New Books In Literature

  • Autor: Vários
  • Narrador: Vários
  • Editor: Podcast
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Sinopsis

Interviews with Writers about their New Books

Episodios

  • Christine Coulson, "One Woman Show" (Avid Reader Press, 2023)

    14/12/2024 Duración: 52min

    Author Christine Coulson spent twenty-five years writing for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her final project was to write wall labels for the museum's new British Galleries. During that time, she dreamt of using The Met's strict label format to describe people as intricate works of art. The result is this "jewel box of a novel" (Kirkus Reviews) that imagines a privileged 20th-century woman as an artifact--an object prized, collected, and critiqued. One Woman Show (Avid Reader Press, 2023) revolves around the life of Kitty Whitaker as she is defined by her potential for display and moved from collection to collection through multiple marriages. Coulson precisely distills each stage of this sprawling life, every brief snapshot in time a wry reflection on womanhood, ownership, value, and power. "A moving story of privilege, womanhood, and the sweep of the 20th century told through a single American life" (Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind), Kitty is an eccentric heroine who disrupts her porcelain l

  • Wayne Ng, "Johnny Delivers" (Guernica Editions, 2024)

    11/12/2024 Duración: 37min

    Set in 1977, Johnny Delivers (Guernica Editions, 2024) tells the absorbing story of 18-year-old Johnny Wong—the son of Chinese immigrants to Canada—who calls on the spirit of Bruce Lee to help him navigate the still relevant challenges of racism and how it permeates our interiority, our institutions, our relationships, and our livelihood. Toxic masculinity, homophobia, and the struggle for belonging. With the 100th Anniversary of the Enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act in Canada barely behind us, the themes explored in this book are particularly salient. An exciting and heart-wrenching story combined with the distinctly Canadian setting and universal themes make this book a wonderful book to read. Wayne Ng was born in downtown Toronto to Chinese immigrants who fed him a steady diet of bitter melon and kung fu movies. Ng is a social worker who lives to write, travel, eat, and play, preferably all at the same time. He is an award-winning author and traveler who continues to push his boundaries from the Arcti

  • Recall This Story: Ivan Kreilkamp on Sylvia Townsend Warner's "Foxcastle" (JP)

    05/12/2024 Duración: 01h05min

    Ivan Kreilkamp, Indiana University English professor and no stranger to Recall This Book, is the author of two books on Victorian literature and one about Jennifer Egan. For this episode of Recall This Story, Ivan reads Sylvia Townsend Warner's "Foxcastle.” It was first published in The New Yorker in 1975 and became the final story in her final book, Kingdoms of Elfin. Before diving into the story itself, Ivan and John marvel at STW's weird greatness--and great weirdness. Like Hilary Mantel, she is drawn to the deep strangeness of other people. Prompted by John to think about these fairy stories as posthuman, Ivan notes the "dehumanization ceremonies" fairies perform on stolen changelings. John builds on the idea by bringing up the rise (in the 1960's) of alien abduction narratives. Do they form an invisible subtext to the abduction that begins the story? David Trotter's "Posthuman? Animal Corpses, Aeroplanes and Very High Frequencies in the Work of Valentine Ackland and Sylvia Townsend Warner" explores Warne

  • Lisa Williamson Rosenberg, "Mirror Me" (Little a, 2024)

    03/12/2024 Duración: 28min

    Today I talked to Lisa Williamson Rosenberg about Mirror Me (Little a, 2024) Eddie Asher has always lost chunks of time, and the novel opens as he checks himself into a psychiatric hospital, fearing that during one of his lapses, he murdered his brother’s fiancée. Eddie would never harm Lucy – he loves her and feels a special bond with her – but he thinks he’s being manipulated by another voice inside him. We meet that other voice, who calls himself Pär, Eddie’s pre-adoption name. Pär feels like it’s always been his job to protect Eddie. At the hospital, Dr. Montgomery helps Eddie unravel the truth of his history and identity. Lisa Williamson Rosenberg is a former ballet dancer and psychotherapist specializing in depression, developmental trauma, and multiracial identity. She is also the author of Embers on the Wind (2022; Little A). Her essays have appeared in Literary Hub, Longreads, Narratively, Mamalode, and The Common. Her fiction has been published in the Piltdown Review and in Literary Mama, where Lisa

  • Book Chat: Home & Queer Writing – "Ghost Town," with Kevin Chen

    03/12/2024 Duración: 34min

    In this episode, our host, Ti-han, invited Taiwanese Queer author, Kevin Chen, to talk about his LGBTQ novel, Ghost Town (Europa Editions, 2022) 鬼地方 and its fever worldwide. In our conversation, Kevin shared with us how he first “come out” as a gay writer in Taiwan in the 90s, and how his writings was influenced by key Taiwanese LGBTQ authors and continue to be shaped by his migratory experiences in Berlin. He also told us how he thinks translation and the transability of a literary work can be useful in terms of authors’ impacts on society. If you’re a fan of Kevin’s writing, you certainly can’t miss this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

  • S. A. McLain, "Blood on the Veld" (Elevin Books, 2024)

    01/12/2024 Duración: 33min

    When seventeen-year-old Christian Bekker killed a poacher, he claimed it was self-defense. But the judge disagreed. He gave Christian a choice: go to prison or leave his home in South Africa and never return. Following his father’s suicide, conservation director Dr. Christian Bekker uncovers a plea from the grave to find out what really happened on that fateful day more than twenty years ago. Suddenly, he’s on a plane headed for Johannesburg, leaving behind his life in London in search of answers. Were his father’s suspicions correct or the result of twenty years spent dreaming about what might have been? All thoughts of staying under the radar disappear as his past plunges him into a murky and profitable world where police officers and government officials conspire with criminals to exploit what remains of South Africa’s wildlife. Soon he finds himself in the criminals’ sights… Blood on the Veld (Elevin Books, 2024) by S. A. McLain is the first book in the Christian Bekker Wildlife Crime Thriller series, fea

  • Vikas Swarup, "The Girl with the Seven Lives" (Simon & Schuster India, 2024)

    28/11/2024 Duración: 33min

    Vikas Swarup’s new novel, The Girl With the Seven Lives (Simon & Schuster India: 2024), opens with its main character Devi locked in a room, forced to retell her life’s story. Or, rather, her life’s stories–starting in the slums of Delhi, Devi reinvents herself time-and-time-again, with a new name and a new backstory, as she tries to carve a niche for herself in Indian society–only to be knocked back down, and be forced to start anew, with a new name. Vikas joins the show today to talk about his novel, which settings are perhaps ripped from the headlines, and what The Girl with the Seven Lives says about the idea of meritocracy. Vikas Swarup is a former diplomat, television host and best-selling author who gained global recognition with his debut novel, Q&A (Scribner: 2005). It was filmed as the multiple-Oscar-winning ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. His second book Six Suspects (Random House: 2008) was converted into a nine-part web series titled ‘The Great Indian Murder’, which premiered on Disney+Hotstar and Hulu on

  • Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, "Prayers of a Heretic: Poems" (Plain View Press, 2015)

    26/11/2024 Duración: 01h02min

    In the poetry collection Prayers of a Heretic (Plain View Press, 2015), Yermiyahu Ahron Taub explores the "crime" of heresy and the condition of existential displacement through the language of prayer and prayerful voice/s. In the first section, "Visits and Visitations," the poet imagines a variety of protagonists in situations of supplication. The second section, "In the Gleaning," examines the life, transgressions, and prayers of the title character and the primacy of books, libraries, and reading for refuge and reconfiguration. Eschewing a secular/religious divide, the book offers an expansive interpretation of the enduring power of prayer. Four poems also have a Yiddish version. Interviewee: Yermiyahu Ahron Taub is a poet, writer, and translator of Yiddish literature. Taub earned a Master of Arts degree in history from Emory University and a Master of Library and Information Science degree from Queens College, City University of New York. Host: Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociolog

  • Chikodili Emelumadu, "Dazzling" (Harry N. Abrams, 2023)

    26/11/2024 Duración: 29min

    Today I talked to Chikodili Emelumadu about Dazzling (Harry N. Abrams, 2023). Treasure and Ozoemena are young Nigerian girls forced to deal with spirits after losing their fathers. Treasure is forced to beg in the marketplace as her mother lies bedridden and depressed, and a wicked spirit finds her there and tries to make her his wife. He promises to bring her father back to life if she helps him by finding other girls for his friends. Ozoemena’s father has disappeared, leaving the family with questions and responsibilities. She learns from her grandmother that she is descended from a wild, ancient beast, the Leopard from an Igbo legend, which gives her terrible dreams and sometimes takes over her body. Touching on Igbo mythology and African folklore, Emelumadu’s dual-voiced stories focus on family, traditions, growing up, and the forces that conspire to prevent people from overcoming their grief. Chikodili Emelumadu was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire and raised in Awka, Nigeria. Her work has been shortlist

  • Sam Sax, "Yr Dead" (McSweeney’s Books, 2024)

    26/11/2024 Duración: 48min

    Sam Sax is a queer, jewish, writer and educator. They're the author of Yr Dead (McSweeney's Books, 2024), longlisted for The National Book Award and PIG named one of the best books of 2023 by New York Magazine and Electric Lit. They're also the author of Madness, winner of The National Poetry Series and Bury It winner of the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. They're the two time Bay Area Grand Slam Champion with poems published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Poetry Magazine, Granta and elsewhere. Sam's received fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts, The Poetry Foundation, Yaddo, Lambda Lit, MacDowell, and is currently serving as an ITALIC Lecturer at Stanford University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

  • All of Our Stories Were War Stories: Jamil Jan Kochai and Kalyan Nadiminti (AV)

    21/11/2024 Duración: 44min

    Imagine growing up between Sacramento, California and Logar, Afghanistan; you hear stories about war, watch coverage of the United States’ War on Terror on television, and then visit your family in the very places that the U.S. army invaded and occupied. These experiences shape the work of novelist Jamil Jan Kochai, author of 99 Nights in Logar and The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories, which was a finalist for The National Book Award. Jamil joins Northwestern prof. Kalyan Nadiminti and host Aarthi Vadde for a wide-ranging conversation about narrative form and the cycles of war. We begin by discussing the second person, a technique Jamil uses throughout Hajji Hotak. He describes it as the most “dangerous perspective” for a fiction writer to take because it brings readers to the edge of the immersive world fiction is supposed to create. The second person in The Haunting of Hajji Hotak, from which Jamil reads, forces readers to grapple with our own complicity in the surveillance of Afghan families in th

  • Emily Dinova, "The Antagonist" (Bruce Scivally, 2024)

    20/11/2024 Duración: 49min

    Today I spoke with Emily Dinova about her new novel The Antagonist (Bruce Scivally, 2024). Dinova, a psychoanalytic candidate working towards a license to practice psychoanalysis, wrote The Antagonist as a way of healing her own trauma. Written as a creative act of revenge, Dinova found herself in a fragmented state while writing the book. “I really feel like a fragmented part of myself wrote this book.” From this fragmented state she created characters who represent several psychoanalytic concepts including repression, negation, the uncanny, and Spotnitzian narcissistic object protection.  The structure of the novel is an enactment of Nachträglichkeit. I found the novel intoxicating and disorienting. It kept me happily off balance throughout. Rooted in the psychological adage that the urge to destroy does not have to be taught, Dinova renders her characters with layers of beguiling complexity. The horrors of this deeply informed psychological thriller unfold gradually. It is a masterful demonstration of unc

  • Cornelia M. Spelman, "Solace" (Jackleg Press, 2024)

    20/11/2024 Duración: 46min

    How do we become the persons we are? Cornelia Maude Spelman's Solace (Jackleg Press, 2024) seeks to answer that question. A portrait of the emotional legacies and psychological landscapes that shaped the author's life, Solace unfurls in a series of vignettes drawn from diaries and personal stories about her relationship to others as daughter, mother, friend, wife, therapist, and grandmother. These are stories of compassion and attention bringing about healing from grief and brokenness and the necessity of our deep and caring connection to others: the comfort offered to us and the comfort we offer to others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

  • Monica Chenault-Kilgore, "The Jewel of the Blues" (Graydon House, 2024)

    19/11/2024 Duración: 49min

    Life is tough for people of color in the early twentieth century—not only in the Southern states, which have put Reconstruction firmly behind them in favor of Jim Crow laws. Even so, Lucille Love, known as the Little Girl with the Big Voice, dreams of making her name on Broadway and eventually moving to Paris, leaving behind the prejudices that restrict black women in the United States. When Marcus Williams offers to manage Lucille’s singing career, she’s sure that reaching her goal is just a matter of time. Until some old enemies of her father track her down … This richly developed story intertwines a love of music and musicians, an exploration of color prejudice, and a tense drama of criminals with long memories and no scruples. At its heart stands Lucille—a passionate, determined young woman who doesn’t always make the best choices but whose heart is in the right place. I found it an engrossing read, and I bet you will too. Monica Chenault-Kilgore is the author of Long Gone, Come Home and, most recently, T

  • Eric Drooker, "Naked City: A Graphic Novel" (Dark Horse Books, 2024)

    17/11/2024 Duración: 51min

    Born and raised on Manhattan Island, Eric Drooker began to slap his art on the streets at night as a teenager. Since then, his drawings and posters have become a familiar sight in the global street art movement, and his paintings appear frequently on covers of the New Yorker. His first book, Flood, won the American Book Award, followed by Blood Song (soon to be a feature film). Naked City is the third volume in Drooker’s City Trilogy. His graphic novels have been translated into numerous languages in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. After designing the animation for the film Howl, he was hired for a project at DreamWorks Animation. Drooker’s art is in the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Library of Congress. He is available for speaking engagements and frequently gives slide lectures at colleges and universities. Drooker is represented by the Wylie Agency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becomi

  • Megan Tennant, "Little Women," The Common magazine

    17/11/2024 Duración: 40min

    Megan Tennant speaks to managing editor Emily Everett about her story “Little Women,” which appears in The Common’s brand new fall issue. Megan talks about the process of writing and revising this story, which explores the complex dynamics between two sisters in a religious family in South Africa after one sister gets engaged. Megan also discusses how she layered the beauty, atmosphere, and complicated history of South Africa’s Wild Coast into the story, and how she worked to balance subtlety and clarity when bringing together the story’s many threads. Megan Tennant is a writer based in Cape Town, South Africa. She holds master’s degrees in creative writing from the University of Cape Town and in London studies from Queen Mary University of London. ­­Read Megan’s story “Little Women” in The Common at thecommononline.org/little-women/. The Common is a print and online literary magazine publishing stories, essays, and poems that deepen our collective sense of place. On our podcast and in our pages, The Common f

  • Ruth Vanita, "A Slight Angle" (India Viking, 2024)

    14/11/2024 Duración: 33min

    A Slight Angle (India Viking: 2024), the newest novel from Indian writer Ruth Vanita, is a story about love. Difficult love–her six characters are growing up in 1920s India, which takes a dim view of same-sex relationships, and those that transcend religious boundaries. Like Sharad, the jewelry designer who falls in love with his teacher, Abhik–only for the embarrassment to keep them apart for decades. Ruth Vanita is the author of many books, most recently The Broken Rainbow: Poems and Translations (Copper Coin Publishing: 2023); the novel Memory of Light (Penguin Random House India: 2022); The Dharma of Justice in the Sanskrit Epics: Debates on Gender, Varna and Species (Oxford University Press: 2022); Love’s Rite: Same-Sex Marriages in Modern India (Penguin Books India: 2005). She has translated several works from Hindi to English, including Mahadevi Varma’s My Family (Penguin Books India: 2021). She co-edited the path-breaking Same-Sex Love in India, and edited and translated On the Edge: A Hundred Years o

  • Benjamin Resnick, "Next Stop" (Simon and Schuster, 2024)

    12/11/2024 Duración: 29min

    Today I talked to Benjamin Resnick about his novel Next Stop (Simon and Schuster, 2024) A hole opens in the universe and suddenly consumes a building, then a neighborhood, and then the entire country of Israel. Conspiracies and antisemitic paranoia simmer, violence erupts, and life for Jews around the globe becomes even more hate filled. But Ethan and Ella, both Jewish, meet and fall in love in an unnamed American city. Their relationship has its challenges, including those involving Ella’s seven-year-old son, but their biggest struggle is trying to survive. Then thousands of airplanes disappear, borders close, and the world unravels more. Drones and robotic dogs patrol the streets and Jews are forced to live in a single neighborhood, slyly named after the historical Pale of Settlement. Some Jews escape to underground cities and others are join militias and resistance efforts, but Ella and Ethan are trying to find things to smile about in this thought-provoking, dystopian novel about cultural memory, societal

  • 8.3 Aspire to Magic but End Up With Madness: Adam Ehrlich Sachs speaks with Sunny Yudkoff (JP)

    07/11/2024 Duración: 30min

    What happens when a novelist wants “nonsense and joy” but his characters are destined for a Central European sanatorium? How does the abecedarian form (i.e. organized not chronologically or sequentially but alphabetically) insist on order, yet also embrace absurdity? Here to ponder such questions with host John Plotz are University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Sunny Yudkoff (last heard on ND speaking with Sheila Heti) and Adam Ehrlich Sachs, author of Inherited Disorders, The Organs of Sense, and the recently published Gretel and the Great War. Sachs has fallen under the spell of late Habsburg Vienna, where the polymath Ludwig Wittgenstein struggled to make sense of Boltzmann’s physics, Arnold Schoenberg read the acerbic journalist Karl Kraus, and everyone, Sachs suspects, was reading Grimms’ Fairy Tales, searching for the feeling of inevitability only narrative closure can provide. Beneath his OULIPO-like attachment to arbitrary orders and word-games, though, Sachs admits to a desire for chaos. Thomas Bernhard,

  • Megan Staffel, "The Causative Factor" (Regal House, 2024)

    05/11/2024 Duración: 25min

    Sparks fly in Megan Staffel’s novel, The Causative Factor (Regal House 2024), when Rachel is randomly paired with Rubiat, a fellow student, for an assignment in their college art class. After a heavenly night together, they go hiking, and he dives off a cliff, disappearing without a trace. Although Rachel graduates with an art degree, moves to New York, and supports her painting as an ESL teacher, she’s scarred for years by the mystery of Rubiat’s disappearance. This is a sweet coming-of-age, but also a suspense-filled novel told in shifting viewpoints, about art, growing up, making choices, and finding love. Megan Staffel splits her time between a farm in western New York State and an apartment in Brooklyn. She is an avid walker, bird watcher, and gardener. Her new novel, The Causative Factor, was inspired by a hike she took with her husband in a state park in October, 2020 and grew into a story about an artist trying to understand the mysterious disappearance of her lover. Staffel's interest in the arts and

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