Poured Over

Mary Beth Keane’s new novel, The Half Moon, follows a small-town couple navigating the uncertainties of marriage and starting a family. Keane joins us to talk about how she creates her characters, why she chose to tackle tough themes, writing during the pandemic and more with guest host, Allyson Gavaletz. We end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Madyson.    This episode of Poured Over was produced and hosted by Allyson Gavaletz and mixed by Harry Liang. Poured Over is brought to you by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and the booksellers of Barnes & Noble.      Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).   Featured Books (Episode):  The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane  Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell  Opened Ground by Seamus Heaney   Featured Books (TBR Topoff):  Trespasses by Louise Kennedy  Booked on a Feeling by Jayci Lee 

“When I was working forensics, I always thought, we do this work for the people who need us to do this work — it's not always the easiest thing.”  Ramona Emerson’s Shutter is not your typical procedural — join an unforgettable crime scene photographer with the ability to speak to the dead in a mystery that will keep you guessing. Emerson joined us to talk about her own career in forensics, the importance of Native American representation in fiction and more with guest host, Jenna Seery. We end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Madyson.  This episode of Poured Over was produced and hosted by Jenna Seery and mixed by Harry Liang. Poured Over is brought to you by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and the booksellers of Barnes & Noble.    New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.       Featured Books (Episode):  Shutter by Ramona Emerson    Featured Books (TBR Topoff):  Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo  She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran 

“I have to transport myself, and only then I can transport my reader.” Brinda Charry’s novel, The East Indian, transports readers to Colonial Virginia to follow the life and adventures of a young Indian boy coming of age in the New World. Charry joins us to talk about her intensive research process, the effects of colonialism on the story, her love of world literature and more with Poured Over host, Miwa Messer. We end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Madyson. 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 East Indian by Brinda Charry A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare   Featured Books (TBR Topoff): David Copperfield by Charles Dickens She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

“It's more than responsibility. It's fear of just sucking — I don't want to write some garbage that people are going to dismiss.” John Wray’s new novel Gone to the Wolves brings the world of heavy metal to the masses, following a group of young people on a nonstop ride from teenage angst to the dark recesses of doomsday cults. Wray joins us to talk about the responsibility of writing about subcultures, his vibrant characters, music you can listen to while you write and more with guest host, Jenna Seery. We end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Madyson. This episode of Poured Over was produced and hosted by Jenna Seery and mixed by Harry Liang. Poured Over is brought to you by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and the booksellers of Barnes & Noble.   New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.      Featured Books (Episode):   Gone to the Wolves by John Wray  Godsend by John Wray  Lowboy by John Wray  The Biography of X by Catherine Lacey    Featured Books (TBR Topoff): Y/N by Esther Yi  Louder than Hell by Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman 

"I loved that sense of the slow evolution of a community and watching it happen under your eyes." Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone, returns with a long-awaited novel — The Covenant of Water, an inter-generational tale through the lives of a family in Southern India. Verghese joins us to talk about the long gap between his works, his career as a doctor, themes of finding home and more with Poured Over host, Miwa Messer. We end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Madyson.   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 Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese  Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese  My Own Country by Abraham Verghese  The Tennis Partner by Abraham Verghese  The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy    Featured Books (TBR):   The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates  The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See 

“…A big part of the journey with this book is realizing that people's humanity shouldn't be negotiable.”  Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s debut novel Chain-Gang All-Stars tells an explosive, unrelenting and ultimately compassionate story about a not-so-unbelievable future in which incarcerated people become gladiators fighting their way to freedom at any cost. Adjei-Brenyah joins us to talk about the underlying love in his dystopian setting, creating his characters through voice, the realities that led him to his plot and more with Poured Over host, Miwa Messer. We end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Madyson.  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): Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Solitary by Alfred Woodfox    Featured Books (TBR Topoff): The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Battle Royale by Koushun Takami 

These riveting works of nonfiction by two incredible women have powerful narratives on family, race, and the way we get to tell our stories. Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe compiles art and short vignettes into a beautiful work that explores the Black experience through a wide variety of themes. Sharpe joined us to talk about how these notes came to be, the wealth of literary influences on the project and more. Ava Chin’s Mott Street follows one Chinese American family through generations of struggle and resiliency as they work to build their lives. Chin joined us to talk about uncovering her family’s past, researching an intergenerational story and more. Listen in as both talk separately with Poured Over’s host, Miwa Messer.  And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Jamie.  This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).   Featured Books (Episode): Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe Mott Street by Ava Chin In the Wake by Christina Sharpe Counternarratives by John Keene Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham Obasan by Joy Kogawa Auschwitz and After by Charlotte Delbo Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark Wayward Lives by Saidiya Hartman Lose Your Mother by Saidiya Hartman Featured Books (TBR Topoff): Black Futures by Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham Sour Heart by Jenny Zhang

“We all shape our stories in some way, we all try to emerge as the hero of them…” Author of Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann, takes on mutiny and shipwreck in the shocking true story of The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder. Grann joined us on the show to talk about wading through archival research, his adventure to the sites from the book, seeing his works become films and more live at Barnes & Noble Union Square with Poured Over host, Miwa Messer. 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 Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann The Lost City of Z by David Grann Moby Dick by Herman Melville The Unknown Shore by Patrick O’Brian Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Dennis Lehane, prolific author for both the page and the screen, returns with Small Mercies, a thriller set against the time of desegregation of public schools in Boston that balances one family’s struggle with the turmoil of the era. Lehane talked about his personal connection to the history of the novel, writing challenging and complex characters, creating his tv show “Blackbird” and more with Poured Over host, Miwa Messer. We end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Jamie.  This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.    Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays). Featured Books (Episode) Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane Featured Episode (TBR Topoff) Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins

“I leave that book feeling less alone, because I've been welcomed into somebody else's humanity, and I feel like they've shared part of themselves with me and that feels communal…”  Maggie Smith’s bestselling You Could Make This Place Beautiful transcends traditional memoir in a staggering take on divorce, motherhood and what it means to be a writer in a way only the poet could deliver. Smith speaks about the vulnerability of sharing your life through words, the freedom of nontraditional literary devices, healing through art and more with guest host, Jenna Seery. We end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Madyson and Jamie.  This episode of Poured Over was produced and hosted by Jenna Seery and mixed by Harry Liang. Poured Over is brought to you by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and the booksellers of Barnes & Noble.   New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.     Featured Books (Episode): You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith Good Bones by Maggie Smith Goldenrod by Maggie Smith Keep Moving by Maggie Smith    Featured Books (TBR Topoff): The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy Broken Reverie by Elle Madison