Poured Over

“The primary intent of these books is to take a break... have something you can just curl up with for an afternoon. This is a book that is not going to hurt you. And I think that that's so vital in this day and age, to be able to just pause for a second. I want the book to feel like a cup of tea as well... But I wanted to give you the option of chewing on some of the stuff in there.” Hugo Award-winning author Becky Chambers is arguably a master of the space opera, with her complex, hopeful characters and her compelling world-building. Sibling Dex and Mosscap return in A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, the latest book in the Monk and Robot series and Becky joins us on the show to talk about creating a story that incorporates the same comfort as watching your favorite TV show for the 10,000th time, how a good cup of tea can make a bad day better, what’s on her TBR list, and much more with guest host, Allyson Gavaletz. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Becky.   Featured Books (Episode): A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers Spear by Nicola Griffith How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Ayoki   Featured Books (TBR Topoff): I, Robot by Isaac Asimov A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C. A. Fletcher   This episode of Poured Over is produced and hosted by Allyson Gavaletz and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).   A full transcript of this show is available here.

“When you're writing a children's book, it shares much relation with horror, because it has to be usually very immediate and very visceral and gripping. Because otherwise the kids are gonna get bored. And your window of opportunity to grab the reader is … longer with horror, you can do the slow creeping dread better, but you have to grab the reader, metaphorically, by the throat.” Whether you know her as Ursula Vernon or T. Kingfisher, one thing is for sure—this Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning author always pulls us in with her captivating fantasies and chilling thrillers—which remains true of her two new books, Nettle & Bone and What Moves the Dead, both releasing this year. Ursula joins us on the show to talk about the fine line between writing children’s books and writing horror and her love for gothic stories, the artwork that inspired this stunning cover, mycology, the lesser-known life of Beatrix Potter, what she’s working on next and what games she’s playing, and much more with guest host, Kat Sarfas. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Becky.   Featured Books (Episode): What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings by Edgar Allen Poe The White People and Other Weird Stories by Arthur Machen The Willows by Algernon Blackwood The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison The Haunted Mesa by Louis L'Amour   Featured Books (TBR Topoff): The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard   This episode of Poured Over is produced and hosted by Kat Sarfas and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).   A full transcript of this show is available here.

“But there is joy in advocating for changing of the world for the better, for not allowing the world to tell you who you shall be, but rather reimagining a world in which you can be anything.” Award-winning journalist and professor at Northeastern University Caleb Gayle delivers a stunningly original story of America in his first book, We Refuse to Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power. Caleb joins us on the show to talk about growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the aftermath of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, the untold stories of marginalized communities, his hopeful outlook for the future of the country, and much more with Poured Over’s host, Miwa Messer. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Becky.   Featured Books (Episode): We Refuse to Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power by Caleb Gayle   Featured Books (TBR Topoff): Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead   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).   A full transcript of this show is available here.

“I decided to give myself the license to fail, and to write across gender, to write in the voice of a midwife's daughter. And if the book isn't working, fine, we'll write it from the perspective of the midwife's husband, from some other male character. But I loved it. It was so emancipating to not be me, to not be (at the time) this 30-something dude. And I loved it. And I think, my best books, my best characters, whether it's first person or third person, are women.”   Bestselling author and all-around charmer Chris Bohjalian has written 23 books, including our May 2021 B&N Book Club pick Hour of the Witch, The Flight Attendant—now a hit HBO series—and his latest, The Lioness. Chris joins us on the show to talk about his love of bookstores, not writing the same story twice, researching and asking questions and learning stories, letting his characters guide the plot and going back to the first sentence, geography as a character, and so much more with Poured Over’s host, Miwa Messer. And we end this episode with a TBR Topoff with Marc and Becky riffing on their favorite Bohjalian novels.   Featured Books: Water Witches by Chris Bohjalian Midwives by Chris Bohjalian The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult   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).   A full transcript of this show is available here.

“And so, too often, kids are raised to have empathy for people who look like them, or worship like them or act like them. And we're also taught to have empathy for people who deserve it. And I wanted to convey the importance of raising our kids to have empathy for people who don't look like them or don't live near them. And for us to not make our empathy almost like a tip in which it's transactional."   Award-winning, bestselling author and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Ibram X. Kendi returns with How to Raise an Antiracist, a book that parents, caregivers and teachers won't want to miss. Ibram joins us on the show to talk about his own family's experiences, as well as the intersection of ableism and racism, learning from our children, the importance of joy, and much more with Poured Over’s host, Miwa Messer. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Becky.   Featured Books: How to Raise an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi Magnolia Flower by Zora Neale Hurston Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi   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).   A full transcript of this show is available here.

Gabrielle Zevin, author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, shares insights on the parallels between writing novels and video games, explores the dynamics between main characters Sam and Sadie, discusses the challenges and benefits of writing for different audiences, and recommends two other books. Hosted by Miwa Messer.

“The most important thing is the reader. I tell my students, Look, if you're writing about yourself, it's great that you want to get your feelings out. You want to maybe, you know, have some catharsis. You want to get the earliest things out. But, if you bore the reader, you're done. You know, and it's important to consider the fact that you're telling a story…this is not a therapy session, you know, you're telling a story. And hopefully that story enlightens, or maybe makes the reader think.” Brian Broome’s acclaimed memoir Punch Me Up to the Gods is a stunning story of love and loss, secrets and shame, sorrow and joy. He joins us on the show for a wise and often very funny conversation about spelling bees and ballet, addiction and recovery, how his memoir is in conversation with Gwendolyn Brooks and bell hooks and James Baldwin, what his students have taught him and much more with Poured Over’s host, Miwa Messer. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Becky.   Featured Books (Episode): Punch Me Up to the Gods by Brian Broome We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity by bell hooks   Featured Books (TBR Topoff) How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones Unprotected by Billy Porter   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).   A full transcript of this episode is available here.

“For me, and perhaps for both of us, I think that our greatest sort of skill set is audacity. It's so funny the way people sort of negatively connote ego, but I think it's necessary to have some, because one has to have a little bit of, I mean, like, when we were 20 years old, our whole thing was we're gonna rearrange and change the way people think of the book, right?” Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin have been friends for 20 years and that friendship has led to an incredible artistic collaboration in Ain’t Burned All the Bright and the now reissued My Name is Jason, Mine Too. Jason and Jason join us on the show to talk about how their collaboration works, how they make art (and when the medium matters), masculinity, the incredible range of artists and media that inspire them both, why paper and pencil is sometimes all that you need, and much more with Poured Over’s host, Miwa Messer. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Becky.   Featured Books: Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin My Name is Jason, Mine Too by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin   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). A full transcript of this episode is available here.

“It's so painful to me to feel as though the very notion of objective truth or that journalism could be a vehicle for expressing a kind of objective truth is under assault today.” Patrick Radden Keefe is one of the best longform journalists working today, and we’d follow his dogged reporting anywhere, from bestselling books like Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, to his work as a staff writer at The New Yorker, some of which is collected in his latest book, Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks. Patrick joins us on the show to talk about the art of the write-around and why access is overrated, how one story can lead to the next (or not), writing about morally complicated people (and the stories they tell themselves), the importance of media literacy and getting the facts right, his literary influences and much more with Poured Over’s host, Miwa Messer. And we end the episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Becky.   Featured Books: Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks by Patrick Radden Keefe Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe Snakehead by Patrick Radden Keefe   Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesday and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).   A full transcript of this show is available here.

"So much classic fantasy exists in this sort of timeless state where, you know, whatever fantasy world it's set in has kind of always existed....I've always been really interested in kind of disrupting that and kind of setting my books during periods of like, enormous change and upheaval, like, I'm really interested in the idea of a fantasy world that has not always been the same, because that's not how the world works, and kind of taking apart these things that are really taken for granted.”   Ava Reid knows how to do unforgettable fractured fairy tale retellings with fabulous, fierce heroines, hidden magic and family ties based on Hungarian and Jewish folklore. The Wolf and the Woodsman was her debut novel and her latest, Juniper & Thorn, is a gothic horror retelling of the Grimm Brothers’ The Juniper-Tree, and she joins us on the show to talk about world-building by starting from the present and working backwards, diversifying the stereotypical Eastern European fantasy setting, killing off characters for the right reason, designing the cover art, her upcoming YA fantasy debut, what she’s reading right now, and much more with guest host Kat Sarfas. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Becky.   Featured Books: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson The Juniper-Tree by Brothers Grimm      Matrix by Lauren Groff Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert   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).   A full transcript of this show is available here.