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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
Anu Kumar, “The Woman in the Well," The Common magazine (Spring, 2022)
Anu Kumar speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her essay “The Woman in the Well,” which appears in The Common’s spring issue. Anu talks about the…
- New Books in Literature
85* Pu Wang and John Plotz look back on their Cixin Liu interview
Our first August rebroadcast was John and Pu's 2019 interview with SF superstar Cixin Liu (you may want to re-listen to that episode before this one!). Here…
- New Books in Literature
Francesca Stanfill, "The Falcon's Eyes: A Novel" (Harper, 2022)
Twelfth-century Europe was not a good time or place to be born female. Even queens had few rights, garnered little respect, and were tolerated largely for…
- New Books in Literature
Volodymyr Rafeyenko, "Mondegreen: Songs about Death and Love" (Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 2022)
Today I talked to Mark Andryczyk, translator of Volodymyr Rafeyenko’s novel Mondegreen: Songs about Death and Love (Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute…
- New Books in Literature
Leanne Kale Sparks, "The Wrong Woman: A Novel" (Crooked Lane Books, 2022)
Today I talked to Leanne Kale Sparks, author of The Wrong Woman: A Novel (Crooked Lane Books, 2022). The only survivor of Denver's notorious "Reaper" serial…
- New Books in Literature
Nandita Dinesh, "This Place That Place" (Melville House, 2022)
A nameless young woman from This Place, and a nameless young man from That Place are stuck together when That Place, the occupying force, imposes another…
- New Books in Literature
Rebecca van Laer, "How to Adjust to the Dark" (Long Day, 2022) & Shannon McLeod, "Whimsy" (Long Day, 2021)
Rebecca van Laer’s writing appears in TriQuarterly Review, joyland, Columbia journal, the Florida review, Salamander, Hobart, mokeybicycle, electric literature…
- New Books in Literature
B. L. Blanchard, "The Peacekeeper" (47north, 2022)
The rich worldbuilding of a never-colonized North America sets the stage for this unusual murder mystery debut by B. L. Blanchard. Chibenashi is a broken man…
- New Books in Literature
Bhaswati Ghosh, "Victory Colony, 1950" (Yoda Press, 2020)
Victory Colony, 1950 (Yoda Press, 2020) by Bhaswati Ghosh is a story of resilience about East Pakistani refugees who were forced to leave their homes in East…
- New Books in Literature
Rochelle Potkar, "Bombay Hangovers" (Vishwakarma Publications, 2021)
The stories in Bombay Hangovers (Vishwakarma Publications, 2021) are laced with the grit, sleaze and dynamism of Bombay. They explore the nerve centre of a…
- New Books in Literature
Eda Gunaydin, "Root and Branch: Essays on Inheritance" (NewSouth, 2022)
Eda Gunaydin joins us today to talk about Root and Branch: Essays on Inheritance (NewSouth, 2022). Lots of themes: Turkey, Australia, Sydney, family, friends…
- New Books in Literature
Suhail Matar, "Granada," The Common magazine (Spring, 2022)
Palestinian writer Suhail Matar speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his story “Granada,” translated by Amika Fendi. The story appears in The Common’s…
- New Books in Literature
84* Cixin Liu Talks About Science Fiction (JP, Pu Wang)
John and Pu Wang, a Brandeis professor of Chinese literature, spoke with science-fiction genius Cixin Liu back in 2019. His most celebrated works include The…
- New Books in Literature
Gish Jen, "Thank You, Mr. Nixon: Stories" (Knopf, 2022)
Fifty years ago, President Richard Nixon stepped off a plane in Beijing: a visit that changed the course of China, the U.S., the Cold war and the world. The…
- New Books in Literature
Yussef El Guindi, "In a Clear Concise Arabic Tongue" (Broadway Play Publishing, 2021)
Yussef El Guindi's In a Clear Concise Arabic Tongue (Broadway Play Publishing, 2021) collects short plays and monologues from almost twenty years of this…
- New Books in Literature
Anne Louise Bannon, "Death of an Heiress" (Healcroft House, 2022)
Los Angeles in the 1870s is not the sprawling city we know today. A rapidly growing pueblo of perhaps 7,000 residents, it features vineyards and ranchos…
- New Books in Literature
Julia Glass, "Vigil Harbor" (Pantheon, 2022)
Julia and I discuss her latest novel, Vigil Harbor, a story of the near future in which many of our current crises are amplified in terrifying yet…
- New Books in Literature
Patricia Ricketts, "Speed of Dark" (She Writes Press, 2022)
Speed of Dark (She Writes Press, 2022) by Patricia Ricketts opens with a black man getting off Metra train in Northbrook, Illinois to search for someone who…
- New Books in Literature
Vauhini Vara, "The Immortal King Rao: A Novel" (W. W. Norton, 2022)
King Rao–one of the protagonists from Vauhini Vara’s novel The Immortal King Rao (W. W. Norton & Company: 2022)—is like many of the tech founders we idolize…
- New Books in Literature
Joseph Boone, "Furnace Creek" (Eyewear Publishing, 2021)
Taking its inspiration from Great Expectations, Furnace Creek (Eyewear Publishing, 2021) teases us with the question of what Pip might have been like had he…
- New Books in Literature
Jade Beer, "The Last Dress from Paris" (Berkley Books, 2022)
London, 2017. Lucille will do anything for her beloved grandmother. So when Granny Sylvie volunteers to send her to Paris to retrieve a beloved Dior creation…
- New Books in Literature
Richard Swan, "The Justice of Kings" (Orbit, 2022)
The Justice of Kings (Orbit, 2022) opens with our young narrator, Helena, traveling from town to town as clerk to the King’s Justice, a learned and idealistic…
- New Books in Literature
Sheila Lowe, "Proof of Life" (Write Choice Ink, 2021)
Proof of Life (Write Choice Ink 2021) is the second book in author Sheila Lowe’s Beyond the Veil paranormal suspense series. In the first book (What she Saw…
- New Books in Literature
William Ian Miller, "Outrageous Fortune: Gloomy Reflections on Luck and Life" (Oxford UP, 2020)
In Outrageous Fortune: Gloomy Reflections on Luck and Life (Oxford UP, 2020), William Ian Miller offers his reflections on the perverse consequences, indeed…
- New Books in Literature
Elan Barnehama, "Escape Route" (Running Wild Press, 2022)
In Elan Barnehama’s new novel, Escape Route (Running Wild Press 2022), it’s 1968 and 13-year-old Zach is about to become a bar mitzvah. That’s when his sister…
- New Books in Literature
Shelly Oria and Kirstin Valdez Quade, "I Know What's Best for You: Stories on Reproductive Freedom" (McSweeney’s Books, 2022)
Shelly Oria has just produced an anthology of writings on reproductive freedom that is available now from McSweeney’s Books, in partnership with The Brigid…
- New Books in Literature
Tracy Lawson, "Answering Liberty's Call: Anna Stone's Daring Ride to Valley Forge" (Gray Lion Books, 2021)
Today I talked to Tracy Lawson about her novel Answering Liberty's Call: Anna Stone's Daring Ride to Valley Forge (Gray Lion Books, 2021). In 1778, war is…
- New Books in Literature
83* Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz on Zadie Smith
John and Elizabeth look back at Recall This Book’s terrific 2019 conversation with Zadie Smith , so you may want to listen to that again before proceeding…
- New Books in Literature
David Wright Faladé, "Black Cloud Rising" (Grove Press, 2022)
In Black Cloud Rising (Grove Press 2022), author and scholar David Wright Faladé tells the story of Richard Etheridge, who towards the end of the Civil War…
- New Books in Literature
Marcy Dermansky, "Hurricane Girl" (Knopf, 2022)
An interview with novelist Marcy Dermansky. Hurricane Girl (Knopf, 2022) brings us another unforgettable Dermansky-character, Allison Brody, whose rashness and…
- New Books in Literature
Adrienne G. Perry, "Flashé Sur Moi" The Common magazine (Spring, 2022)
Adrienne G. Perry speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her essay “Flashé Sur Moi,” which appears in The Common’s new spring issue. Adrienne talks…
- New Books in Literature
John Scalzi, "The Kaiju Preservation Society" (Tor Books, 2022)
One could call The Kaiju Preservation Society (Tor Books, 2022) a pandemic novel because a) John Scalzi wrote it during the pandemic and b) the pandemic…
- New Books in Literature
Keith Gessen, "Raising Raffi: The First Five Years" (Viking, 2022)
"I was not prepared to be a father--this much I knew." Keith Gessen was nearing forty and hadn't given much thought to the idea of being a father. He assumed…
- New Books in Literature
Tajja Isen, "Some of My Best Friends: Essays on Lip Service" (Atria/One Signal, 2022)
In this stunning debut collection, Catapult editor-in-chief and award-winning voice actor Tajja Isen explores the absurdity of living in a world that has grown…
- New Books in Literature
Zhanna Slor, "At the End of the World, Turn Left" (Agora Books, 2021)
Today I talked to Zhanna Slor about her novel At the End of the World, Turn Left (Agora Books, 2021). 19-year-old Anna’s parents won’t pay her college tuition…
- New Books in Literature
82* Zadie Smith in Focus (JP)
In this 2019 episode, John interviews the celebrated British writer Zadie Smith. The conversation quickly moves through Brexit (oh, the inhumanity!) and what…
- New Books in Literature
Eleanor Lerman, "Watkins Glen" (Mayapple Press, 2021)
Watkins Glen (Mayapple Press, 2021) is the story of Susan -- a woman in her sixties -- who finds herself taking care of her estranged older brother Mark, who…
- New Books in Literature
Peter C. Baker, "Planes" (Knopf, 2022)
An interview with debut novelist Peter C Baker. Planes (Knopf, 2022) is the story of a global crime unfolding principally in the domestic lives of two women…
- New Books in Literature
Catherine Lloyd, "Miss Morton and the English House Party Murder" (Kensington, 2022)
As we soon find out in this opener to a new series set in 1830s London, Lady Caroline Morton’s illustrious heritage has been tarnished by the financial ruin…
- New Books in Literature
Peter McDade, "Songs by Honeybird" (Wampus Multimedia, 2022)
In Songs by Honeybird, Peter McDade (Wampus Multimedia 2022) tells the story of Ben and Nina, two people who meet at a college outside of Atlanta. The chapters…
- New Books in Literature
Cheryl Collins Isaac, "Spin," The Common magazine (Spring, 2022)
Cheryl Collins Isaac speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her story “Spin,” which appears in The Common’s new spring issue. “Spin” is about two…
- New Books in Literature
Cassandra Rose Clarke, "The Beholden" (Erewhon Books, 2022)
Today I talked to Cassandra Rose Clarke about her book The Beholden (Erewhon Books, 2022). Two impoverished sisters, one with magical gifts and one with…
- New Books in Literature
Diana McCaulay, "Daylight Come" (Peepal Tree Press, 2020)
It is 2084. Climate change has made life on the Caribbean island of Bajacu a gruelling trial. The sun is so hot that people must sleep in the day and live and…
- New Books in Literature
Elif Batuman, "Either/Or" (Penguin, 2022)
An interview with novelist Elif Batuman. The international bestseller and Pulitzer Prize finalist The Idiot now has a sequel. In Either/Or (Penguin, 2022)…
- New Books in Literature
Fiona Vigo Marshall, "The House of Marvellous Books" (Fairlight Books, 2022)
The House of Marvellous Books by Fiona Vigo Marshall (Fairlight Books 2022) describes a publishing house called The House of Marvelous Books that houses an old…
- New Books in Literature
Elizabeth Boyle, "Fierce Appetites: Loving, Losing and Living to Excess in my Present and in the Writings of the Past" (Sandycove, 2022)
In Fierce Appetites: Loving, Losing and Living to Excess in my Present and in the Writings of the Past (Sandy Cove, 2022), Dr. Elizabeth Boyle weaves together…
- New Books in Literature
Jeanne Baker Guy, "You'll Never Find Us: A Memoir" (She Writes Press, 2021)
In 1977, Jeanne’s German nationalist ex-husband, Klaus, tells her he’s gotten a new job and wants to take their three-year-old daughter and six-year-old son…
- New Books in Literature
Alison Calder, "Synaptic" (U Regina Press, 2022)
This intricate, yearning work from award-winning poet Alison Calder asks us to think about the way we perceive and the ways in which we seek to know ourselves…
- New Books in Literature
Caitlin Hamilton Summie, "Geographies of the Heart" (Fornite, 2022)
Three members of a loving Minnesota family have a voice in Caitlin Hamilton Summie’s new thought-provoking novel-in-stories, Geographies of the Heart (Fomite…
- New Books in Literature
Cynthia Parker-Ohene, "Daughters of Harriet: Poems" (UP of Colorado, 2022)
Drawing inspiration from the life of Harriet Tubman, Cynthia Parker-Ohene's poetic narratives follow a historical arc of consciousness of Black folks: mislaid…
- New Books in Literature
Nathan Jordan Poole, "Idlewild," The Common magazine (Spring, 2022)
Nathan Jordan Poole speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his story “Idlewild,” which appears in The Common’s new spring issue. In this conversation…
- New Books in Literature
Ariela Freedman, "Lea" (Linda Leith Publishing, 2022)
Lea Roback was a feminist and labor activist who was raised in a large Jewish family in Quebec, Canada. In the novel Lea (Linda Leith Publishing, 2022), Ariela…
- New Books in Literature
Grant Ginder, "Let's Not Do That Again" (Henry Holt, 2022)
An interview with novelist Grant Ginder. In his latest dramady of familial disfunction, Let’s Not Do That Again (Henry Holt, 2022), Grant starts with…
- New Books in Literature
Kim Hyun, "Glory Hole" (Seagull Books, 2022)
In this episode, co-translators Suhyun J. Ahn and Archana Madhavan discuss their Korean-to-English translation of Glory Hole by Kim Hyun (Seagull Books, 2022)…
- New Books in Literature
W. Jeff Barnes, "Mingo" (Little Star, 2021)
Set against the backdrop of coal-rich, hard-scrabble West Virginia and "civilized," segregated Virginia, W. Jeff Barnes' Mingo (Little Star, 2021) reveals the…
- New Books in Literature
80 We are Not Digested: Rajiv Muhabir (Ulka Anjaria, JP)
Rajiv Mohabir is a dazzling poet of linguistics crossovers, who works in English, Bhojpuri, Hindi and more. He is as prolific as he is polyglot (three books in…
- New Books in Literature
Behind the Scenes at a Literary Magazine: The Common
Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about: How the Common got started What is involved in running a literary journal Why grants and…
- New Books in Literature
Khan Wong, "The Circus Infinite" (Angry Robot, 2022)
Few writers are as qualified to set their book in a circus as Khan Wong, who has not only performed in a circus but is an internationally recognized hula hoop…
- New Books in Literature
Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood, "Constellations of Eve" (Texas Tech UP, 2022)
Abbigail Nguyen Rosewood has created a swiftly mutating story about a woman who is either a loving mother, a famous artist, or a teacher. Constellations of Eve…
- New Books in Literature
Irina Shapiro, "Murder on the Sea Witch: A Redmond and Haze Mystery Book 7" (2022)
Jason Redmond, a US Civil War surgeon, never expected to step into his father’s shoes as the heir to an English earldom. When he first shows up to claim his…