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
Cynthia Reeves, "The Last Whaler" (Regal House, 2024)
After losing their young son in a tragic accident, Astrid, a Norwegian botanist specializing in Arctic flora, decides to join her husband, Tor, at a remote…
- New Books in Literature
P. Djèlí Clark on Why He Writes
P. Djèlí Clark is the author of acclaimed and award-winning speculative fiction, including the much-loved Dead Djinn universe books, Ring Shout, and his most…
New Books in LiteratureV. Domontovych, "On Shaky Ground" (CEU Press, 2024)
In this episode host, Andrea Talabér (CEU Press) sits down with Oksana Rosenblum, the translator of the new addition to our CEU Press Classics series, On Shaky…
- New Books in Literature
Anna Rasche, "The Stone Witch of Florence" (Park Row, 2024)
Anna Rasche's debut novel A Stone Witch of Florence (2024, Park Row) brings reader on a historical fiction adventure to Florence. As the Black Plague ravages…
- New Books in Literature
Ursula Villarreal-Moura, "Like Happiness" (Celadon Books, 2024)
Ursula Villarreal-Moura is the author of Math for the Self-Crippling (2022), selected by Zinzi Clemmons as the Gold Line Press fiction contest winner, and Like…
- New Books in Literature
Dirt Bag Novels: Lydia Kiesling in Conversation with Megan Ward (CH)
What does it mean for a novel to think globally? And can a global novel concerned with the macro movements of capital and labor still exist in the form of a…
- New Books in Literature
Rohit Manchanda, "The Enclave: A Sharp and Hilarious Portrait of Womanhood in India" (Fourth Estate, 2024)
Maya, the protagonist of Rohit Manchanda’s novel The Enclave (Fourth Estate: 2024), should be happy with her life. She’s newly single, her net worth steadily…
- New Books in Literature
Esinam Bediako, "Blood on the Brain" (Red Hen Press, 2024)
Today I talked to Esinam Bediako about here novel Blood on the Brain (Red Hen Press, 2024).When Akosua, a 24-year-old grad student in New York, falls and bangs…
- New Books in Literature
Emma Hinds, "The Knowing" (Bedford Square Publishers, 2024)
In the slums of 19th-century New York. A tattooed mystic fights for her life. Her survival hangs on the turn of a tarot card.Powerful, intoxicating and full of…
- New Books in Literature
Recall This Story: Part 2 of Linda Schlossberg on Alice Munro's "Miles City, Montana" (JP)
You will want to start with Part 1 of episode 135; it can be found right here.Linda Schlossberg, author of Life in Miniature, who teaches at Harvard, joins RTB…
- New Books in Literature
Maaria Sayed, "From Pashas to Pokemon" (Vishwakarma Publications, 2024)
From Pashas to Pokemon (Vishwakarma Publications, 2024), Maaria Sayed’s first novel, is a coming-of-age story. Aisha grows up in the Muhammad Ali Road…
- New Books in Literature
Recall This Story: Part 1 of Linda Schlossberg on Alice Munro's "Miles City Montana" (JP)
Linda Schlossberg, author of Life in Miniature, who teaches at Harvard, joins RTB to read and explore one of her favorite Alice Munro stories, "Miles City…
- New Books in Literature
Cynthia Swanson, "Anyone But Her" (Columbine York, 2024)
Today I talked to Cynthia Swanson about Anyone But Her (Columbine York, 2024).In 1979 during her freshman year at Denver East High School in 1979, Suzanne’s…
- New Books in Literature
Patrick Hicks, "In the Shadow of Dora: A Novel of the Holocaust and the Apollo Program" (Stephen F. Austin UP, 2020)
In the Shadow of Dora: A Novel of the Holocaust and the Apollo Program (Stephen F. Austin UP, 2020) spans two very different decades from the Nazi…
- New Books in Literature
Kevin Dean, "Patron Saints" The Common Magazine
Kevin Dean speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his story “Patron Saints,” which appears in The Common’s most recent issue. Kevin talks about the…
- New Books in Literature
Christina Dodd, "A Daughter of Fair Verona" (John Scognamiglio, 2024)
It takes a certain gall to update one of William Shakespeare’s most enduring and most beloved tragedies. Anyone who has survived an English literature class at…
- New Books in Literature
Ari Gautier, "Nocturne Pondicherry" (Hachette India, 2024)
A postman struggles to deliver the last letter on his last day of work. A prostitute elopes with the auto rickshaw driver who arranged clients for her. An…
- New Books in Literature
Sara Johnson Allen, "Down Here We Come Up" (Black Lawrence Press, 2023)
In Sara Johnson Allen's novel Down Here We Come Up (Black Lawrence Press 2023), Kate Jessup’s mother lures her back home to North Carolina. Jackie Jessup is a…
- New Books in Literature
F. J. Watson, "Lies of the Flesh" (Polygon, 2024)
When evil stalks the land, who can you trust? Autumn 1314. In the aftermath of the Scottish victory at the Battle of Bannockburn, the villagers of Warcop wait…
- New Books in Literature
Francis Stevens, "The Heads of Cerberus and Other Stories" (MIT Press, 2024)
When three people in Philadelphia inhale dust developed by a scientist who has discovered parallel universes, they are transported into an interdimensional…
- New Books in Literature
S J. Naudé, "Fathers and Fugitives" (Europa, 2024)
Daniel is a worldly and urbane journalist living in London. His relationships appear to be sexually fulfilling but sentimentally meager. A young gay man with…
- New Books in Literature
Etherized: Anne Enright in a Novel Dialogue Conversation (Paige Reynolds, JP)
Anne Enright, writer, critic, Booker winner, kindly made time back in 2023 for Irish literature maven Paige Reynolds and for John Plotz in his role as host for…
- New Books in Literature
Scott Nadelson, "Trust Me" (Forest Avenue Press, 2024)
Today I talked to Scott Nadelson's novel Trust Me (Forest Avenue Press, 2024). After his divorce, Lewis moves into the cabin he bought as a vacation home…
- New Books in Literature
Rachel Kushner, "Creation Lake" (Scribner, 2024)
Creation Lake (Scribner, 2024) is a novel about a secret agent, a thirty-four-year-old American woman of ruthless tactics, bold opinions, and clean beauty, who…
- New Books in Literature
Nicholas Molbert, "Altars of Spine and Fraction" (Curbstone Press/Northwestern UP, 2024)
Nicholas Molbert's Altars of Spine and Fraction (Curbstone Press/Northwestern UP, 2024) follows its protagonist through the joys and dangers of childhood on…
- New Books in Literature
Marguerite Young, "Miss MacIntosh, My Darling" (Deep Vellum Publishing, 2024)
In this episode I'm joined by Dalkey Archive's editorial director, Chad W. Post. We discuss the republication of the late Marguerite Young's cult-classic work…
- New Books in Literature
Before and After the Book Deal
Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about publishing but were too afraid to ask.Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer’s Guide to Finishing, Publishing…
- New Books in Literature
Peter Rose, "The Good War of Consul Reeves" (Blacksmith Books, 2024)
Macau was supposed to be a sleepy post for John Reeves, the British consul for the Portuguese colony on China’s southern coast. He arrived, alone, in June…
- New Books in Literature
Ayelet Tsabari, "Songs for the Brokenhearted: A Novel" (Random House, 2024)
Zohara flies from New York to Israel for her mother’s funeral. She’d already been through a tough year; a divorce from her American husband and trouble getting…
- New Books in Literature
Madeline Martin, "The Booklover's Library" (Hanover Square Press, 2024)
The Booklover's Library (Hanover Square Press, 2024) has one of the most dramatic openings I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a lot of novels. It’s 1931 in…
- New Books in Literature
Mary Jones, "The Goodbye Process" (Zibby Books, 2024)
In her stunning debut short story collection, The Goodbye Process (Zibby Books, 2024), Mary Jones uses her distinctive voice to examine the painful and…
- New Books in Literature
Kaliane Bradley, "The Ministry of Time" (Avid Reader Press, 2024)
In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and is, shortly afterward, told what project she'll be working on. A recently…
- New Books in Literature
Chelsea Bieker, "Madwoman" (Little, Brown, 2024)
Today I talked to Chelsea Biker about her novel Madwoman (Little, Brown, 2024).Clove has gone to extremes to keep her past a secret. Thanks to her lies, she's…
- New Books in Literature
C. Michelle Lindley, "The Nude" (Atria Books, 2024)
1999: An island off the southern coast of Greece. Art historian Elizabeth Clarke arrives with the intent to acquire a rare female sculpture. But what begins as…
- New Books in Literature
Jake Lamar, "Viper's Dream" (Crooked Lane Books, 2023)
Jake Lamar's novel Viper's Dream (Crooked Lane Books, 2023) is a gritty, daring look at the vibrant jazz scene of mid-century Harlem, and one man’s dreams of…
- New Books in Literature
Maria de Caldas Antão, "My Freedom," The Common Magazine
Maria de Caldas Antão speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her poem “My Freedom,” which appears in The Common’s most recent issue. Maria talks about…
- New Books in Literature
Marga Ortigas, "God's Ashes: Apocrypha" (Penguin, 2024)
Climate change. The refugee crisis. The rise of social media.These big social questions—and others—inspired journalist Marga Ortigas in the creation of her new…
- New Books in Literature
Terena Elizabeth Bell, "Tell Me What You See" (Whiskey Tit, 2022)
Terena Elizabeth Bell's Tell Me What You See (Whisk(e)y Tit, 2022), is a collection of ten experimental short stories about coronavirus quarantines, climate…
- New Books in Literature
Sara Farrington, "A Trojan Woman Adapted from Euripides" (Broadway Play Publishing, 2024)
In a flash of modern warfare (Ukraine? Afghanistan? Vietnam? Poland? Hiroshima? Israel? Gaza?), a mother loses her child. She becomes "A Trojan Woman,"…
- New Books in Literature
"The Threepenny Review": A Discussion with Wendy Lesser
Today’s spotlight is on the literary magazine The Threepenny Review. I’m joined by the magazine’s founding and current Editor, Wendy Lesser.Wendy Lesser is the…
- New Books in Literature
Charles Holdefer, "Ivan the Terrible Goes on a Family Picnic" (Sagging Meniscus Press, 2024)
Charles Holdefer's new short story collection, Ivan the Terrible Goes on a Family Picnic (Sagging Meniscus Press, 2024) weaves together ten stories that…
- New Books in Literature
Stephen Schottenfeld, "This Room Is Made of Noise" (U Wisconsin Press, 2023)
Today I talked to Stephen Schottenfeld about his new novel This Room Is Made of Noise (U Wisconsin Press, 2023).Don Lank is a newly divorced handyman who…
- New Books in Literature
Heather Redmond, "Death and the Visitors" (Kensington, 2024)
Today I talked to Heather Redmond about her new novel Death and the Visitors (Kensington, 2024).In this second Regency-era mystery featuring Mary Godwin…
- New Books in Literature
"New Letters" Magazine: A Discussion with Christie Hodgen
Christie Hodgen is the author of four books of fiction, most recently the novel Boy Meets Girl, which won the 2020 AWP Award for the Novel. Her short fiction…
- New Books in Literature
Jessica Anthony, "The Most" (Little, Brown, 2024)
It's November 3, 1957. As Sputnik 2 launches into space, carrying Laika, the doomed Soviet dog, a couple begin their day. Virgil Beckett, an insurance…
- New Books in Literature
Juli Min, "Shanghailanders" (Spiegel & Grau, 2024)
Shanghailanders (Spiegel & Grau: 2024), the debut novel from Juli Min, starts at the end: Leo, a wealthy Shanghai businessman, sees his wife and daughters off…
- New Books in Literature
Zoë Bossiere, "Cactus Country: A Boyhood Memoir" (Abrams Press, 2024)
Today, I interview Zoë Bossiere about Cactus Country: A Boyhood Memoir (Abrams Press, 2024). Bossiere is writer from Tucson, Arizona. They are the managing…
- New Books in Literature
Casey Plett, "On Community" (Biblioasis, 2023)
Today I interview Casey Plett. Plett is the author of multiple works of fiction, including the story collection A Dream of a Woman, the novel Little Fish…
- New Books in Literature
Cally Fiedorek, "Atta Boy" (U Iowa Press, 2024)
In December 2018, we meet Rudy Coyle, a bar owner's son from Flushing, Queens, in the throes of a major quarter-life crisis. Cut out of the family business, he…
- New Books in Literature
Na'ou Liu, "Urban Scenes" (Cambria Press, 2023)
"In this tango palace everything was swaying rhythmically to and fro, bodies of men and women, beams of colored light, brilliant wine glasses, red and green…
- New Books in Literature
Edward Shanks, "The People of the Ruins" (MIT Press, 2024)
In The People of the Ruins (originally published in 1920), Edward Shanks imagines England in the not-so-distant future as a neo mediaeval society whose…
- New Books in Literature
Megan Nolan, "Ordinary Human Failings" (Little, Brown, 2024)
It's 1990 in London and Tom Hargreaves has it all: a burgeoning career as a reporter, fierce ambition and a brisk disregard for the "peasants" -- ordinary…
- New Books in Literature
Kate Brandes, "Stone Creek" (Wyatt-MacKenzie, 2024)
Kate Brandes' new novel, Stone Creek (Wyatt-MacKenzie, 2024) introduces readers to Tilly and Frank Stone. Seventeen years ago, after living as a fugitive…
- New Books in Literature
Rochelle Potkar, "Coins in Rivers: Poems" (Hachette India, 2024)
Fierce and unflinching, Rochelle Potkar's poetry springs from the deeply personal and ripples out to the world, capturing lovers' whispers and reverberations…
- New Books in Literature
Laura van den Berg, "State of Paradise" (FSG, 2024)
It's another summer in a small Florida town. After an illness that vanishes as mysteriously as it arrived, everything appears to be getting back to normal…
- New Books in Literature
Premee Mohamed, "The Siege of Burning Grass" (Solaris, 2024)
Premee Mohamed’s novel The Siege of Burning Grass (Solaris, 2024) is set during an ongoing war between two empires: Varkal and Med’ariz and follows Alefret, a…
- New Books in Literature
"Catamaran" Magazine: A Discussion with Catherine Segurson
Catherine Segurson is the founding editor of Catamaran. She’s a painter, videographer and creative writer who graduated from the Master of Fine Arts program at…
- New Books in Literature
Aysegül Savas, "The Anthropologists" (Bloomsbury, 2024)
Asya and Manu are looking at apartments, envisioning their future in a foreign city. What should their life here look like? What rituals will structure their…
- New Books in Literature
Ruchama Feuerman, "In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist" (Open Road Media, 2024)
In Ruchama Feuerman's novel In the Courtyard of the Kabbalist (Open Road Media 2024), Isaac, a lonely, heartbroken New York haberdasher, moves to Jerusalem…
- New Books in Literature
A. J. Rodriguez, "Papel Picado," The Common Magazine (2024)
A. J. Rodriguez speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about his story “Papel Picado,” which appears in The Common’s most recent issue. A.J. talks about the…