Emmy-winning comedy writer Merill Markoe discusses We Saw Scenery: The Early Diaries of Merrill Markoe (Algonquin, Oct. 20), a subversive graphic memoir based on her childhood journals from the 1950s and ‘60s. Kirkus: “Markoe's bold, sometimes absurdist drawings and the often chiding conversations she imagines between her mature and adolescent selves enhance the comedy at the heart of this thought-provoking story...” Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, with boo...
Nov 24, 2020•54 min
Dwight Garner discusses Garner’s Quotations: A Modern Miscellany (FSG, Nov. 10), an uncommon collection of quotations from the New York Times book critic’s own commonplace book. Kirkus: “Garner delights in including words not printable in his newspaper, and his selections privilege the sly and irreverent…. A diverting trove of witty remarks.” Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, with books by Isabel Thomas and Sara Gillingham, Gavriel Savit, Andrew Cuomo, and Br...
Nov 17, 2020•42 min
Bett Williams discusses The Wild Kindness: A Psilocybin Odyssey (Dottir Press, Sep. 1), a shimmering literary memoir about growing and taking psychedelic mushrooms in the New Mexican desert. Kirkus: “An exuberant endorsement of the use of psychedelics as an instrument of self-discovery.” Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, with books by Ruby Bridges, Gloria Chao, and Shirley Hazzard. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice ...
Nov 10, 2020•47 min
We're just two days away from this year's (virtual) Kirkus Prize ceremony! In a YouTube livestream on Thursday, Nov. 5, we’ll reveal our judges’ picks for the best books of the year in fiction, nonfiction, and young readers’ literature; and the winners will each take home a $50,000 prize. In this special Kirkus Prize podcast, we go behind the scenes with fiction judge Chang-rae Lee, nonfiction judge Kiese Laymon, and YRL judge Nicola Yoon to find out what it took to make this year’s six-book sho...
Nov 03, 2020•1 hr 42 min
Ruby Hamad discusses White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color (Catapult, Oct. 6), a profound work of cultural criticism that shows how white womanhood is weaponized against Black and Indigenous women, and women of color. Kirkus: “An extraordinary book for anyone who wishes to pay more than lip service to truly inclusive, intersectional feminism” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Bill Nye, Lucinda ...
Oct 27, 2020•55 min
Novelist emily m. danforth discusses Plain Bad Heroines (William Morrow, Oct. 20), a spooky and substantial queer horror-comedy that opens on two girls in love at a Rhode Island boarding school, in 1902, and swiftly takes a turn for the macabre. Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Jon J. Muth, eds. Nova Ren Suma and Emily X. R. Pan, Mariah Carey, and Tana French. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at...
Oct 20, 2020•52 min
Journalist Sarah Smarsh discusses She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs (Scribner, Oct. 13), an in-depth consideration of Dolly Parton’s contributions to American culture and evolving role in the popular imagination. “A highly readable treat for music and feminist scholars as well as Parton's legion of fans” (Kirkus). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Christina Soontornvat, Trung Le Nguyen, and Dolly Parton....
Oct 13, 2020•39 min
Debut novelist K-Ming Chang discusses Bestiary (One World, Sep. 29), a “visceral book that promises a major new literary voice” (starred review). Rooted in myth and magic, the story is told by the daughter, mother, and grandmother of a Taiwanese American family that settles in California by way of Arkansas. After an altercation with her mother, the daughter grows a tiger tail, heralding a spate of strange occurrences. Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, includi...
Oct 06, 2020•43 min
Francina Simone discusses Smash It! (Inkyard Press, Sep. 22), a “stellar” YA novel starring 17-year-old Olivia James, who decides it’s time to confront her fear of standing out - starting with auditioning for the school musical. Kirkus: “Readers will find themselves rapt with anticipation and excitement and filled with compassion for Olivia’s journey to self-acceptance and self-love” (starred review). Then our editors join the podcast to discuss the importance of Banned Books Week (Sep. 27-Oct. ...
Sep 29, 2020•50 min
Anne Helen Petersen discusses Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation (HMH, Sep. 22), “A well-researched and -rendered analysis of why so many millennials feel overwhelmed despite their best efforts” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Daniel Pinkwater and Aaron Renier, Justin A. Reynolds, Jeff Benedict, and Louise Penny. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https...
Sep 22, 2020•48 min
Vanessa Veselka discusses The Great Offshore Grounds (Knopf, Aug. 26), an exquisite, freewheeling character-driven novel that ponders the possibility of reinvention, the meaning of family, and the American Dream. Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, Ben Macintyre, and Sigrid Nunez. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Sep 15, 2020•46 min
Award-winning author Claudia Rankine joins editor-in-chief Tom Beer to discuss Just Us: An American Conversation (Graywolf Press, Sept. 8), a paradigm-shifting cross-disciplinary collection of essays, poems, and images that contend with the perceptual and experiential divide between Black and White Americans. And in a sponsored interview, host Megan Labrise talks with Swedish hip hop star Jason Diakité, author of A Drop of Midnight: A Memoir (Amazon Crossing). Then our editors join with their re...
Sep 08, 2020•59 min
Poet and essayist Eula Biss joins us to discuss Having and Being Had (Riverhead, Sept. 1), an exquisite essay collection that interrogates the trappings of American affluence. Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Elena Ferrante, and Deesha Philyaw. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Sep 01, 2020•46 min
Novelist David Heska Wanbli Weiden joins us to discuss Winter Counts (Ecco, Aug. 25), an intense crime thriller set on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Daniel Nayeri, Darcie Little Badger, Isabel Wilkerson, and Ali Smith. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Aug 25, 2020•50 min
Debut YA novelist Jordan Ifueko joins us to discuss Raybearer (Amulet Books, Aug. 18), “A fresh, phenomenal fantasy that begs readers to revel in its brilliant world” (Kirkus, starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Veronica Chambers, Raquel Vasquez-Gilliland, Ilan Stavans, and Margot Livesey. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Aug 18, 2020•47 min
Brazilian American novelist Gabriella Burnham joins us to discuss It Is Wood, It Is Stone (One World, July 28), “A transporting debut that deftly probes the complex nature of relationships between women” (Kirkus). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, M.T. Anderson and Jo Rioux, and Raven Leilani. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-...
Aug 11, 2020•48 min
Melissa Faliveno joins us to discuss Tomboyland (Little A, Aug. 1), an expansive essay collection exploring Midwestern values, families and teams, natural disasters, gender identity, and New York City. As our reviewer writes, this promising debut showcases “an expressive voice evolving deliberately, resisting having to be one thing or the other.” Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Aunty Joy Murphy, Andrew Kelly, and Lisa Kennedy, Syed M. Mas...
Aug 04, 2020•44 min
Michelle Bowdler joins us on this week’s episode to discuss Is Rape a Crime? A Memoir, an Investigation, and a Manifesto (Flatiron Books, July 28). In 2007, the author was called to activism after reading a Boston Globe article exposing thousands of unexamined rape kits in the possession of police departments across the country. Kirkus calls her personal, powerful, profound debut, “An urgent, necessary, stark exploration of ‘one of the most horrific violations that can happen to a human being.’”...
Jul 28, 2020•42 min
Emma Donoghue joins us on this week’s episode to discuss The Pull of the Stars (Little, Brown, July 21). The bestselling author, screenwriter, and literary historian’s latest novel is inspired by the 1918 flu pandemic; set in the maternity/flu ward of a Catholic hospital in Dublin, it is “Darkly compelling, illuminated by the light of compassion and tenderness: Donoghue’s best novel since Room (2010)” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, includ...
Jul 21, 2020•43 min
Marke Bieschke discusses Into the Streets: A Young Person’s Visual History of Protest in the United States (Zest Books, July 7), “an engaging overview to inspire socially minded readers.” From the Pueblo Revolt to 2018’s March for Our Lives, Bieschke provides a vivid chronology of the many movements that shaped the course of our country and a primer for staging your own protest. Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Lisa Moore Ramée, Sarah Cros...
Jul 14, 2020•46 min
Anonymous discusses Becoming Duchess Goldblatt (HMH, July 7), the story of the person behind the saucy-yet-supportive Twitter persona that became a favorite of the literati and Lyle Lovett. Kirkus: “A fascinating memoir by a 21st-century original” (starred review). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Kate Messner, Brandy Colbert, Bakari Sellers, and Talia Hibbert. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice a...
Jul 07, 2020•50 min
Welcome to Fully Booked: Summer Reading 2020! In this special episode, editor in chief Tom Beer joins host Megan Labrise to present the hottest books for the sultriest months. First up, young readers editors Vicky Smith and Laura Simeon give their top picks in children’s, middle-grade, and YA books for July and August. Then fiction editor Laurie Muchnick and nonfiction editor Eric Liebetrau sign on for a second segment celebrating novels, memoirs, essay collections, and more. We’ve got frontlist...
Jun 30, 2020•57 min
Jia Lynn Yang discusses One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965 (W.W. Norton, May 19), an outstanding history of the fight for U.S. immigration reform. Exploring questions of what it means to be an “American,” who gets to be one, and who gets to decide, Yang’s authorial debut is “critical in understanding today’s immigrations issues” (starred review). Then Kirkus’ editors make their weekly reading recommendations, with books by Lauren Soloy, Deb C...
Jun 23, 2020•55 min
This week’s episode is sponsored by Penguin Young Readers Group, publishers of Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/contest/darius-the-great/). In our lead interview, bestselling novelist Max Brooks discusses Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre (Dey Street, June 16). Then Kirkus’ editors make their weekly reading recommendations, with books by Ben Clanton, Abdi Nor Iftin, Robert Kolker, and Connie Schultz. See Privacy Polic...
Jun 16, 2020•41 min
TIME national political correspondent Molly Ball discusses Pelosi (Henry Holt, May 5), an intriguing portrait of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-ranking woman in U.S. government history. Ball’s “top-notch political biography” is “a cradle-to-today portrait of a master politician who ‘shattered the “marble ceiling” and blazed a new trail for women’” (starred review). Then Kirkus’ editors make their weekly reading recommendations, with books by Jules Feiffer, Lillian Clark, Willie Mays wit...
Jun 09, 2020•45 min
Megha Majumdar discusses her highly anticipated debut novel, A Burning (Knopf, June 2). Set in contemporary Kolkata, A Burning opens with an extraordinary act of domestic terrorism at a train station. Amid mass confusion and alarm, Jivan, a Muslim woman living in a nearby slum, posts a Facebook message that proves incendiary, landing her in prison. Her voice is soon joined by others in a polyphonic tale exploring politics, class, ambition, labor, and love. Then Kirkus’ editors make their weekly ...
Jun 02, 2020•49 min
Journalist James Nestor discusses Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art (Riverhead, May 26), a deep dive into the history and function of the human respiratory system, and the changes we can make to start breathing better today. Then Kirkus’ editors make their weekly reading recommendations, with books by Jeremy Tankard and Hermione Tankard, Lisa Allen-Agostini, and Ilhan Omar. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-...
May 26, 2020•44 min
Veteran journalist Jim Newton discusses Man of Tomorrow: The Relentless Life of Jerry Brown (Little, Brown, May 12), a brilliant biography of California’s self-reliant, iconoclastic longest-serving governor. Then our editors offer their reading recommendations for the week, with books by Sarah S. Brannen and Lucia Soto, Candy J. Cooper and Marc Aronson, and Curtis Sittenfeld See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-...
May 19, 2020•48 min
NYT multimedia reporter Walter Thompson-Hernandez discusses The Compton Cowboys: The New Generation of Cowboys in America’s Urban Heartland (William Morrow, April 28), chronicling a year in the lives of the men and women fighting to keep black cowboy culture alive in Los Angeles. And in a sponsored interview, we talk with child psychologist Dr. Abigail Gewirtz, author of When the World Feels Like a Scary Place: Essential Conversations for Anxious Parents & Worried Kids (Workman, May 12). The...
May 12, 2020•1 hr 4 min
On this episode Tori Amos discusses the powerful new memoir chronicling her journey through music and activism. Resistance: A Songwriter’s Story of Hope, Change, and Courage (Atria, May 5) interweaves song lyrics and wide-ranging personal stories, exploring the artist’s charge in the face of threats to freedom and democracy. In a sponsored interview, we talk with Caldecott-winning author-illustrator Matthew Cordell, whose latest book is Hello, Neighbor! The Kind and Caring World of Mr. Rogers (H...
May 05, 2020•56 min
