Poured Over

Latest Episodes:

Saeed Jones on ALIVE AT THE END OF THE WORLD Sep 17, 2022

Show notes

"This book feels very much…drawing from the Black Saints: Whitney Houston, Paul Mooney, Little Richard, Luther Vandross, almost my own canon, my own tradition, my own history, to make sense of what's happening now. I'm not going back to Homer, necessarily. I'm kind of trying to create a new lineage, because I feel that we've been betrayed by our presented histories." Saeed Jones joins us on the show to riff on his incredibly personal and indelible new poetry collection Alive at the End of the World, along with thepervasiveness of grief, how both he and his writing have changed since he published his memoir, what's up with his new podcast, Vibe Check, and much more with Poured Over's host Miwa Messer.

Featured Books (episode)

Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones

Prelude to Bruise by Saeed Jones

How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones

Furious Cool by David Henry and Joe Henry

Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

A complete transcript of this episode is available here.

Abdulrazak Gurnah on AFTERLIVES Sep 15, 2022

Show notes

"Well, home is a complicated concept....So you've shaken me awake at three o'clock in the morning. Where's home? I'll say Zanzibar without hesitation. Oh, but then on the other hand, I've been living here and working here for 50 years, my family, my children, and my grandchildren live here. The idea that this is not my home, it's just ridiculous. I just won't have it. You know, this is my home. So home is complicated, both are home, but it means something different." An epic story of life, loss, and love set against an unforgiving landscape of colonial violence, Afterlives is a multi-generational novel set in East Africa that is at once wistful, grounded—and unforgettable. 2021 Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah joins us on the show to discuss his body of work, the legacy of colonialism, what it was like to win the Nobel and much more with Poured Over's host, Miwa Messer.

Feature Books (Episode):

Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah Memory of Departure by Abdulrazak Gurnah Admiring Silence by Abdulrazak Gurnah

Featured Books (TBR Topoff):

Home by Toni Morrison Dear Life by Alice Munro

Poured Over is produced and 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.

A complete transcript of this episode is available here.

Ian McEwan on LESSONS Sep 13, 2022

Show notes

"I'm heading into my mid 70s and I really want to just get into a novel and live inside it. No sense of hurry. No deadline, no sense that anyone's waiting for this. I don't want to talk to anyone about it, but I just want to inhabit it." Award-winning author Ian McEwan's new novel, Lessons, takes readers on an emotional journey through the life of one man and McEwan joins us on the show to talk about aging, writing a novel in lockdown, what kinds of books make us cry and much more with Poured Over's host, Miwa Messer. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Becky.

Featured Books (episode):

Lessons by Ian McEwan

Atonement by Ian McEwan

Herzog by Saul Bellow

Cocoon by Zhang Yueran

Finnegans Wake by James Joyce

Featured Books (TBR Topoff):

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

Moonglow by Michael Chabon

This episode of Poured Over was produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

A complete transcript of this episode is available here.

Jonathan Escoffery, Yiyun Li and Ling Ma on The Art of Fiction Sep 10, 2022

Show notes

"I start with the emotion. I don't know what the story is. I don't know who the characters are necessarily. I'm working on very little like, I'm thinking, 'oh, well, the way this light looks through a window', or something — very few details here and there. But I don't know what happens in this story." Join three amazing authors talking about their three fabulous fall reads: If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery, The Book of Goose byYiyun Li and Bliss Montage by Ling Ma. The authors speak with Poured Over's host, Miwa Messer, about the balance between humor and dread, how they start a project, some of their favorite writers & more.

Featured Books (Episode)

If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery

The Book of Goose byYiyun Li

Bliss Montage by Ling Ma

Severance by Ling Ma

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Moshin Hamid

Passing by Nella Larsen

Quicksand by Nella Larsen

The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty

Moby Dick by Herman Mellville

Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls

The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara by Frank O'Hara

Featured Books (TBR Topoff):

A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin

Artist in the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro

St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised By Wolves by Karen Russell

Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

A full transcript of this episode is available here.

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton on ON THE ROOFTOP Sep 08, 2022

Show notes

"…In this particular book, I think I wanted to combat the feeling that we were already inundated with, and even the feelings that are attached to social justice issues. I wanted to combat the feelings of anger and helplessness and all of that with joy." Margaret Wilkerson Sexton follows her NAACP Image Award-winning novel The Revisioners with On the Rooftop, a stunning novel about a mother whose dream of stardom for her three daughters clashes with their own desires in a rapidly gentrifying 1950s San Francisco. Margaret joins us on the show to talk about wanting to write a book that sits in conversation with Fiddler on the Roof, how her research led her to the Harlem of the West, writing a love story for an older couple, her literary inspirations and much more with Poured Over's host, Miwa Messer.

Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

Featured Books (Episode)

On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

The Yellow House by Sarah M Broom

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

All Aunt Hagar's Children by Edward P. Jones

The Known World by Edward P. Jones

Featured Books (TBR Topoff)

Swing Time by Zadie Smith

Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout

A complete transcript of this episode is here.

Javier Zamora on SOLITO Sep 06, 2022

Show notes

"That nine-year-old kid still follows me and is with me and is very much a part of me... And this is the hope for the book, not only for non-immigrants, but for immigrants, to really start to have that internal conversation about what we have been through. And I think this book is mostly for them. The book was for me, and then putting it around the world is for everybody. But I hope that non-immigrants can see that we don't want to do this, and that it's difficult, and that we carry this with us every single day."

Solito is the story Javier Zamora has been trying to get out ever since he started writing. Through choppy waters and unforgiving deserts, this intimate, gripping memoir is an immersive look into the consciousness of a young boy seeking to be reunited with his parents. Listen as Javier talks about reliving trauma, growing up undocumented, poetry as a gateway to therapy, and what it was like to give his nine-year-old self back his voice, with the host of Poured Over, Miwa Messer.

Featured Books (Episode)

Solito by Javier Zamora

Unaccompanied by Javier Zamora

Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Featured Books (TBR Topoff)

The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz

Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario

Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

A full transcript of this episode is available here.

Mason Hereford on TURKEY AND THE WOLF: FLAVOR TRIPPIN' IN NEW ORLEANS Sep 03, 2022

Show notes

"I think about food constantly, but more so than anyone else it's the people I work with who are inspiring me now.... I'm always inspired by the people I cook with, and the people I work with in the restaurants, and they're, you know, they're the ones who are inspiring me most right now, because they're making it all happen." Chef and restaurant owner, Mason Hereford's new cookbook Turkey and the Wolf: Flavor Trippin' in New Orleans is full of flavorful, fun recipes and beautiful photos that will delight any appetite. Mason talks about cooking with nostalgia, vintage McDonald's plates, what his day in the restaurants looks like, what's inspiring him in the kitchen now, and more with Poured Over guest host Kat Sarfas.

Featured Books (episode)

Turkey and the Wolf: Flavor Trippin' in New Orleans by Mason Hereford

Without Getting Killed or Caught by Tamara Saviano

This episode of Poured Over was produced and hosted by Kat Sarfas and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

A full transcript of this episode is available here.

Jessie Burton on THE HOUSE OF FORTUNE Sep 01, 2022

Show notes

"I think it is a conversation I'm having with my younger self, who loved the idea of time travel, who loved the idea that these people perhaps not so different from us, who quite quickly could imagine herself out of her body and into another world against all the laws of physics. And I know I'm not alone in that. I think so many people want to read for a moment in their day or week, of escape, but not mindless escape, but detailed, pleasurable, important escape…" Jessie Burton's debut novel, The Miniaturist, is a stellar, entertaining work of historical fiction that sold a million copies in its first year and has been translated into 40 languages. Jessie returns to 17th century Amsterdam with an unforgettable cast of characters (including a few familiar faces) in her latest, The House of Fortune. She joins us on the show to talk about writing and rewriting, story points and Post-It notes, revisiting characters, her favorite authors and more with Poured Over's host, Miwa Messer. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Becky.

Featured Titles (Episode)

The House of Fortune by Jessie Burton

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido

Featured Titles (TBR Topoff)

The Binding by Bridget Collins

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays with occasional Saturdays.

A full transcript of this episode is available here.

Sarah Addison Allen on OTHER BIRDS Aug 30, 2022

Show notes

"I think they grew out of the setting of this weird island, this odd place, this place of southern stories and ghosts and food and how they are misfits, but they find their tribe, they find where they belong with other people who think they don't belong either. And I think that is a universal truth for us all." Sarah Addison Allen's charming new novel, Other Birds, is our September B&N Book Club pick and she joins us on the show to talk about ghosts, unconditional love, mothers and mothering, place as a character, the problem with notebooks, her writing process, and more with guest host Allyson Gavaletz. And we end the episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Becky.

Featured Books (episode)

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

Bittersweet by Susan Cain

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Featured Books (TBR Topoff)

Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

This episode of Poured Over was produced and hosted by Allyson Gavaletz and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

A complete transcript of this episode is available here.

Ada Limón on THE HURTING KIND Aug 27, 2022

Show notes

"I think it's really important to remember that poetry has always sort of existed in the moment. It's full of the life that we're living right now. It is a remnant of the life that we're living right now. You know, distilled moments, it's the mess of our life. It's all of those things. And I think we do ourselves a disservice if we think those things don't include joy, that don't include breath and contentedness and moments of peace. And we all have that sometimes, as we struggle." Ada Limón, our 24th US Poet Laureate and host of the poetry podcast The Slowdown, joins us on the show to take us behind the scenes of her newest book, The Hurting Kind, and talk about the purpose of art, honoring the slipperiness of time, the importance and pleasure of reading out loud, her literary inspirations and more with Poured Over's host, Miwa Messer.

Featured Books:

The Hurting Kind by Ada Limón

Lucky Wreck by Ada Limón

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

Chilean Poet by Alejandro Zambra

Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

A full transcript of this episode is here.

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