The Bookshop Podcast

Send us a textJan Weissmiller has long been on the staff of Prairie Lights Books, where she is the poetry buyer and arranges poetry readings for the “Live from Prairie Lights” series. She received her MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, teaches at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, occasionally reviews poetry for the Boston Review, and was awarded the Loess Hills Poetry Award for her collection In Divided Light. Prairie Lights sprang to life in May 1978 as a small, intimate bookstore offering titles by the newer voices of Raymond Carver and Alice Munro and by established authors like Eudora Welty and George Orwell. As the staff and customers tended the books with care, the store grew and blossomed much like a garden. By 1982 Prairie Lights transplanted itself from South Linn St. to South Dubuque and has gradually spread to three and a half floors, the half being an 1100 square foot coffee house located in the same space that the local literary society met throughout the 1930s, hosting writers Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, Sherwood Anderson, Langston Hughes, e e cummings and others. Gertrude Stein and friend Alice B. Toklas were scheduled for a reading but were sleeted in at Waukesha airport-- or so the story goes. Perhaps the strength of reputation lies in the reading series of local, national and international writers who have read their works which were broadcast live on stations WSUI and WOI and which was the only regular literary series of its kind. All of this could not have been possible without a loyal customer base and a dedicated staff. Prairie LightsBrandon Taylor, author Brandon Taylor, booksElizabeth Weiss, The Sisters SweetJane Hartshorn, poet, episode 21 The Bookshop PodcastDeborah Eisenberg, Your Duck Is My Duck   Support the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textWelcome to episode 60 of the Bookshop Podcast!In this episode, I'm chatting with Grace Bueti Malloy about keeping our shopping local and why it's crucial to buy from your local farmer's market!Grace is one of the founding members of the Ojai Community Farmers' Market in Southern California, which is open every Thursday from 3-7 pm at 414 E Ojai Ave. She and her husband Dan run Poco Farm, a small educational farm in Meiners Oaks, where students of all ages learn about aspects of agriculture and food and fiber systems.Ojai Community Farmers' Market Poco Farm The Bookshop Podcast: Dan Malloy episode Support the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textHi,I start this episode by chatting with Kris Kleindienst, co-owner of Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Missouri, and then head over to California to speak with Joy Lanzendorfer, author of Right Back Where We Started From. Left Bank Books is the oldest and largest independently-owned full-line bookstore in St. Louis, Missouri. They offer a full line of new and used books, gifts, cards, magazines, toys, and services.The staff at Left Bank Books are a fiercely committed group. Many are writers, performers, and artists who personally appreciate the importance of a store like Left Bank, not only to the cultural health of a community but to the health of its creative people, too! Many Left Bankers are involved in other community organizations as volunteers and activists and support issues such as peace, racial justice, civil rights, urban sustainability, education, animal rights, and support for the arts. Joy Lanzendorfer is the author of Right Back Where We Started From, a multigenerational work of fiction that explores the lust for ambition that entered into the American consciousness during the Gold Rush and how it affected our nation’s ideas of success, failure, and the pursuit of happiness. Joy’s non-fiction work has been in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Poetry Foundation, Ploughshares, NPR, Smithsonian, and Raritan. And Her fiction has appeared in Tin House, The Guardian, Hotel Amerika, Alaska Quarterly Review, and many others. Left Bank BooksThis is What Lesbian Looks Like: Dyke Activists Take on the 21st Century, Kris Kleindienst (Editor)Ruby Fruit Jungle, Rita Mae BrownBraiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall KimmererJoy LanzendorferRight Back Where We Started From, Joy LanzendorferGeorge Sterling Article, Joy LanzendorferJack London Article, Joy LanzendorferWhat’s The Story Podcast With Joy LanzendorferJoy Lanzendorfer Keynote Speech at the Southern California Writer’s ConferenceBeloved, Toni MorrisonSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textHi, today I'm in Scottsdale, Arizona, chatting with Barbara Peters, store owner and event coordinator at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore, and mystery author C.C. Harrison.Barbara Peters founded The Poisoned Pen, one of the world's largest mystery bookstores, in 1989, and later co-founded Poisoned Pen Press, a separate corporation dedicated to publishing mystery, making available originals and reprints. Poisoned Pen Press is now an imprint of sourcebooks. Barbara is the winner of the Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America for the Poisoned Pen bookstore. She was the 2007 Bouchercon Fan Guest of Honor, and with husband, publisher Robert Rosenwald, the 2008 Bouchercon Lifetime Achievement Award honoree, again for their work with The Poisoned Pen franchise. In 2011 Peters was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award as CEO of a million-dollar company by the Arizona Republic.Mystery author C. C. Harrison knew she was going to be a writer when her mother took her to the library for the first time as a child. Since then she's written five award-winning crime novels. Her newest book, a cozy mystery, "Death by G-String" introduces us to the Coyote Canyon Ladies Ukulele Club whose first-place win in a folk music competition is jeopardized when their star player is strangled to death with a ukulele G-String.The Poisoned Pen Bookstore Poisoned Pen Press Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow Michael Robotham, author The Poisoned Pen Bookstore, Podcast The Poisoned Pen Book Clubs The Poisoned Pen Facebook videos C.C. Harrison, mystery, history, romance Death by G-String, C.C. Harrison Christy Hubbard Books Creative Mind System, Dr. Jeffrey Thompson The Current, Tim Johnson No Exit, Taylor Adams  Support the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textEllen Datlow has been editing sf/f/h short fiction for four decades. She was fiction editor of OMNI Magazine and SCIFICTION and currently acquires short stories and novellas for Tor.com and Nightfire. She has edited numerous anthologies for adults, young adults, and children, including The Best Horror of the Year annual series, Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories, Final Cuts: New Tales of Hollywood Horror and Other Spectacles. Forthcoming are When Things Get Dark: Stories inspired by Shirley Jackson  and the reprint anthology Body Shocks. She’s won multiple World Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Awards, Shirley Jackson Awards, and the 2012 Il Posto Nero Black Spot Award for Excellence as Best Foreign Editor. Datlow was named recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for “outstanding contribution to the genre,” was honored with the Life Achievement Award by the Horror Writers Association, in acknowledgment of superior achievement over an entire career, and honored with the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award at the 2014 World Fantasy Convention.Ellen DatlowKGB BarBody Shocks, Ellen Datlow, editorWhen Things Get Dark, stories inspired by Shirley Jackson, Ellen Datlow, editorEllen Datlow, Awards ListEllen Datlow, BooksTOR.COMWilliam GibsonElizabeth HandJonathan CarrollBruce Sterling on The Bookshop Podcast, episode 28  Support the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textHi, this week I'm in North Carolina and Georgia chatting with Alissa Redmond, owner of South Main Book company in Salisbury, and poet and found of P.R.A. Publishing Lucinda J. Clark.Alissa Redmond is the owner of South Main Book Company in Salisbury, NC. She previously served in India, Afghanistan, Washington DC, Hong Kong, and Bolivia as a diplomat with the U.S. Department of State. She also worked in the City of New Orleans' Mayor's Office for Health Policy post-Hurricane Katrina and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Fiji. A graduate of the N.C. School of Science and Math, UNC-Wilmington, and Duke University (Master's Degree in Public Policy), Alissa is proud to raise her six and ten-year-old daughters in their home state of North Carolina.After an already-full career as a supporter of the arts through being an art dealer, gallery owner, and artist agent, Lucinda J. Clark began P.R.A. Publishing in 2002 with the mission of giving diverse voices in literature a chance to shine. P.R.A. Publishing believes in lifting up communities through their passion for books and expanding the diversity of voices in the world pertaining to books. To do so, they work with book festivals and in schools to celebrate and encourage reading, literacy, and diversity.South Main Book Company, NC.Little Free librarySouth Main Book Company on Bookshop.orgSee No Stranger, Valarie KaurHer Right Foot, Dave Eggers, art by Shawn Harris Last Best Hope, George Packer The Bookshop Podcast episode 49 with author Katie CrouchP.R.A. PublishingPoetry Matters ProjectCaste, Isabel WilkersonBooks by Lucinda J. Clark Books by Geza Tratrallyay The Bookshop Podcast, episode 9 with author Geza Tatrallyay  Support the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textHi, and welcome to Astoria, New York, where I'm speaking with Lexi Beach from Astoria Bookshop, and Luke Epplin author of Our Team!Lexi Beach and Connie Rourke opened Astoria Bookshop in 2013 in Western Queens, NY. While known for their well-curated shelves, they also sell signed books from local authors, puzzles, candles, soaps, and bookish gifts, and bookseller’s choice bundles.  Luke Epplin is the author of OUR TEAM, The Epic Story Of Four Men And The World Series That Changed Baseball. His writing has appeared online in The Atlantic, The New Yorker, GQ, Slate, Salon, The Daily Beast, and The Paris Review Daily. Born and raised in rural Illinois, Luke now lives in New York City.Astoria Bookshop, NYAstoria Bookshop Events CalendarOur Team, Luke Epplin (signed copies available at this link) Wake, Rebecca Hall, Illustrated By Hugo Martinez Luke Epplin Luke Epplin, Journalist: Muck Rack Pictures of a Revolution, Mark Harris October 1964, David Halberstam  Support the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textSue ArroyoCEO & PublisherSue Arroyo is the founder and publisher of CamCat Books, the first imprint of CamCat Publishing. A visionary propelled by determination, she built CamCat at the intersection of emerging technology and authorial passion. As a self-proclaimed entrepreneur, Sue opened CamCat Publishing, LLC, for business in 2019. CamCat Publishing is her seventh company. She launched the company for the love of story, those tales that bewitch and dazzle you, grab hold of you, and won’t let go. She calls them Books to Live In.Enjoy!MandyCamCat BooksHelga Schier, Ph.D.  Interview The Bookshop PodcastCamCat TeamThe Taxidermist’s Lover, Polly HallCamCat Perspectives (Imprint) CamCat Submissions Guidelines Shadow And Bone, Leigh Bardugo Persuasion, Jane AustinSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textHi, Fellow Bibliophiles!Today I’m in stunning Anacortes, Washington State chatting with Brandy Bowen from Watermark Book Company and local author Kathleen Kaska.Watermark Book Company is a locally owned independent bookshop in the heart of beautiful downtown Anacortes, where they’ve been since 1989. They sell new books—bestsellers, old favorites, classics, and other book-related miscellanea. They also carry Theo chocolate, made in Seattle from organic fair-trade beans. Watermark Book Company is now owned by Brandy and Ben Bowen.Kathleen Kaska graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in physical anthropology and taught middle-school science for 25 years. She was a staff writer for AustinFit magazine from 1997-2002, and her articles have appeared in Cape Cod Life, Marco Polo, Agatha Christie Chronicle, Texas Now, and Home Cooking Magazine. Kathleen is the author of six fiction and 5 non-fiction books.Watermark Book CompanyTheo ChocolateBridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson, Donna Diamond (illustrator)This Is How It Always Is: A Novel, Laurie Frankel Indie Bound, Watermark Book CompanyKathleen KaskaKathleen Kaska, BooksNew Victim, Same Tragedy: The Plight of the American Mustang (Mandy Jackson-Beverly – Huffington Post Blogpost)The Great Gatsby, F. Scott FitzgeraldTo Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee Essays of E.B.WhiteSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

Send us a textHi, and thanks for visiting The Bookshop Podcast!Today I’m in Winnipeg, Canada speaking with Michael Bumsted from Whodunit Mystery Bookstore. Later I’m in London—via Zoom—chatting with Chris Carter, author of the Robert Hunter detective series.WHODUNIT Mystery Bookstore opened for business in 1994 and in 2007 loyal customers Jack and Wendy Bumsted became the new owners. WHODUNIT is Winnipeg's specialty mystery bookstore, offering a full range of crime fiction. The bookstore hosts a Mystery Reading Club and has readings and signings by mystery authors.WHODUNIT has become a family affair, with son Michael an award-winning bookseller (Chase Paymentech Young Bookseller of the Year, 2013), and daughter Sian as social media and general internet guru. WHODUNIT carries both new and used books and can special-order any book that is commercially available, as well as ship to out-of-town customers, accept pre-orders for Winnipeg-based customers, and deliver to those unable to reach the bookstore themselves. Chris Carter was born in Brasilia, Brazil. After graduation from high school, he moved to the United States where he studied psychology with a specialization in criminal behavior. During his university years, he held a variety of odd jobs, ranging from flipping burgers to being part of an all-male exotic dancing group.Chris worked as a criminal psychologist for several years before moving to Los Angeles where he swapped the suits and briefcases for ripped jeans, bandanas, and an electric guitar. After a spell playing for a few well-known glam rock bands, he tried his luck in London, where he played for several famous artists and toured the world several times as a professional musician. A few years ago he gave it all up to become a full-time writer.Whodunit Mystery BookstoreJ.M. Bumsted & Michael C. Bumsted, authorsList of crime fiction genresFortune Favors the Dead, Stephen SpotswoodBooks by Michael van RooyAn Evil Mind, Chris CarterChris CarterChris Carter BooksHemmingway: A Film By Ken Burns and Lynn NovickSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links