Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times.

Playwright, professor, director, and Carl Brandon and Otherwise-award winning writer Andrea Hairston talks with Gary about the necessity of reading during hard times, the appeal of hefty nonfiction titles as well as epic fantasy, the odd satisfaction of a virtual book tour, Afrofuturism and Indigenous Futurisms, and her new novel Master of Poisons.

Books mentioned include:

Master of Poisons by Andrea Hairston
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff
The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
The Book of Lost Saints by Daniel José Older
Nine Bar Blues by Sheree Renee Thomas
Mama's Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us about Ourselves, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans de Waal

Episode 522: Ten Minutes with Andrea Hairston