown, April 29). Kirkus calls her affecting debut essay collection “a delightful celebration of the joys of birding—and how it leads one to look at the world in a new light.” Then our editors share their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Apr 29, 2025•52 min•Ep. 422
Celebrated memoirist and novelist Kiese Laymon joins us to discuss City Summer, Country Summer (Kokila, April 1). Kirkus calls Laymon’s picture-book debut, illustrated by Alexis Franklin, “a heartfelt, elegantly wrought, and triumphant tribute to Black boy kinship” (starred review). Then our editors share their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Apr 22, 2025•50 min•Ep. 421
New York Times-bestselling humorist John Kenney joins us to discuss his latest novel, I See You’ve Called in Dead (Zibby Books, April 1). Kirkus: “ A touching ode to the people who make life worth living.” Then our editors share their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Apr 15, 2025•43 min•Ep. 420
Edna Bonhomme joins us to discuss A History of the World in Six Plagues: How Contagion, Class, and Captivity Shaped Us, From Cholera to COVID-19 (One Signal/Atria, March 11). Kirkus: “ A searing attack on historical injustices.” Then our editors share their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Apr 08, 2025•48 min•Ep. 419
On this special episode of Fully Booked, Kirkus’ editors join us for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the current issue of Kirkus Reviews celebrating the best books of the 21st Century (so far). Then each editor chooses one book from the past 25 years they think everyone should read. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Apr 01, 2025•48 min•Ep. 418
Bob the Drag Queen discusses his eagerly anticipated speculative novel Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert (Gallery Books, March 25). Kirkus: “The literary debut by Bob the Drag Queen—Instagram star, Madonna concert emcee, and winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race —imagines a host of famous figures returning to life: Cleopatra is a fashion influencer, John D. Rockefeller is a robber baron all over again, and Harriet Tubman, a key figure in the Underground Railroad, wants to share her story via a Hamilton -st...
Mar 25, 2025•45 min•Ep. 417
Acclaimed author Deb Caletti discusses her latest YA novel, True Life in Uncanny Valley (Labyrinth Road, March 18). Kirkus: “A Seattle teen conceals her true identity as the long-abandoned daughter of a celebrated tech giant to gain entry into his household….[in this] at times heartbreaking but ultimately hopeful story about chosen family.” Then our editors share their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19....
Mar 18, 2025•53 min•Ep. 416
Karen Russell discusses her eagerly anticipated second novel, The Antidote (Knopf, March 11). “In the wake of the destructive Black Sunday dust storm in 1935, four outcasts dare to offer their dying town a radical vision of the future,” Kirkus writes in a starred review of this “storytelling tour de force” that “lives up to the promise of its name.” Then our editors share their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https...
Mar 11, 2025•50 min•Ep. 415
On our Best March Books episode, Kirkus’ editors share their top titles for the month. Then Pulitzer Prize finalist Laila Lalami joins us to discuss her latest novel, The Dream Hotel (Pantheon, March 4). Kirkus: “A woman is detained under an American regime where even dreams are being surveilled….An engrossing and troubling dystopian tale” (starred review). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Mar 04, 2025•47 min
Lidia Yuknavitch discusses Reading the Waves: A Memoir (Riverhead, Feb. 4). Kirkus: “A noted writer and teacher explores the uses of memoir to recast and heal the wounds of the past…. Full of the messy, moving, in-your-face inspiration and storytelling for which Yuknavitch is beloved.” Then our editors share their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Feb 25, 2025•43 min
On a special episode celebrating debut authors, Erin Crosby Eckstine discusses her novel, Junie (Ballantine, Feb. 4), who Kirkus calls “a talented writer to watch.” “On the eve of the Civil War, an enslaved Black teen awakens her sister’s ghost and embarks on a dangerous journey to freedom in this debut novel,” Kirkus writes in a review. “Featuring a spirited protagonist, this compelling mix of the historical and the supernatural will resonate.” Then our editors highlight some more of the season...
Feb 18, 2025•50 min
Paul Lisicky discusses Song So Wild and Blue: A Life With the Music of Joni Mitchell (HarperOne, Feb. 25). Kirkus calls his latest memoir “a beautiful tribute to a legendary musician and the act of creation” (starred review). Then our editors share their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Feb 11, 2025•45 min
On our Best February Books episode, Kirkus’ editors share their top titles for the month. Then Kate Beaton joins us to discuss her funny and fierce new picture book, Shark Girl (Roaring Brook Press, Feb. 25). Kirkus: “Stand aside, little mermaids. The true, pointy-toothed protector of the seas is here!” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Feb 04, 2025•47 min
Celebrated author Edmund White discusses The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir (Bloomsbury, Jan. 28). Kirkus: “An irreverent and unapologetically provocative scrapbook of an aging author’s sex life” (starred review). Then our editors share their top picks in books for the week. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jan 28, 2025•49 min
Environmental and climate activist Catherine Coleman Flowers discusses Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, and Finding Hope (Spiegel & Grau, Jan. 28), and essay collection Kirkus calls “a passionate and thoughtful exploration of social injustice” (starred review). And in a sponsored interview, Megan speaks with Cheryl Willis Hudson and London Ladd, the author and the illustrator of When I Hear Spirituals (Holiday House, Jan. 5), “an exuberant and picturesque celebration of Afric...
Jan 21, 2025•54 min
On this episode, dedicated to the Most Anticipated Books of 2025, Cynthia Weiner joins us to discuss A Gorgeous Excitement (Crown, Jan. 21), a brilliant debut novel inspired by her 1980s childhood on New York’s Upper East Side, and a personal connection to an infamous murder. Kirkus: “Carefully paced and beautifully written, this edgy coming-of-age novel succeeds on all counts” (starred review). Then our editors share some of this spring’s most eagerly awaited titles. See Privacy Policy at https...
Jan 14, 2025•51 min
In this special repisode, recorded live at the Texas Book Festival in Austin, host Megan Labrise moderates featured panel “The Art of Mystery” with New York Times bestselling authors Jean Hanff Korelitz (The Sequel) and Liz Moore (The God of the Woods). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jan 07, 2025•41 min
Happy New Year, listeners! It’s the Fully Booked Year in Review, featuring editor-in-chief Tom Beer and Kirkus correspondent Michael Schaub. On this jolly special episode, we take a deep dive into the weirdest book news of 2024 and reveal the year’s most popular episode. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Dec 31, 2024•51 min
On this special holiday episode, Megan presents her favorite interviews of 2024, featuring Danzy Senna, author of Colored Television (Riverhead), and J. Drew Lanham, author of Joy Is the Justice We Give Ourselves (Hub City Press). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Dec 24, 2024•49 min
We conclude our Best Books of 2024 coverage with a special episode dedicated to YA. First, debut graphic novelist Agnes Lee joins us to discuss 49 Days (Levine Querido, March 5), one of Kirkus’ Best YA Books of 2024: “A moving portrayal of mortality and its aftermath, shown from both sides” (starred review). Then editor Laura Simeon explores some more of the year’s best YA. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-i...
Dec 17, 2024•52 min
We continue our Best Books of 2024 coverage with a special episode dedicated to MIDDLE GRADE. First, New York Times-bestselling author Annie Barrows joins us to discuss Stella & Marigold, illustrated by Sophie Blackall (Chronicle Books, Oct. 1), one of Kirkus’ Best Books of 2024.Kirkus: “All the heart. None of the pablum. Sisterhood at its finest and freshest” (starred review). Then editors Laura Simeon and Mahnaz Dar highlight more of the year’s best middle grade. See Privacy Policy at http...
Dec 10, 2024•58 min
