Poured Over

"I want my readers to be entertained. And if possible, to take a look at that period of that century that was so fascinating, a time of violence, and change, and great steps forward for humanity…" Isabel Allende's epic new novel, Violeta, is out now, and she joins us on the show to talk about memory and history and justice, love and freedom and family, her creative process (and what the date January 8th means to her) and much more. Featured books: Violeta, A Long Petal of the Sea, The Soul of a Woman and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional bonus episodes on Saturdays).

"…I read every day. Reading feels like part of my identity…[it] feels essential as a writer to be reading always." Imani Perry is the acclaimed author of Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry and Breathe: A Letter to My Sons among other books; her latest, South to America, is an extraordinary blend of personal memoir and American history, and she joins us on the show to talk about her travels around the American South, the people she spoke with and the friendships she made, her own mother's story, and the writers she holds close, including Kiese Laymon, Jesmyn Ward, Sarah M. Broom, and Richard Wright. Featured Books: South to America by Imani Perry, The Yellow House by Sarah Broome, and Native Son by Richard Wright. Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional bonus episodes on Saturdays).

"…Try reading it out loud. That's what I do. I read the whole book out loud, seven or eight times…four or five times… before it ever goes to edit. I believe that writing was made to be heard." From the age of five, John Darnielle knew he was going to be a storyteller, and he joins us on the show to talk about the structure and the shifting perspectives of his new novel, Devil House, who has standing to tell a story, the difference between touring and performing as an author instead of a musician, the books he loved as a boy, why we should all be reading literature in translation and so much more. Featured Books: Devil House by John Darnielle, James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis, and No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood. Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional bonus episodes on Saturdays.)

"…So much of American media is, As long as we have each other, it doesn't matter what happens, we're going to be fine. I don't always think that's true. Circumstances can really tear families apart. But, you know, I'm not going to write Succession." Weike Wang follows up her acclaimed debut novel, Chemistry, with the deadpan, darkly comic Joan is Okay. She joins us on the show to talk about how (and why) work becomes home for Joan, family and grief and William Faulkner, the horror of Mickey Rooney's yellowface performance in Breakfast at Tiffany's, and much more. Featured books: Joan is Okay and Chemistry by Weike Wang, Convenience Store Woman by Sayata Murata, The Stranger by Albert Camus, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe, and The Art of Revision by Peter Ho Davies. Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional bonus episodes on Saturdays).

"Well, this is the thing about being an overnight success after forty years." Bernardine Evaristo made history when Girl, Woman, Other won the 2019 Booker Prize, for she is the first Black woman and the first Black British person to have won the coveted prize in its more than fifty-year history. Bernardine joins us on the show to talk about her fabulous memoir, Manifesto: On Never Giving Up, "overnight fame" (after decades of work in literature and the theater), her creative process, the writers who've inspired her work in the theater and on the page—and she even offers some advice for those who are stuck in their work and see no way through. Featured books: Manifesto: On Never Giving Up and Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo and For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange. Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional bonus episodes on Saturdays).

"I think bookstores are really magical places, and not to be too idealistic about it, I really think that they're so important, they're cornerstones to communities, and they are treasures and we need to keep them alive." Jami Attenberg, author of St. Mazie and The Middlesteins, among other novels, joins us on the show to talk about her first memoir, I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing My Way Home, as well as the difference between loneliness and solitude, managing anxiety, her life as a writer, the books her book club has convinced her to read, her #1000wordsofsummer project, and more. (If writing a book is one of your goals for '22, you don't want to miss this episode.) Featured books: I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home, St. Maizie and The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg, Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell, the Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and Intimacies by Katie Kitamura. Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional bonus episodes on Saturdays).

"This is not just for us to say, 'How interesting' now we know three more people, it's for us to say, 'What can we do now that we know their stories?'" Anna Malaika Tubbs delves into the stories of Alberta King, Louise Little and Berdis Baldwin in our January Nonfiction Pick, The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation. Anna joins us on the show to talk about the importance of reclaiming Black women's stories, motherhood and the lives women lead before they have children, the moments of joy she found writing this book, and much more. Featured Books: The Three Mothers by Anna Malaika Tubbs, Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, and In Search of Our Mother's Gardens by Alice Walker. Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional bonus episodes Saturdays.

"And when you are lucky enough as a writer to have your book be found, and then have it be a source of someone's passion, someone who is not normally spoken to by the book publishing industry, who then with generosity and real passion, finds a way to tell other people about it, you cannot get luckier than that." Hanya Yanagihara's second novel, A Little Life was already a word-of-mouth must read, a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Award and winner of the Kirkus Prize when #Booktok introduced Jude & Co. to a new set of readers and kicked the book's sales into the stratosphere. Hanya's following up her massive hit with To Paradise, a story of love and ambition, loneliness and freedom, that cuts across time and reimagined Americas. Hanya joins us on the show to talk about Hawaii and New York, her admiration for the novels of Kazuo Ishiguro, what paradise means for her characters, the helix of history, and more. Featured Books: To Paradise and A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Hours by Michael Cunningham, and Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional bonus eps on Saturdays).

"You know, there's something that we don't talk about, which I think is like the underside of success and ambition, which is that for every step that we take towards something, it's a step away from something. And the more that we have these rarefied experiences, the more isolating they can be…" Olga Dies Dreaming is one of 2022's most anticipated debuts and our January Discover pick; Xochitl Gonzales joins us on the show to talk about her fabulous new novel and unforgettable protagonist, what it means to be part of a community (or leave one behind), heading to the Iowa Writers Workshop and earning an MFA in her forties, the books and writers who inspire her, and more. Featured books: Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzales, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The World According to Garp by John Irving, and Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem. Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional bonus episode Saturdays). New episodes of Poured Over land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional bonus eps on Saturdays) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and wherever you listen to podcasts.

"One thing that I was interested in doing is making literal the surveillance that parents feel every day, because there is the sense that you're being watched and judged and shamed all the time." Jessamine Chan joins us on the show to talk about her debut novel, The School for Good Mothers (think The Handmaid's Tale meets Klara and the Sun), writing a Chinese American main character that she wanted to read, making sure her satire is laced with humor, how a self-proclaimed Luddite came to write a book like this one, and more. Featured Books: The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan, Plainwater by Anne Carson, Karate Chop by Dorothe Nors, Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls, Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell, The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado and How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee. Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional bonus eps Saturday).