Bookable

Latest Episodes:

Gary Shteyngart & Paul LaFarge Sep 01, 2020

Show notes

All summer we’ve been inviting previous Bookable guests back to the show to talk to other authors they admire. Well today we’re breaking the mold because there are just too many authors we haven’t been able to get on the show--yet. In our latest installment: Gary Shteyngart and Paul LaFarge. Paul and Gary live in upstate New York in neighboring towns. They talk about writing and craft and living through this present moment--all while a tornado heads directly for them.

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Amanda Stern, Beau Friedlander and Andrew Dunn, who also mixed the episode and created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media.

Music:

"Books that Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Different Strokes" by Jupyter, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis.

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Raven Leilani: Luster Aug 25, 2020

Show notes

What do you want to do with your life and how much are you willing to struggle for it? Bestselling debut novelist Raven Leilani has written a luminous book that explores this question. Luster is a fearless, and sometimes funny, story about a complicated, maybe even a bit perverse, black millennial, who finds some of what she thinks she wants out of life with a digital archivist named Eric, a white man twice her age in an open marriage. And then from his wife. And then from their daughter.

About the Author:

Raven Leilani's work has been published in Granta, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Narrative, Yale Review, Conjunctions, The Cut and New England Review, among other publications. She won Narrative's Ninth Annual Poetry Contest and the Matt Clark Editor's Choice Prize, as well as short fiction prizes from Bat City Review and Blue Earth Review. Luster is her first novel.

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn, Beau Friedlander and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media.

Music:

"When I See You" by Amir Oosman, "Last of Your Love" by Amir Oosman, "Sitcom" by Martian Subculture, "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "Float" by Soul City.

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Shawn Stewart Ruff: Finlater Aug 18, 2020

Show notes

We are all products of our environment. Who we are, and who we become in the world, is shaped by the places we were raised. In Shawn Stewart Ruff's debut novel Finlater, a Cincinatti housing project takes center stage, acting as a springboard for every aspect of protagonist Cliffy Douglass's young life. The book is fiction but draws closely from Ruff’s own childhood growing up black in the 1970s. Moving and memorable, Finlater explores the overt racism that still plagues America. With a probing eye and tender touch Amanda explores Ruff's world in this secret coming-of-age classic about changing demographics, interracial friendship, sexual orientation, and first love.

About the Author:

Shawn Stewart Ruff is author of the novels GJS II (2016), Toss and Whirl and Pass (2010), Finlater (2008), winner of a Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction; and the novella One/10th (2013), the first of ten small entwined works inspired by W. E. B. DuBois' The Talented Tenth. He is also the editor of the landmark anthology Go the Way Your Blood Beats (1996).

Episode Credits:

Music:

"No Better Time" by Sarah Clarke and The Vintage Twin, "Dissolve" by Hotel Pools, "Tangerine" by Oatmello, "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "The Comeback" by Moss Electric, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "Lightning Rod" by Cold Storage Percussion Unit.

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Summer Reads: Ottessa Moshfegh, Nathan Englander, & Team Bookable! Jul 28, 2020

Show notes

On this special 'Summer Reads' episode Amanda calls up authors Ottessa Moshfegh and Nathan Englander to find out what they're reading. Then the rest of Team Bookable gives Amanda their picks, complete with a special appearance from Darth Vader!

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn, Beau Friedlander and Amanda Stern. It was mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media.

Music:

"Books that Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Different Strokes" by Jupyter, "Timeless Love" by Joonie, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis.

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Emily Bernard & Nell Freudenberger Jul 21, 2020

Show notes

You may remember Nell Freudenberger from Episode 7 of Bookable when she talked to Amanda about the metaphase typewriter (used to communicate with the dead) and her New York Times bestselling novel Lost and Wanted. Nell returns with Black is the Body author Emily Bernard. Emily and Nell cover a lot of ground, including the role race plays in their interracial friendship. From rituals around writing to how silence doesn’t save you, this conversation exceeded all of our expectations.

Episode Credits:

Music:

"Books that Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Different Strokes" by Jupyter, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis.

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Storybound: Mitchell S. Jackson Jul 14, 2020

Show notes

Meet Storybound, a weekly podcast that features acclaimed authors reading excerpts from their work--sometimes with help from actors--always set to fantastic original score and an immersive sound design. Today we share one of Amanda's favorite episodes from Season One: Author Mitchell S. Jackson reading from his memoir Survival Math.

About Storybound:

Storybound is a radio theater program designed for the podcast age. In each episode, listeners will be treated to their favorite authors and writers reading some of their most impactful stories, designed with powerful and immersive sound environments. Brought to you by The Podglomerate and Lit Hub Radio, which also features Bookable.

https://thepodglomerate.com/shows/storybound/

Music:

"Different Strokes" by Jupyter

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Ursula Hegi: The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls Jul 07, 2020

Show notes

Writers can sometimes overlook the richness of their less central characters. Ursula Hegi isn't one of those writers. In The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls, she sets in motion characters that fans of Hegi will remember well to tell an entirely new story. In this eagerly awaited new work, Hegi revisits a story told to great acclaim--this time from a new perspective with an even deeper sense of heartache, compassion, and understanding.

About the Author:

Ursula Hegiis the author of over a dozen books, including Stones from the River, Children and Fire, Floating in My Mother’s Palm, and Tearing the Silence, and has received more than thirty grants and awards. She teaches in the Stony Brook MFA program and lives with her family on Long Island.

Episode Credits:

Music:

"Gatekeeper" by Sun Shapes, "Lights Out" by The Tree Ring, "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Attempt to be Poetic'" by Keen Collective, "Ferris Wheels" by Paper Rabbit, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "The Silence is Here to Save You" by Greater Alexander.

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Adrian Tomine & Julie Orringer Jun 28, 2020

Show notes

You may remember Julie Orringer from Episode 4 of Bookable when she talked to Amanda about her novel The Flight Portfolio and the amazing Varian Fry who saved thousands of cultural creatives during World War II. In this engaging bonus episode, Julie returns with her upstairs neighbor--the one and only New York Times bestselling cartoonist Adrian Tomine. There's no time like the present for this wide-ranging conversation about working from home, parenting (while trying to make a living as a creative) and Tomine's new memoir The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist.

Episode Credits:

Music:

"Books that Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Different Strokes" by Jupyter, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis.

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Nicholas Lemann: The Big Test Jun 21, 2020

Show notes

It's been more than twenty years since the publication of Nicholas Lemann's classic book The Big Test, which exploded the myth of meritocracy in a system blind to the inequalities it fostered. While systemic discrimination is widely discussed now, that's a fairly new phenomenon. In this episode, author Nicholas Lemann and Amanda explore how a creation with noble intentions--standardized testing--designed to mitigate social discrimination ended up being tainted by the very same bias it hoped to end.

About the Author:

Nicholas Lemann is Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor and Dean Emeritus at Columbia Journalism School. A staff writer for The New Yorker, his previous books include The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy and The Promised Land: The Great Migration and How It Changed America.

Episode Credits:

Music:

"Mean Streets" by The Shrugs, "In Asbury" by Memory Palace, "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Daydreamin'" by Dr Crosby, "Starry Night" by Brian Sussman, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "Caña" by Sun Shapes

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Lydia Millet: A Children's Bible Jun 07, 2020

Show notes

Lydia Millet's new novel A Children's Bible is the perfect book for a global pandemic set against a backdrop of growing social unrest, and Amanda is the perfect person for her to talk to about it. What are we leaving our children? Amanda and Lydia Millet explore the dark topics that drive her new book in a transformative conversation that will stay with you as we all navigate the uncharted territory of our here and now.

About the Author:

Lydia Millet has written twelve works of fiction. She has won awards from PEN Center USA and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and her books have been longlisted for the National Book Award, shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award and Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and named as New York Times Notable Books. Her story collection Love in Infant Monkeys was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. She lives outside Tucson, Arizona.

Episode Credits:

Music:

"Andromeda" by Brian Sussman, "Landmark" by Brian Sussman, "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Finders Keepers" by Paper Rabbit, "Rainy Day" by Brian Sussman, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis

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