Poured Over

Family Meal by Bryan Washington features the importance of food, friends and connection with a cast of characters working through the transitions in life. Washington joins us to talk about the identity of place, how he writes the messiness of life, staying truthful to characters and their struggles and more. Curtis Chin’s Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant follows the author’s life as he grew up in and around his family’s restaurant where he came to better understand himself and those around him. Chin joins us to talk about the perils of writing about your relatives, the nuances of cultural identity, a very particular Detroit meal and more.    Listen in as these authors speak separately with Miwa Messer, host of Poured Over.    This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.        New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.      Featured Books (Episode):  Family Meal by Bryan Washington  Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant by Curtis Chin  Memorial by Bryan Washington  Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson  Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto  Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park  100 Boyfriends by Brontez Purnell  Mott Street by Ava Chin  The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang 

“I want people to read it with joy, just for the story. But I do hope that they'll pick up something else along the way about … deeper things.” The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok finds two women on incredibly different paths in life in collision as they grapple with issues of culture, class and motherhood. Kwok joins us to talk about how she started a career in writing, the importance and language and cultural identity, how books open doors to learning and growth and more with Miwa Messer, host of Poured Over. We end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Madyson and Mary.    This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.      New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.       Featured Books (Episode):  The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok  Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok  Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok  Mambo in Chinatown by Jean Kwok  Happiness Falls by Angie Kim  The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni  Broadway Butterfly by Sara DiVello    Featured Books (TBR Topoff):  Greek Lessons by Han Kang  The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan 

"I wanted it to feel like stepping off the world..." Blackouts by Justin Torres explores love, loss and the stories we leave behind with inventive and transformative form and prose. Torres joins us to talk about the source material for this novel, the importance of telling queer stories, navigating legacy, loneliness and identity and more with Miwa Messer, host of Poured Over. This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.     New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.      Featured Books (Episode): Blackouts by Justin Torres We the Animals by Justin Torres Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig The Unsettled by Ayana Mathis City of God by Gil Cuadros Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe Punks by John Keene In Case of Emergency by Mahsa Mohebali

Our October Discover Pick is The Refugee Ocean by Pauls Toutonghi, featuring musical prose and interwoven stories that cross generations and countries to explore what it means to be an immigrant and the resiliency of the human spirit. Toutonghi joins us to talk about his family connection to the novel, using fiction to connect to the human experience, the long process of writing this book and more with guest host, Jenna Seery.  This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Jenna Seery and mixed by Harry Liang.            Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).        Featured Books (Episode):  The Refugee Ocean by Pauls Toutonghi  The Overstory by Richard Powers  All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr  Soccer in Sun and Shadow by Eduardo Galeano  Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf 

“Language doesn't just exist on the page … It's about how you embody it.”  How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair is a poetic memoir about growing up as a Rastafari woman in Jamaica and how words and writing empowered her voice. Sinclair joins us to talk about the literary connections in her poetry, shedding light on the reality of her upbringing, and the identity that comes with writing and reading with Miwa Messer, host of Poured Over. This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.     New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.       Featured Books (Episode):  How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair  Cannibal by Safiya Sinclair  The Tempest by William Shakespeare  Educated by Tara Westover  The Star-Apple Kingdom by Derek Walcott 

Jonathan Lethem’s Brooklyn Crime Novel brings readers to New York in the 70s and the cast of characters it contains. Lethem joins us to talk about creating something different than he’d done before, writing memory and nostalgia, the joy of bookselling and more with Miwa Messer, host of Poured Over. The Maniac by Benjamín Labatut defies genre with an examination and exploration of science and humanity from the Manhattan Project to the advent of A.I. Labatut joins us to talk about the dark art of writing, the mystery and mythology of existence, the importance of story and more with guest host, Jenna Seery.  We end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Jamie and Marc.    This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and Jenna Seery and mixed by Harry Liang.            Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).       Featured Books (Episode):  Brooklyn Crime Novel by Jonathan Lethem  The Maniac by Benjamín Labatut  The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem  Desperate Characters by Paula Fox  Another Country by James Baldwin  Steelwork by Gilbert Sorrentino   Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.  When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut    Featured Books (TBR Topoff):  Underworld by Don DeLillo  The New Life by Tom Crewe 

"My biggest goal was to convert people who said they don't like fantasy." V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series has enchanted us with wit, wonder and a world not unlike our own, filled with heroes and intrigue. Her newest addition, The Fragile Threads of Power, brings our favorite characters on a new adventure. Schwab joins us to talk about returning to her magical version of London, the role of social media for authors and readers, vampire novels and more with guest host, Kat Sarfas. We end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Madyson and Marc.     This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Kat Sarfas and mixed by Harry Liang.         Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).     Featured Books (Episode):  The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab  A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab  The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab  The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell  You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith  Painted Devils by Margaret Owen    Featured Books (TBR Topoff):  Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri  Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey 

The Unsettled by Ayana Mathis follows a family through generations from small town Alabama to Philadelphia in the 80s as they struggle, succeed and learn to care for each other. Mathis joins us to talk about how long it took her to write this book, keeping joy in hard stories, how real events and culture shape her characters and more with Miwa Messer, host of Poured Over.  This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.    New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.      Featured Books (Episode):  The Unsettled by Ayana Mathis  The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis  Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe  American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis  Gilead by Marilynne Robinson  Philadelphia Fire by John Edgar Wideman  A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel  

“It really illuminates these questions of privilege and pleasure, and what kind of joy we can look forward to in the human experience as things continue to get worse.” In a world facing food scarcity and limited resources, a young chef enters a world of allure, privilege, abundance (and their consequences) in Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang. Zhang joins us to talk about the mythology of the worlds she creates, the secret to great food writing, the politics of privilege and pleasure and more with Miwa Messer, host of Poured Over. This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.   New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.     Featured Books (Episode):  Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang  How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang  The Lover by Marguerite Duras  Provence, 1970 by Luke Barr  Prophet by Helen Macdonald and Sin Blaché  H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald 

“This book is the most personal because it is what I feel about the world itself.” The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff is a beautiful and propulsive survival story that brings new life to wilderness fiction. Groff joins us to talk about her extensive drafting process, her varied influences, getting language right in historical fiction and more live at Barnes & Noble Union Square with Miwa Messer, host of Poured Over.  This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.  New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.    Featured Books:  The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff  Arcadia by Lauren Groff  Matrix by Lauren Groff  Middlemarch by George Eliot  Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe  The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan   The Road by Cormac McCarthy  Anagrams by Lorrie Moore   A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel