Poured Over

"I describe it as a fantasy novel about the real world we live in, or a realistic novel about the fantasy world we live in." Anthem is Noah Hawley's terrific, page-turning sixth novel, and his first after his Edgar Award-winning bestseller, Before The Fall—it's also our January 2022 Barnes & Noble Book Club pick. Noah joins us on the show for a wide-ranging, spoiler-free conversation about breaking the fourth wall, the death of satire, how we can use fiction to help us make sense of a nonsensical world (even when our brains are working overtime "to maintain the illusion we believe in."), writing for the screen vs. writing for the page, and more, including the ways Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings inspired Anthem. Featured books: Anthem by Noah Hawley, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, White Noise by Don DeLillo, and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (and occasional bonus eps on Saturdays).

"And so we wouldn't be here without Natalie Portman, which isn't a sentence I was expecting to say this evening. But if you ever watched this, Natalie, thank you. Really thank you." That's novelist and screenwriter David Mitchell explaining the genesis of his friendships and working relationships with Lana Wachowski and Aleksandar Hemon—which includes screenplay credits on Sense8 and now, The Matrix Resurrections. David and Aleksandar join us on the show to talk about creativity and collaboration, their writing partnership, how language changes from page to screen, envisioning the future, and much more. Featured books: Cloud Atlas, Utopia Avenue, The Bone Clocks and Black Swan Green by David Mitchell and My Parents: An Introduction/This Does Not Belong to You, Love & Obstacles and The Lazarus Man by Aleksandar Hemon. Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. (P.S. We're taking a little break for the rest of this year and returning with a new episode on 1/4/22.) Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"And imagine what did it feel like to think this was new? Their life, all kinds of different images as time goes on, and people in the Renaissance and later want to recreate for themselves, particularly in painting, but not always in painting….what it is to create a likeness of someone who's been dead for a millennium or more?" Historian and bestselling author Mary Beard (SPQR, Women & Power, Confronting the Classics) joins us on the show to talk about her new book, Twelve Caesars, what it means to make a likeness if you've never met your subject, power and representation and propaganda, trying to help us see under-appreciated museum displays (tapestries and coins to start) with fresh eyes, and more. Featured book: Twelve Caesars by Mary Beard. Produced/hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"I went running in Fort Tryon Park in the northern reaches of Manhattan. And it was snowing. And during that run, I had this vision of a hunter lost in the snow…" Beasts of a Little Land is a remarkable debut novel about love and redemption, covering five tumultuous decades of Korean history. Juhea Kim joins us on the show to talk about writing and rewriting an epic novel with a large cast of characters, caring for her antagonists, Anna Karenina and more. Featured books: Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Produced/hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"But at the end of the day, so many people have lost a loved one. This story is about mothers and daughters. It's about parents and children. It's about a different culture and relating to it. It's about food. It's about grief. It's about loss. It's about family." Two-time GRAMMY nominee Michelle Zauner joins us on the show to talk about her bestselling memoir Crying in H-Mart, one of the finalists for our B&N Book of the Year, as well as her literary influences, what she leaned about her mom (and herself), how rewrites helped her in unexpected ways, and more. Featured books: Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, and Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Produced/hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"Making connections with people has often been quite difficult for me, you know, this can be really isolating, but it's so incredible to make this book that so many people are interested in reading and enjoying, and they look at it, and they're like, Oh, this feels really relatable." More than 5.4 million people follow Rachel Smythe's Lore Olympus on Webtoons, and now she's adapted the first 25 chapters of her retelling of the myth of Persephone into a fabulous book. Rachel joins us on the show to talk about the inspiration behind her relatable story and unforgettable art; her favorite books and writers, including The Odyssey translated by Emily Wilson, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett; color theory and the joys of brainstorming, and more. (She even shares a little advice for comics creators at the start of their career.) Produces/hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"We're going to have to learn to be cartographers in our own lives." Brené Brown is the author of five number one New York Times bestsellers, including Dare to Lead, Daring Greatly, and Rising Strong; co-editor with Tarana Burke of You Are Your Best Thing; The host of two podcasts, Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead. Her Netflix documentary, The Call to Courage, is a huge hit—and her 2010 TED talk, The Power of Vulnerability, the one that launched her career as we know it, it is one of the top five most viewed TED talks in the world. Brené joins us on the show to talk about her new book, Atlas of the Heart, including how language shapes how we feel, how to become great story stewards for ourselves and others, plus nostalgia, hopefulness, and more. Produced/hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"I'm constantly surprised by the books. Because I think about books a lot before I start writing them, I don't write structure and a formal outline. But I carry a notebook around with me for about a year before I start writing and I write down quotes and thoughts and ideas and snippets of overheard conversations and things from the newspaper…some of them are used later and some just are never used, but eventually a pattern forms and that becomes then the idea for the book…" Who hasn't thought of moving to Three Pines after reading one of Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels? Louise joins us on the show to talk about the story behind the 17th book in the series, The Madness of Crowds, choosing kindness, the evolution of Gamache, Agatha Christie's relationship to Poirot, and more. Featured book: The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny. Produced/hosted by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"…And I had arrived at McDowell, with about 200 pages in the summer of 2018…And the great thing about these writing retreats is that they give you a chance to do nothing but just think about your work. And that was a real gift to me, because it was both time and peace and quiet, to just think about this book. And to be really honest with myself about what was doing well and what it wasn't doing well at all…." Jung Yun had our attention from the very first page of her debut novel, Shelter, and we've been waiting for her terrific new novel, O Beautiful, set during the North Dakota oil boom. Jung joins us on the show to talk about The American Dream, shame (and hope), when it's time to scrap a draft that just isn't working, and more. Featured books: O Beautiful and Shelter by Jun Yung. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"I love bookstores, with all of my heart for everything that they've done for me and my stories, but it is the booksellers that are at the front putting these books into the hands of readers, so they do absolutely deserve a majority, if not all of the credit." Our booksellers will be the first to tell you that T.J. Klune writes charming, heartfelt must-reads—The House on the Cerulean Sea was one of our favorite Monthly Picks this year—and his newest book, Under the Whispering Door is our Speculative Fiction Book of the Year! T.J. joins us on the show to talk about his extraordinary world-building, being honest about grief, Buddy Holly, and more. Featured Books: The House on Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune and Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki. Allyson Gavaletz guest hosts this episode, which was produced by Miwa Messer and engineered by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays.