Poured Over

"When I was a kid, I was super, super geeky, it was so nerdy. And all I read was dragon books, or ghost books, or elf books…someone tried to give me a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, and I just remember thinking, Where are the dragons? And when I went to do my doctorate in creative writing and literature —especially at the time, and even now, they kind of steamroll that out of you, they sort of train you to think that there are two things called literary and genre… if you're a good writer, and smart, you write literary (later on, I came to understand, that just meant realism). And that literary was a series of conventions that had nothing to do with genre. And then I just missed — I really desperately missed [genre] — especially horror, because it's something that's able to marry the darker, more realistic, gritty parts of fiction that I love so much, with kind of the nerdy stuff like ghosts and monsters." An urban Native of Apache/Chickasaw/Cherokee descent, writer Erika T. Wurth joins guest host Allyson Gavaletz to take readers behind the scenes of her fabulous new novel, White Horse, and to talk about her own family's story, clairvoyance, nostalgia, heavy metal music, finding comfort in reading horror, her favorite contemporary horror writers and much more. We end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Madyson. Featured Books (Episode): White Horse by Erika T. Wurth Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction by Benjamin Percy Damn Fine Story: Mastering the Tools of a Powerful Narrative by Chuck Wendig Mastering Suspense, Structure and Plot by Jane K. Cleland Featured Books (TBR Topoff) My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica This episode of Poured Over was produced and hosted by Allyson Gavaletz and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

"They're rooted in our culture as well. And because of all that, I think they feel a little bit more real, even though they are fantastical magical realms…and there's also this timeless quality in a way as well….I do think also there is a lot of room for imagination to grow in these stories." Sue Lynn Tan joins guest host Kat Sarfas on the show to take readers behind the scenes of her latest epic, Heart of the Sun Warrior, the stunning sequel to Daughter of the Moon Goddess, from world-building, favorite characters, resilience, to celebrating the mid-Autumn festival, what's next and much more. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Madyson. Featured Books (Episode) Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan Heart of the Sun Warrior by Sue Lynn Tan Featured Books (TBR Topoff) Beneath the Moon by Yoshi Yoshitani The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh This episode of Poured Over was produced and hosted by Kat Sarfas and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

"We are writing our stories to the world, as opposed to just reading the old stories. And somehow, some way accidentally, intentionally, desperately on the case and caught off guard, Art is Life captures this huge sweep and ends about where we are now in the present—which is an epic place as well." Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Jerry Saltz (How to Be An Artist) is consistently one of the smartest, freshest and liveliest voices in art criticism and he joins us on the show to talk about his new book, Art is Life, and his finger-on-the-pulse perspectives of the art world, including: how art history is being rewritten, the problematic intricacies of the art market, the absolute need for museums and galleries to adapt to the current social climate, the evolution of art critique in social media and much more with guest host Allie Ludlow. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Jamie. Featured Book (episode): Art is Life by Jerry Saltz Featured Books (TBR Topoff): The Secret Lives of Color by Karissa St. Clair Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel This episode of Poured Over was produced and hosted by Allie Ludlow and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

"I'm really driven by poetry. I'm really driven by language. But also, I'm driven by a desire to connect with the people. So I could have been a teacher. I could have been a politician. I could have been anyone that communicates with people verbally because I liked that. I wound up a performer, but it was all rooted in poetry. And as a book person, I have loved books since I was a toddler." Writer, performer, National Book Award Winner (Just Kids), Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Patti Smith joins us on the show to take us behind the scenes of A Book of Days, connecting with readers, taking the pictures she wants to take (and leaving the rest to others), her love of mathematics, paying attention to marginalia in books, Arianna Grande and Harry Styles, Keanu Reeves (and the John Wick movies), dancing to pop music and much more with Poured Over's host Miwa Messer. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and guest bookseller, Grace. Featured Books (Episode) : A Book of Days by Patti Smith Woolgathering by Patti Smith The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami 2666 by Roberto Bolaño Featured Books (TBR Topoff) This Searing Light, The Sun, and Everything Else by Jon Savage Morning Glory on the Vine by Joni Mitchell Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

"It's hard to be funny, you can't really plan on — you don't know what will land with people…. absurdity just exists constantly in the world that we live in. And to my mind, the humor comes from the way different people traverse absurdity, how they try to normalize it, or how they freak out because they want to build their own weirdness on top of it. And so for me, that's where I get a lot of the humor, just the different ways that people respond to the absurdity around them." Kevin Wilson (Nothing to See Here and The Family Fang) is one of our very favorite writers and he joins us on the show to riff on Now is Not the Time to Panic, his new novel about family, friendship and art, plus rural spaces, pre-internet life, rewriting, balancing fatherhood and career, his literary influences and much more with Poured Over's host, Miwa Messer. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff Book recommendations from Marc and Madyson. Featured Books (Episode): Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson Featured Books (TBR Topoff): Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart Looking for Alaska by John Green Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

"I had never known what it was like to feel full. And I know that sounds like really odd, but because most people can — I would be with friends and a friend would stop eating. She's like, I'm full. And I'm like, What's wrong with me that I don't know what it feels like to feel full? And I don't know what the answer to that question is, to this day. I don't know if it's a psychological or emotional thing, or if it was an actual physical thing that like my tummy was bottomless. But this feeling of fullness makes me feel like, it's my body, like I'm actually finally having a conversation with my body." Attorney, advocate, podcaster, and bestselling author (Adnan's Story) Rabia Chaudry shares her charming, often funny — and always deeply personal story — of her relationship with food in her new memoir with recipes, Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family. She joins us on the show to talk about food and family, body image, changing behaviors and a solution that works for her, finding universal truths in a story's details, her newest podcast (Rabia & Ellen Solve the Case), why pulao beats biriyani and much more with Poured Over's host, Miwa Messer. Featured Books (Episode): Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family by Rabia Chaudry Adnan's Story by Rabia Chaudry Featured Books (TBR Topoff): Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samrin Nostrat Brain on Fire by Susanna Cahalan Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

"I always feel like as a reader, I always want to go in ready to be changed, ready to be transformed by what I'm reading, ready to be expanded. And that's what I love about books, they work on you kind of like magic." Madeline Miller's novels, The Song of Achilles and Circe, keep working their magic on readers everywhere. She joins us on the show to take listeners behind the scenes of her new novella, Galatea, in a very fun conversation that covers voice, subverting stories, Troilus & Cressida, the books and writers Madeline loves (and some she's added to her TBR pile), and plenty of shared fangirling over Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey with Poured Over's host, Miwa Messer. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc, Kelly and Madyson. Featured Books (Episode): Galatea by Madeline Miller The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller Circe by Madeline Miller The Odyssey translated by Emily Wilson The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid Babel by R.F. Kuang Trust by Hernan Diaz Featured Books (TBR Topoff): The Silence of the Girls by Park Barker The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

"More people than we realize are works in progress, are trying to figure out a way to think about the world… As Beyoncé said in her new album, they're contradicted. They're internally contradicted more than we think. We can make the kind of change we seek, we deserve in this country, if we allow the idea that more of us are contradicted, more of us need help sorting through the world, and we have the patience — we can muster that kind of patience and love to help people sort through how they see the world." Bestselling author Anand Giridharadas (Winners Take All) joins us on the show to talk about his urgent new book, The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy, psychological transitions and cognitive dissonance, not giving up and bringing people into community, doing the work that works for you, how writing this book changed him and much more with Poured Over's host, Miwa Messer. Featured Books: The Persuaders by Anand Giridharadas Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

"…The idea just kind of spun itself into existence in my head, the world started to form almost immediately — when my creative brain kind of immediately kicks in like that, I've learned to listen to it, because usually, that means something, something good is trying to come out." N.K. Jemisin — winner of three consecutive Hugo Awards for Best Novel (each of the Broken Earth books) and now a fourth for Best Graphic Story or Comic (Far Sector), and MacArthur "genius grant" recipient — is one of our favorite writers, and we'll follow her anywhere. She joins us on the show to talk about closing out her Great Cities duology with The World We Make, adapting the Broken Earth series for the screen, the challenges of writing about a city massively in flux, NY pizza, Ozymandias the cat, her literary inspirations, what's she's reading and more with guest host Kat Sarfas. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Madyson. Featured Books (Episode): The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin Monstress by Sana Takeda and Marjorie Liu Witch King by Martha Wells Featured Books (TBR Topoff): All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jean Anders Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo This episode of Poured Over was produced and hosted by Kat Sarfas and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

"…It was at the end of an exhibition called The Art of The Troubles. And that had been a little controversial (as these things very often are in post-conflict societies). Some people felt it had gone too far. Other people felt that it hadn't gone far enough. It just made me think about how maybe art could be used to say things that are really unsayable in a place where people are obsessed with language and obsessed with identity and where languages are so problematic." Louise Kennedy joins us on the show to talk about her US debut, Trespasses, a story about love, loss and identity that's so unforgettable, it's our newest Discover pick. Listen in as Louise riffs on the layers of her debut: coming of age, class, searching for safety, rewriting matinee idols, transgression, mothers and daughters, her literary influences and much more with Poured Over's host, Miwa Messer. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book reviews from Marc and Madyson. Featured Book (Episode): Trespasses by Louise Kennedy Featured Books (TBR Topoff): Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan Wolf Den by Elodi Harper Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).