Shows / New Books in Literature
New Books in Literature
This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: newbooksnetwork.com Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/…
Episodes
- New Books in Literature
Zhang Ling, "Aftershock" (Amazon Crossing, 2024)
In the summer of 1976, an earthquake swallows up the city of Tangshan, China. Among the hundreds of thousands of people scrambling for survival is a mother who…
- New Books in Literature
D. J. Green, "No More Empty Spaces" (She Writes Press, 2024)
No More Empty Spaces (She Writes Press, 2024) opens with Will Ross, an engineering geologist, who shares custody of his three children with his ex-wife, taking…
- New Books in Literature
Wole Talabi, "Convergence Problems" (Astra Publishing House, 2024)
In his new story collection Convergence Problems (DAW Books, 2024), Wole Talabi investigates the rapidly changing role of technology and belief in our lives as…
- New Books in Literature
"Ploughshares" Magazine: A Discussion with Ladette Randolph
Ladette Randolph has served as editor-in-chief of Ploughshares literary journal since 2008, where she had acquired numerous notable essays and short stories. A…
- New Books in Literature
Deborah Kalb, "Off to Join the Circus" (Apprentice House, 2023)
In Deborah Kalb’s debut adult novel Off to Join the Circus (Apprentice House Press 2023) it’s 2018, Howard Pinsky’s sister Adele, who ran away in 1954, as his…
- New Books in Literature
Nell Freudenberger, "The Limits" (Knopf, 2024)
The most thrilling work yet from the best-selling, prize-winning author of The Newlyweds and Lost and Wanted, a stunning new novel set in French Polynesia and…
- New Books in Literature
Greg Wrenn, "Mothership: A Memoir of Wonder and Crisis" (Regalo Press, 2024)
A dazzling, evidence-based account of one man’s quest to heal from complex PTSD by turning to endangered coral reefs and psychedelic plants after traditional…
- New Books in Literature
Marie Mutsuki Mockett, "The Tree Doctor" (Graywolf Press, 2024)
When the unnamed narrator of Marie Mutsuki Mockett's stirring second novel returns to Carmel, California, to care for her mother, she finds herself stranded at…
- New Books in Literature
Jennifer Lang, "Places We Left Behind: A Memoir-in-miniature" (Vine Leaves Press, 2023)
Jennifer Lang's Places We Left Behind: A Memoir in Miniature (Vine Leaf Press, 2023) uses short chapterettes and experimental prose to examine he marriage…
- New Books in Literature
The Georgia Review: A Discussion with Gerald Maa and Maggie Su
Gerald Maa has been The Georgia Review’s director and editor since 2019. During his tenure there, the magazine has won the National Magazine Award for Best…
- New Books in Literature
Herbert Gold and Ari Gold, "Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems" (Rare Bird Books, 2024)
Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems (Rare Bird, 2024). When the global pandemic forced his ninety-six-year-old father into isolation, filmmaker Ari…
- New Books in Literature
Céline Keating, "The Stark Beauty of Last Things" (She Writes Press, 2023)
The Stark Beauty of Last Things (She Writes Press, 2023) is set in Montauk, the far reaches of the famed Hamptons, an area under looming threat from a warming…
- New Books in Literature
Robin Oliveira, "A Wild and Heavenly Place" (Putnam, 2024)
When Samuel Fiddes and Hailey MacIntyre meet by chance in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1878, their worlds appear to be far distant from each other. Samuel lives with…
- New Books in Literature
Brenda Novak, "Tourist Season" (Mira Books, 2024)
In Brenda Novak's latest book, Tourist Season (Mira Books, 2024), Ismay Chalmers' plans to spend a relaxing summer at the beach are derailed when she discovers…
- New Books in Literature
Scott Alexander Howard, "The Other Valley" (Atria Books, 2024)
Sixteen-year-old Odile is an awkward, quiet girl vying for a coveted seat on the Conseil. If she earns the position, she'll decide who may cross her town's…
- New Books in Literature
The Iowa Review: A Discussion with Lynne Nugent
Lynne Nugent is the editor of The Iowa Review and the author of a chapbook of essays, Nest, about motherhood and domesticity published by The Florida Review in…
- New Books in Literature
Millicent Borges Accardi, "Quarantine Highway" (Flowersong Press, 2022)
Millicent Borges Accardi, a Portuguese-American writer, is the author of four poetry collections, including Only More So (Salmon Poetry, Ireland), and…
- New Books in Literature
Parul Kapur, "Inside the Mirror" (U Nebraska Press, 2024)
Parul Kapur's novel Inside the Mirror (University of Nebraska Press, 2024) centers on twin sisters growing up in 1950s Bombay, who aspire to become artists…
- New Books in Literature
Nayereh Doosti, “The Little One” The Common magazine (Nov, 2023)
Nayereh Doosti speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her story “The Little One,” which appears in The Common’s most recent issue. Nayereh talks about…
- New Books in Literature
John Wray, "Gone to the Wolves" (FSG, 2023)
Kip, Leslie, and Kira are outliers—even in the metal scene they love. In arch-conservative Gulf Coast Florida in the late 1980s, just listening to metal can…
- New Books in Literature
Tyler C. Gore, "My Life of Crime: Essays and Other Entertainments" (Sagging Meniscus Press, 2022)
In his debut essay collection, My Life of Crime (Sagging Meniscus Press, 2022), Tyler C. Gore brings readers on an awkward visit to a nude beach. A…
- New Books in Literature
Marie-Helene Bertino, "Beautyland" (FSG, 2024)
At the moment when Voyager 1 is launched into space carrying its famous golden record, a baby of unusual perception is born to a single mother in Philadelphia…
- New Books in Literature
Harry Turtledove, "Wages of Sin" (Caezik SF & Fantasy, 2024)
What if HIV started spreading in the early 1500s rather than the late 1900s? Without modern medicine, anybody who catches HIV is going to die. In Wages of Sin…
- New Books in Literature
Kate Quinn and Janie Chang, "The Phoenix Crown" (William Morrow, 2024)
Kate Quinn and Janie Chang are independently acclaimed authors of historical fiction, both of whom have previously appeared on this podcast channel. Here they…
- New Books in Literature
"Michigan Quarterly Review" magazine
Chandrica Barua is the Nonfiction and Online Editor for MQR. A PhD candidate in the Department of English Language and Literature, her dissertation focuses on…
- New Books in Literature
Mako Yoshikawa, "Secrets of the Sun: A Memoir" (Mad Creek Books, 2024)
Mako Yoshikawa's Secrets of the Sun: A Memoir (Mad Creek Books 2024) contains a host of essays about her difficult, brilliant father. Shoichi Yoshikawa grew up…
- New Books in Literature
Sheila Heti Speaks About Awe with Sunny Yudkoff (JP)
In this fantastic recent episode from our colleagues at Novel Dialogue, Sheila Heti sits down with Sunny Yudkoff and John to discuss her incredibly varied…
- New Books in Literature
Deborah Taffa, "Whiskey Tender: A Memoir" (Harper, 2024)
Today’s book is: Whiskey Tender: A Memoir (Harper, 2024), by Deborah Jackson Taffa, who was raised to believe that some sacrifices were necessary to achieve a…
- New Books in Literature
Garnett Kilberg Cohen, "Cravings" (U Wisconsin Press, 2024)
Garnett Kilberg Cohen’s fourth short story collection, Cravings (University of Wisconsin Press, 2024), contains twelve beautifully-written tales. They each…
- New Books in Literature
Gila Green, "With a Good Eye" (Ace of Swords, 2024)
Luna Levi is an ordinary 19-year-old with extraordinary problems. Her mother's acting career is more important to her than the stage of real life. Her father…
- New Books in Literature
"The New England Review" magazine: A Discussion with Elizabeth Kadetsky
The New England Review bills itself as a “snapshot of the literary moment,” which for my guest Elizabeth Kadetsky means great writing, of course, but also work…
- New Books in Literature
Jo Salas, "Mrs. Lowe-Porter" (Jackleg Press, 2024)
Mrs. Lowe-Porter (Jackleg Press 2024) was an American writer (1876-1963) who, after proving her ability, was contracted by publisher Alfred A. Knopf to…
- New Books in Literature
Karen Rigby, "Fabulosa" (JackLeg Press, 2024)
After her prize-winning debut, Karen Rigby returns with a beguiling ars poetica and tribute to the dazzling. From Dior to Olympic figure skating, Bruegel to…
- New Books in Literature
Teresa H. Janssen, "The Ways of Water" (She Writes Press, 2023)
Josie Belle Gore is only six years old when we meet her in 1908, yet her father has tied a rope around her waist and is lowering her into a dark well to…
- New Books in Literature
"Fourth Genre" Magazine: A Chat with Patrick Madden and Joey Franklin
Patrick Madden and Joey Franklin are English professors at Brigham Young University. Madden’s latest book is Disparates (U Nebraska Press, 2020) and Franklin’s…
- New Books in Literature
Cynthia J. Sylvester, "The Half-White Album" (U New Mexico Press, 2023)
Cynthia Sylvester's The Half-White Album (University of New Mexico Press 2023) is a collection of stories, flash fiction, and poems revolving around the…
- New Books in Literature
Jon Clinch, "The General and Julia" (Atria Books, 2023)
Barely able to walk and rendered mute by the cancer metastasizing in his throat, Ulysses S. Grant is scratching out words, hour after hour, day after day…
- New Books in Literature
Alix E. Harrow, "Starling House" (Tor Books, 2023)
Alix E. Harrow’s new novel Starling House (Tor Books, 2023) is named for the infamous old mansion in the otherwise unremarkable town of Eden, Kentucky. For…
- New Books in Literature
Leo Ríos, "Lencho," The Common magazine (2023)
Leo Ríos speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his story “Lencho,” which appears in The Common’s most recent issue, in a portfolio from the immigrant…
- New Books in Literature
Samantha Harvey, "Orbital" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2023)
A slender novel of epic power, Orbital (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2023) deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men hurtling through space--not…
- New Books in Literature
What Makes A Great Picture Book?
Betsy Bird is the Collection Development Manager of Evanston Public Library and the former Youth Materials Specialist of New York Public Library. She writes…
- New Books in Literature
"The Sun" Magazine: A Chat with Derek Askey
Derek Askey is an associate editor on staff at The Sun magazine, located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. What qualifies as a Sun essay? As noted by my guest…
- New Books in Literature
Astrid Blodgett, "This Is How You Start to Disappear" (U Alberta Press, 2023)
Astrid Blodgett is the author of the short story collections This Is How You Start to Disappear (U Alberta Press, 2023) and You Haven’t Changed a Bit (U…
- New Books in Literature
"Solstice" Magazine: A Discussion with Richard Hoffman
Richard Hoffman is the creative nonfiction editor at Solstice and is the author of seven books, including two memoirs and four books of poetry. He’s won a…
- New Books in Literature
Beth Driscoll and Claire Squires, "The Frankfurt Kabuff Critical Edition" (Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2023)
How do fiction and research intersect? In The Frankfurt Kabuff Critical Edition (Wilfrid Laurier University Press 2023), Beth Driscoll, an Associate Professor…
- New Books in Literature
Kathleen Collins, "Study in Hysteria" (Vine Leaves Press, 2024)
Kathleen Collins talks about her debut novel Study in Hysteria (Vine Leaves Press, 2024)). In the middle of 1974, Flora is privileged and middle-aged in a…
- New Books in Literature
Stefano Gualeni, "The Clouds: An Experiment in Theory-Fiction" (Routledge, 2023)
On a slow autumn afternoon, an atmospheric physicist working at the Malta Weather Station receives a surprising email from a colleague working in the United…
- New Books in Literature
Andrea Penrose, "The Diamond of London" (Kensington Books, 2024)
I’ve interviewed Andrea Penrose before about her mysteries set in the Regency period—most notably, her ongoing series starring the Earl of Wrexford and Lady…
- New Books in Literature
Christine Evans, "Nadia" (U Iowa Press, 2023)
Christine Evans' Nadia (U Iowa Press, 2023) is a dark novel about how the trauma of war follows people no matter how far they’ve fled. A few years after the…
- New Books in Literature
Prophet Song: A Novel about a Totalitarian Takeover in Ireland
It’s the UConn Popcast, and today we discuss Prophet Song (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2023), Paul Lynch’s Booker Prize winning novel about a totalitarian regime…
- New Books in Literature
"n+1" Magazine: A Discussion with Dayna Tortorici
Dayna Tororici is the co-editor of n + 1 magazine, located in New York City. She’s been on staff for the past 10 years, following her studies at Brown…
- New Books in Literature
Derek B. Miller, "The Curse of Pietro Houdini" (Simon and Schuster, 2024)
From the Dagger Award–winning author of Norwegian by Night comes a vivid, thrilling, and moving World War II art-heist-adventure tale where enemies become…
- New Books in Literature
Julius Taranto, "How I Won a Nobel Prize" (Little, Brown, 2023)
Helen is one of the brightest minds of her generation: a young physicist on a path to solve high-temperature superconductivity (which could save the planet)…
- New Books in Literature
Agnes Chew, "Eternal Summer of My Homeland" (Epigram Books, 2023)
The opening story of Eternal Summer of My Homeland (Epigram Book, 2023) the debut story collection from Singaporean author Agnes Chew, is about grief. Hui Shan…
- New Books in Literature
Chika Unigwe, "The Middle Daughter" (Dzanc Books, 2023)
The Middle Daughter (Dzanc Books, 2023) by Chika Unigwe opens with a happy, well-to-do family living in a guarded community in Nigeria. The loving father owns…
- New Books in Literature
Waubgeshig Rice, "Moon of the Turning Leaves" (William Morrow, 2023)
It’s been over a decade since a mysterious cataclysm caused a permanent blackout that toppled infrastructure and thrust the world into anarchy. Evan Whitesky…
- New Books in Literature
Raul Palma, "A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens" (Dutton, 2023)
A genre-bending debut with a fiercely political heart, A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens (Dutton, 2023) explores the weight of the devil's bargain, following the…
- New Books in Literature
Courtney Denelle, "It's Not Nothing" (Santa Fe Writers Project, 2022)
Rosemary Candwell's past has exploded into her present. Down-and-out and deteriorating, she drifts from anonymous beds and bars in Providence, to a homeless…
- New Books in Literature
Matthew Batt, "The Last Supper Club: A Waiter's Requiem" (U of Minnesota Press, 2023)
During a year on sabbatical from his university position, Matthew Batt realized he needed money—fast—and it just so happened that a craft brewery in…
- New Books in Literature
Lindsay Pereira, "The Memoirs of Valmiki Rao" (Vintage Books, 2023)
In December 1992, Hindu nationalists seize the Babri Masjid mosque and tear it down, proclaiming their wish to build a Hindu temple in its stead. The brazen…