Poured Over

Latest Episodes:

Ayad Akhtar on THE RADIANCE Sep 29, 2026

Show notes

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and author, Ayad Akhtar joins us to talk about craft, the campus novel, autofiction, and his latest book, The Radiance, with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

The Radiance by Ayad Akhtar

Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar

Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar

American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar

Junk by Ayad Akhtar

McNeal by Ayad Akhtar

The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar

Poor Folk and Other Early Stories by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fifty-Two Stories by Anton Chekhov

The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy

Herzog by Saul Bellow

The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow

Seize the Day by Saul Bellow

Ravelstein by Saul Bellow

The Republic of Plato translated by Allan Bloom

The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom

Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia

Antiquities and Other Stories by Cynthia Ozick

Nature and Selected Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hawthorne's Short Stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser

The American Canon by Harold Bloom

The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation by Harold Bloom

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

The Complete Odes and Epodes by Horace

Sharon McMahon on THE SMALL AND THE MIGHTY Sep 24, 2026

Show notes

Now out in paperback, The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon casts a needed spotlight on the other heroes of American greatness — ones you may not have heard of. Sharon joins us to talk about raising engaged citizens, local news, and communication as a leadership skill with cohost Chris Gillespie.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Chris Gillespie and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon

We are Mighty by Sharon McMahon

John Green on HOLLYWOOD, ENDING Sep 22, 2026

Show notes

Beloved storyteller John Green returns with a tender love story set against the underbelly of the entertainment industry as two actors balance their rising fame with their complicated feelings in Hollywood, Ending. John joins us to talk about the social internet, the attention economy, Andy Warhol, having fun writing, and the world's largest ball of paint with cohost Brenda Allison.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Brenda Allison and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

Hollywood, Ending by John Green

Looking for Alaska by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Respect for Acting by Uta Hagen

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Canon by Paige Lewis

Some of Us May Never Die by Robin Wasserman (coming soon)

The visual artists mentioned are Joan Mitchell, Agnes Martin, Kerry James Marshall, and Andy Warhol.

Makenna Goodman on HELEN OF NOWHERE Sep 19, 2026

Show notes

Blending surrealism, satire and philosophical concepts, Booker Prize-longlisted Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman weaves a tale of beginnings following a disgraced professor who moves into a house where the presence of the previous owner lingers. Makenna joins us to talk about narrative form, stand-up comedy, and the dynamism of nature with cohost Jenna Seery.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Jenna Seery and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman

Living the Good Life by Scott & Helen Nearing

All Fours by Miranda July

Mating in Captivity by Esther Perel

The Power of Now by Eckart Tolle

Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by bell hooks

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paolo Friere

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

The Moomin Series by Tove Jansson

The Wall by Marlen Haushofer

Gaining Ground by Joan Barfoot

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid

Claudia Rankine on TRIAGE Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

In Triage, acclaimed author and playwright Claudia Rankine uses prose, poetry and art images to challenge the ways we look at friendship and memory, action and obligation. Claudia joined us live from B&N Upper West Side to talk about narrative, lyric poetry, interiority, and broadening the collective we with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

Triage by Claudia Rankine

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine

Don't Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

The White Card by Claudia Rankine

Solutions for the Problem of Bodies in Space by Catherine Barnett

Gaza in My Phone by Mazen Kerbaj

William Kentridge: Milestones: At the Heart of Creation by William Kentridge

Anarchitecture After Everything by Jack Halberstam

Black Formations: Poetics of Refusal Within the African Diaspora by Melody Howse

Jodi Picoult on HOLLOW BONES Sep 15, 2026

Show notes

In her latest novel, Hollow Bones, Jodi Picoult uses her powerful voice to craft a moving story about what we do to protect our loved ones when faced with the unexpected. Jodi joins us to talk about public health, private tragedy, motherhood, and gender gaps in healthcare with cohost Brenda Allison.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Brenda Allison and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

Hollow Bones by Jodi Picoult

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

Into the Blue by Emma Brodie

Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt by Ben Reeves

Under Story by Chloe Benjamin

TBR Featured Books:

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer Finney Boylan

Olga Ravn on THE WAX CHILD Sep 12, 2026

Show notes

Told from the perspective of a wax doll, Olga Ravn's The Wax Child is a chilling tale inspired by a real group of women accused of dark magic in seventeenth-century Denmark. Olga joins us to talk about her craft, the power of ritual, collective memory, creepy children, and contemporary Scandinavian literature with cohost Jenna Seery.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Jenna Seery and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

The Wax Child by Olga Ravn

The Employees by Olga Ravn

alphabet by Inger Christensen

The Condition of Secrecy: Selected Essays by Inger Christensen

it by Inger Christensen

How I Became a Nun by César Aira

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Dark Spring by Unica Zürn

The Man of Jasmine and Other Texts by Unica Zürn

The Trumpets of Jericho by Unica Zürn

The Cinnamon Shops and Other Stories by Bruno Schulz

The Wall by Marlen Haushofer

Strega by Johanne Lykke Holm

Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy

The Copenhagen Trilogy: Childhood; Youth; Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen

Vilhelm's Room by Tove Ditlevsen

The Faces by Tove Ditlevsen

On the Calculation of Volume, Book I by Solvej Balle

After the Sun by Jonas Eika

Money to Burn by Asta Olivia Nordenhof

Valerie: or, The Faculty of Dreams: Amendment to the Theory of Sexuality by Sara Stridberg

Emily Wilson on CROSSING THE WINE-DARK SEA Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea by Emily Wilson takes readers on a tour through the ancient world for an entertaining examination of Greek and Roman literature and their impact on our modern world. Emily joins us to talk about the joys and challenges of interpreting antiquity, the stakes of poetic form and re-translating The Odyssey with cohost Jenna Seery.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Jenna Seery and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea by Emily Wilson

The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson

The Iliad by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson

If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho by Sappho, translated by Anne Carson

The Oresteia by Aeschylus, translated by Robert Fagles

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, translated by Marin Hammond

The Aeneid by Virgil, translated by Scott McGill & Susannah Wright

The Poems of Catullus by Gaius Valerius Catullus, translated by Stephanie McCarter

Oedipus Tyrannus by Sophocles, translated by Robert Fagles

Marlon James on THE DISAPPEARERS Sep 08, 2026

Show notes

The Booker Prize–winning author Marlon James returns with The Disappearers, a deeply human story exploring queer life in Jamaica during the 1980s and 1990s. Marlon joined us live from Stony Brook University to talk about the consequences of violence, the loss of monoculture, Polari, post-colonial literature, and the X-Men with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

The Disappearers by Marlon James

Book of Night Women by Marlon James

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Bringing Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Spirit of Science Fiction by Robert Bolaño

Beloved by Toni Morrison

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood

Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon

A New World Order by Caryl Phillips

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

In the Hand of Dante by Nick Toches

Nocturnes for the King of Naples by Edmund White

Money by Martin Amis

Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney

Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedon

Tar Baby by Toni Morrison

Moderation by Elaine Castillo

James by Percival Everett

Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

X Men Comics

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

The Waves by Virginia Woolf

Ulysses by James Joyce

The Odyssey by Homer

Kai Bird on AMERICAN SCOUNDREL Sep 05, 2026

Show notes

Kai Bird follows his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer with a timely and meticulously researched true story of Roy Cohn — a friend of the famous, the right-hand man to Joseph McCarthy, mentor to a US President and a lawyer who showed no respect for the law. Kai joins us to talk about American Scoundrel, the McCarthy era, the politics of celebrity, and the cycles of American history with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn's Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump by Kai Bird

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird

The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter by Kai Bird

The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames by Kai Bird

The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy: Brothers in Arms by Kai Bird

Crossing Mandelbaum Gate by Kai Bird

The Chairman: John J McCloy & The Making of the American Establishment by Kai Bird

G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly Gage

Mailer: His Life and Times by Peter Manso