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‘Dwelling’ fictionalizes the American housing crisis with elements of fairy tale
In Emily Hunt Kivel’s new novel Dwelling, a mass eviction in New York City throws a young woman’s life into chaos. Suddenly homeless, Evie relocates to Gulluck, Texas, where she moves into a giant co…
Published on 4 months ago
For the authors of ‘Reading Van Gogh,’ ‘Black in Blues,’ art opened a door to meaning
In today’s episode, the authors of two recently released nonfiction books search for meaning in art. First, Elizabeth Barks Cox’s Reading Van Gogh: An Amateur’s Search for God chronicles her infatuat…
Published on 4 months ago
In ‘Human Nature,’ Kate Marvel bridges the gap between climate science and emotions
Kate Marvel is a climate scientist who has testified before Congress and served as lead author of the U.S. National Climate Assessment. But in her new book Human Nature, she takes a different approac…
Published on 4 months, 1 week ago
Jason Mott’s new novel ‘People Like Us’ is metafiction that was almost memoir
In 2021, Jason Mott won the National Book Award for Hell of a Book. Now, he’s out with a new novel called People Like Us, in which two Black writers navigate life in the United States in an era of gu…
Published on 4 months, 1 week ago
‘Sloppy’ author Rax King says she’s inspired by writers who did their best work sober
Author Rax King says her new book of essays Sloppy is unified by themes of “addiction and bad habits.” King has been sober from alcohol and cocaine for three years and in these essays, she openly sha…
Published on 4 months, 1 week ago
A new mystery novel by Liza Tully pairs a green assistant with a seasoned detective
In a new murder mystery, a young woman, Olivia Blunt, is eager to impress her new boss, a no-nonsense detective named Aubrey Merritt. This intergenerational pairing is at the center of The World’s Gr…
Published on 4 months, 1 week ago
2 new books were inspired by dark moments in Japanese and Japanese American history
Authors Tracy Slater and Julia Riew published two very different books last month that were inspired by a similar time in history. First, Together in Manzanar is set during the incarceration of Japan…
Published on 4 months, 1 week ago
‘The Feather Detective’ is a biography of Roxie Layboune, forensic ornithologist
In 1960, a commercial flight was struck by a flock of birds, resulting in a deadly crash. Evidence was sent to the Smithsonian, where a woman named Roxie Laybourne successfully identified the species…
Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago
In Lisa Smith’s ‘Jamaica Road,’ a young girl searches for belonging in 1980s London
Lisa Smith’s debut novel Jamaica Road is a coming of age story and romance set in 1980s London. The story follows Daphne, a young girl born to a Jamaican family, and her best friend Connie over the c…
Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago
‘Algospeak’ looks at algorithms' transformative impact on how we speak on and offline
Words like "rizz" and "skibidi" didn’t exist just a few years ago, but now they’re used and understood by millions of people. In his new book, Algospeak, linguist and content creator Adam Aleksic arg…
Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago