Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Lynda Mapes, author of Witness Tree: Seasons of Change with a Century-Old Oak, published in April by Bloomsbury. Lynda has been a reporter with the Seattle Times for nearly 20 years, covering Northwest tribes, nature and the environment. Her previous works include Washington, the Spirit of the Land, Breaking Ground: The Lower Elwha Klallam and The Unearthing of Tse-whit-zen Village. Lynda first encounte...
May 16, 2017•53 sec
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Our guest today is Paul Theroux, who to most of you needs no introduction. He is a renowned novelist, short story writer and perhaps is most well known as a travel writer whose The Great Railway Bazaar back in 1975 was a seminal work that influenced pretty much every travel writer since. He has written over 30 novels and short story collections, many adapted for the screen and about 20 non-fiction works, mostly devoted to...
May 09, 2017•48 min
While Darwin in the Beagle charted the Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Matthew James author of the book Collecting Evolution: The Galapagos Expedition that Vindicated Darwin, published in April by The Oxford University Press. Matthew is The Professor of Geology and Department Chair at Sonoma State University. Collecting Evolution gives us the history of the 1905-06 expedition to the Galapagos sponsored by The Museum of The California ...
May 04, 2017•37 min
While Darwin in the Beagle charted the Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Matthew James author of the book Collecting Evolution: The Galapagos Expedition that Vindicated Darwin, published in April by The Oxford University Press. Matthew is The Professor of Geology and Department Chair at Sonoma State University. Collecting Evolution gives us the history of the 1905-06 expedition to the Galapagos sponsored by The Museum of The California ...
May 04, 2017•2 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today we are happy to have with us Jessica Shattuck author of The Women In the Castle published in March by William Morrow. Jessica’s previous work includes her novel The Hazards of Good Breeding, a NYT Notable Book. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Glamour and many other periodicals. Her non-fiction has appeared in the Times, Mother Jones, Wired and the Globe. The Women In The Castle explores the lives of thre...
Apr 12, 2017•36 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today we are happy to have with us Jessica Shattuck author of The Women In the Castle published in March by William Morrow. Jessica’s previous work includes her novel The Hazards of Good Breeding, a NYT Notable Book. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Glamour and many other periodicals. Her non-fiction has appeared in the Times, Mother Jones, Wired and the Globe. The Women In The Castle explores the lives of thre...
Apr 12, 2017•36 sec
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is our old friend Michael Sims, who we haven’t seen in a while but who has visited us in the past to discuss such arcane topics as The Story of Charlotte’s Web and Victorian Women in Crime. This week we’ll be talking with Michael about Sherlock Holmes and his literary father Arthur Conan Doyle. The book is Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes. Michael has also written the award winni...
Apr 05, 2017•41 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is our old friend Michael Sims, who we haven’t seen in a while but who has visited us in the past to discuss such arcane topics as The Story of Charlotte’s Web and Victorian Women in Crime. This week we’ll be talking with Michael about Sherlock Holmes and his literary father Arthur Conan Doyle. The book is Arthur and Sherlock: Conan Doyle and the Creation of Holmes. Michael has also written the award winni...
Apr 05, 2017•53 sec
Good Afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today we are happy to have as our guest Colum McCann. Colum has written Letters to a Young Writer: Some Practical and Philosophical Advice, published earlier this month by Random House. Colum is the award winning internationally bestselling author of Let The Great World Spin, Zoli, Dancer, This Side of Brightness and Songdogs. He teaches at the MFA program at Hunter College. Letters is just that, a series of missives to a...
Apr 04, 2017•35 min
Good Afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today we are happy to have as our guest Colum McCann. Colum has written Letters to a Young Writer: Some Practical and Philosophical Advice, published earlier this month by Random House. Colum is the award winning internationally bestselling author of Let The Great World Spin, Zoli, Dancer, This Side of Brightness and Songdogs. He teaches at the MFA program at Hunter College. Letters is just that, a series of missives to a...
Apr 04, 2017•42 sec
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today we are happy to have with us Paul La Farge author of The Night Ocean, published just last month by Penguin. Paul also wrote The Artist of the Missing, Haussmann, or the Distinction, Luminous Airplanes and The Facts of Winter. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Bard Fiction Prize and a fellowship from the NY Foundation of the Arts as well as one from the NEA. The Night Ocean is a novel that comes in many pa...
Apr 03, 2017•39 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today we are happy to have with us Paul La Farge author of The Night Ocean, published just last month by Penguin. Paul also wrote The Artist of the Missing, Haussmann, or the Distinction, Luminous Airplanes and The Facts of Winter. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Bard Fiction Prize and a fellowship from the NY Foundation of the Arts as well as one from the NEA. The Night Ocean is a novel that comes in many pa...
Apr 03, 2017•2 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Dan Chain SHAWN, author of Ill Will, published in March by Ballantine. Dan’s other works include the short story collection Stay Awake, the best seller Await Your Reply and Among The Missing a finalist for the National Book Award. Dan’s work has appeared in Best American Short Stories and the O. Henry Prize Stories. Dan teaches at Oberlin. Ill Will is a book that if you go by all the reviews will scare ...
Mar 22, 2017•35 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Dan Chain SHAWN, author of Ill Will, published in March by Ballantine. Dan’s other works include the short story collection Stay Awake, the best seller Await Your Reply and Among The Missing a finalist for the National Book Award. Dan’s work has appeared in Best American Short Stories and the O. Henry Prize Stories. Dan teaches at Oberlin. Ill Will is a book that if you go by all the reviews will scare ...
Mar 22, 2017•31 sec
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Cara Hoffman, author of Running, published in February by Simon and Shuster. Cara is the author of the previous novels So Much Pretty, and Be Safe I Love you. She writes for the NYT, The Paris Review, Salon and NPR among others. She’s the winner of a Sundance Filmmaking Award and a MacDowell Fellowship. She received her MFA from Goddard and currently teaches at the University of Southern Maine. Running ...
Mar 22, 2017•45 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Cara Hoffman, author of Running, published in February by Simon and Shuster. Cara is the author of the previous novels So Much Pretty, and Be Safe I Love you. She writes for the NYT, The Paris Review, Salon and NPR among others. She’s the winner of a Sundance Filmmaking Award and a MacDowell Fellowship. She received her MFA from Goddard and currently teaches at the University of Southern Maine. Running ...
Mar 22, 2017•44 sec
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of the Avid Reader. Today our guest is Ian Robertson, author of The Stress Test: How Pressure Can Make You Stronger and Sharper. Published in January by Bloomsbury USA. Ian is the Professor of Psychology at Trinity College, Dublin and the Founding Director of Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience. He has published in Nature, Brain, Journal of Neuroscience the Times and many others. He’s published over 250 articles. His popular mind scien...
Mar 07, 2017•45 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of the Avid Reader. Today our guest is Ian Robertson, author of The Stress Test: How Pressure Can Make You Stronger and Sharper. Published in January by Bloomsbury USA. Ian is the Professor of Psychology at Trinity College, Dublin and the Founding Director of Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience. He has published in Nature, Brain, Journal of Neuroscience the Times and many others. He’s published over 250 articles. His popular mind scien...
Mar 07, 2017•55 sec
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Jami Attenberg, author of All Grown Up, published just yesterday by Houghton Mifflin. Jami’s debut collection of stories, Instant Love was published in 2006 followed by her novels The Kept Man and The Melting Season. Her best seller The Middlesteins appeared in 2012 and her latest work before All Grown up is Saint Mazie She’s written for the NYT Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian among o...
Mar 07, 2017•37 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Jami Attenberg, author of All Grown Up, published just yesterday by Houghton Mifflin. Jami’s debut collection of stories, Instant Love was published in 2006 followed by her novels The Kept Man and The Melting Season. Her best seller The Middlesteins appeared in 2012 and her latest work before All Grown up is Saint Mazie She’s written for the NYT Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian among o...
Mar 07, 2017•42 sec
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Steve Erickson author of Shadowbahn, just published last week by Blue Rider Press, an imprint of Penguin. Steve is the author of ten novels, including (some of my favorites) Days Between Stations, Tours of the Black Clock, Arc d’X, Amnesiascope and Zeroville. He’s written for everyone---Esquire, Rolling Stone, Salon, NYT Magazine. He’s received a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation and a grant fro...
Feb 10, 2017•44 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Steve Erickson author of Shadowbahn, just published last week by Blue Rider Press, an imprint of Penguin. Steve is the author of ten novels, including (some of my favorites) Days Between Stations, Tours of the Black Clock, Arc d’X, Amnesiascope and Zeroville. He’s written for everyone---Esquire, Rolling Stone, Salon, NYT Magazine. He’s received a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation and a grant fro...
Feb 10, 2017•1 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Élan Mastai, author of All Our Wrong Todays, his first novel. Elan is first a screenwriter, and in fact, All Our Wrong Todays published just last week, by Dutton/Penguins going to be a movie and Elan is in the process of writing the screenplay for it right now. Elan has been writing for about fifteen years for independent companies and for Fox Sony Warner Brothers and Paramount. He wrote What if (also k...
Feb 07, 2017•22 sec
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of the Avid Reader. Today our guest is Erica Ferencik, author of The River at Night published just last week by Scout Press an imprint of Simon and Shuster. Erica is a graduate of the MFA program in Creative Writing at BU. Her work has appeared in Salon and the Boston Globe and on NPR. You can find out more about her work on her website. The River at Night is a book about four “approaching middle age” women on a regular annual girls weekend ...
Feb 02, 2017•40 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of the Avid Reader. Today our guest is Erica Ferencik, author of The River at Night published just last week by Scout Press an imprint of Simon and Shuster. Erica is a graduate of the MFA program in Creative Writing at BU. Her work has appeared in Salon and the Boston Globe and on NPR. You can find out more about her work on her website. The River at Night is a book about four “approaching middle age” women on a regular annual girls weekend ...
Feb 02, 2017•1 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of the Avid Reader. Today our guest is Josh Barkan author of Mexico:Stories, published by Hogarth just last week. Josh teaches at NYU and is currently Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Hollings University. He holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers Workshop. His first published work was Before Hiroshima and his next work was the novel Blind Speed. Much of Josh’s work is informed by the place he lives and he has traveled a lot. Mexico is ...
Feb 02, 2017•45 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Our guest today is Maxine Beneba Clarke, author of Foreign Soil, published by 37 INK/Atria on January 3rd. Maxine is a novelist, poet and editor living in Melbourne Australia. She was the Hazel Rowley Fellowship winner for Biography and also won the 2013 Victorian Premier Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. Foreign Soil is Maxine’s first book. And is a collection of 11 short stories, stories that are full of pain, meanne...
Jan 26, 2017•39 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Our guest today is Maxine Beneba Clarke, author of Foreign Soil, published by 37 INK/Atria on January 3rd. Maxine is a novelist, poet and editor living in Melbourne Australia. She was the Hazel Rowley Fellowship winner for Biography and also won the 2013 Victorian Premier Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. Foreign Soil is Maxine’s first book. And is a collection of 11 short stories, stories that are full of pain, meanne...
Jan 26, 2017•48 sec
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Shanthi Sekaran, author of Lucky Boy, published earlier this month by Putnam. Shanthi teaches creative writing at California College of the Arts. And her work has appeared in best New American Voices and Canteen as well as online at Zyzzyva and Mutha Magazine and recently The New York Times. Her first novel was The Prayer Room. Before we begin... Lucky Boy is a novel about a sweet little boy, Ignacio El...
Jan 24, 2017•20 min
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to another edition of The Avid Reader. Today our guest is Shanthi Sekaran, author of Lucky Boy, published earlier this month by Putnam. Shanthi teaches creative writing at California College of the Arts. And her work has appeared in best New American Voices and Canteen as well as online at Zyzzyva and Mutha Magazine and recently The New York Times. Her first novel was The Prayer Room. Before we begin... Lucky Boy is a novel about a sweet little boy, Ignacio El...
Jan 24, 2017•33 sec
