The Bookshop Podcast

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Joe R. Lansdale, Author Apr 20, 2022

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In this episode, I chat with author Joe R. Lansdale about his new novel Born For Trouble: The Further Adventures of Hap and Leonard, Texas life, his creative family, political correctness, and martial arts. Join us; it's a fun episode!

Joe R. Lansdale is the internationally bestselling author of more than fifty novels, including the popular, long-running Hap and Leonard series. Many of his cult classics have been adapted for television and film, most famously the films Bubba Ho-Tep and Cold in July and the Hap and Leonard series on Sundance TV and Netflix. Lansdale has written numerous screenplays and teleplays and has won the Edgar Award and ten Stoker Awards. He has also been designated a World Horror Grandmaster. Lansdale, like many of his characters, lives in East Texas, with his wife, Karen, and their pit bull, Nicky.

Joe R. Lansdale

Blood And Lemonade, Joe R. Lansdale

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

Books by Flannery O’Connor

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Francesca Wilkins, Owner, The Margate Bookshop Apr 18, 2022

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The Margate Bookshop is an independent bookshop situated in the Old Town section of the seaside village of Margate in Kent. Their stock is largely curated to reflect their customers' tastes while retaining the essence of a "general interest" bookshop.
Working with smaller publishers, owner Francesca Wilkins promotes underrepresented authors and translated fiction while focusing on diversity.

While the amplitude of the online world can seem intimidating, Francesca feels it's essential that classics be ever-present, children's books be affordable, small publications be easier to stumble upon, and personal recommendations should be close-at-hand and always come with a smile.
The Margate Bookshop
The Guardian, March 2019, written by Harriet Sherwood

literacy trust

Free Books for Margate Schools

Local Margate Authors

Recommended Reading: Island & Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

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Ann Binney, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Apr 13, 2022

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The Los Angeles Festival of Books, scheduled for April 23 and 24 on the University of Southern California campus, is the nation’s largest literary event. With over 550 participants, including an exciting lineup of authors, poets, artists, chefs, celebrities, musicians, and a diverse group of exhibitors, this event promises to be a literary smorgasbord.

Ann Binney has worked in publishing in various capacities for many years. She started in New York working for Putnam and then moved through various positions at Price Stern Sloan, Penguin and Knopf before working as a freelance publicist and media escort in Los Angeles. She joined the L. A. Times as a contractor working on the Festival of Books and Book Prizes in 2006. As Associate Director, Events for the Times, she is the lead for the Festival of Books and Book Prizes and works with the L.A. Times editorial team on various other events, including the monthly Book Club and Ideas Exchange series.

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

Schedule

Participants

Exhibitors
The Lincoln Highway, Amor Towles

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Karen Finlay, Alibi Bookshop Apr 11, 2022

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Alibi Bookshop in Downtown Vallejo, California, is a general interest and proudly independent bookstore. After spending nearly twenty years in the publishing industry, Karen Finlay, and her husband Jon Burchard, bought the store from Shannon Hartlep and reopened it under the new name of Alibi Bookshop. The store sells both new and used books and an assortment of fun gifts.
Alibi Bookshop

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

The House In The Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune

Tell the Wolves I’m Home, Carol Rifka Brunt

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, Honoree Fanonne Jeffers

Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, Marjane Satrapi

Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

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Stephanie Stillo & Aliza Leventhal From The Library of Congress With Special Guests Nadine Seiler, and Karen Irwin Apr 06, 2022

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On February 12 of this year, I read an article by Jonathan Franklin, a digital reporter on the News desk at National Public Radio here in the United States. The article, titled: Artwork from the Black Lives Matter memorial has a new home: the Library of Congress, lit a fire in me, and I immediately contacted Stephanie Stillo, Curator, Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress, to see if she could arrange a conversation with the people involved with saving the artwork from the Black Lives Matter memorial.

Being the gracious lady she is and a regular guest on The Bookshop Podcast, Stephanie put me in touch with Aliza Leventhal, head of technical services in the Prints and Photographs Division at the Library of Congress; the same Aliza referenced in the NPR article. Aliza suggested I also speak with the two guardians of the fence, Nadine Seiler and Karen Irwin.
Nadine Seiler, is a Black Activist Curator and archivist, working to preserve the Black Lives Matter Memorial Fence Collection. She sidelines as a home organizer, in her spare time.
Karen is originally from Indiana but moved to NYC when she turned 40. She has been an actor, singer, entertainer, bartender. She became the stage manager for the resistance when she met Nadine and she has a Patreon account called The Karen Resistance.
Library of Congress
Artwork From The Black Lives Matter Memorial Has A New Home: The Library Of Congress, Jonathan Franklin
Black Lives Matter
Enoch Pratt Library

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Heather J. Marquez, Director of Retail Operations at The Gamble House Conservancy Apr 04, 2022

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Today I'm exploring a bookshop of a different kind, set within a National Historic Landmark and specializing in books on architecture and landscape.

The Gamble House is an iconic American Craftsman home in Pasadena, California, designed by Greene and Greene's architectural firm.

Heather J. Marquez is the Director of Retail Operations at The Gamble House Conservancy.
The Gamble House
The Arts and Crafts Movement in America
The Gamble House: Building Paradise in California, Edward R Bosley; Anne E. Mallek; Ann Scheid; Robert Winter, photographs by Alexander Vertikoff
Arts & Crafts: From William Morris to Frank Lloyd Wright, Arnold Shwartzman
Art and Crafts Architecture 'Beauty's Awakening,' Julian Holder

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Dr. Mary Hill-Wagner, Author Mar 30, 2022

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Dr. Mary Hill-Wagner is the author of Girlz ‘N the Hood: A Memoir of Mama in South Central Los Angeles, which was released by the Pact Press in September 2021.
She grew up in South Central Los Angeles, near Manchester & Broadway for the most part. Although most of her teenage years were spent in Compton. She was valedictorian of Compton High School in 1982.
Dr. Hill-Wagner earned a B.A. from the University of Southern California, an M.A. from Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
As a newspaper journalist for 15 years, she covered poverty issues, police, and the military for various newspapers throughout the country. She has taught college journalism courses in Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and California.

She is married to Dr. Marcus Wagner. They have two spoiled dogs together.

Mary Hill-Wagner

Girlz ‘n the Hood: A Memoir of Mama in South Central Los Angeles, Mary Hill-Wagner

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou

Dune, Frank Herbert

Andrea Somberg, Literary Agent

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Shoshana Smith, Flashlight Books Mar 28, 2022

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If you have children to buy books for, this is the episode for you!

Flashlight Books is an independent bookstore located in Walnut Creek, California. Owners Shoshana Smith, Marian Adducci, and Gigi Reinheimer are dedicated to promoting a sustained love of reading in children and see the bookstore as a community-focused space that celebrates curiosity, passion, and learning.
Shoshana Smith (originally from Brookline, MA) and Marian Adducci (Homewood, IL) met in college. Both moved to the Bay Area in 2011, where they both worked at The Reading Bug in San Carlos, CA, and decided the bookstore life was for them. In 2017 they teamed up with Gigi Reinheimer, and the three founded Flashlight Books which opened in Walnut Creek, CA, in late February of 2019. Shoshana loves to read young adult and romance, Marian's favorite genres are fantasy and middle grade (especially when based on mythology), and Gigi loves literary fiction and mysteries.

Flashlight Books

One Life, Megan Rapinoe

The Unexplainable Disappearance Of Mars Patel, Sheela Chari

Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish, Pablo Cartaya

Bodies Are Cool, Tyler Feder

Eyes That Speak To The Stars, Joanna Ho

Chex Bob, Bob Shea

Maizy Chen’s Last Chance, Lisa Yee

Yummy: A History Of Desserts, Victoria Grace Elliott

Frankie & Bug, Gayle Forman

The $150,000 Rugelach, Allison Marks

I Must Betray You, Ruta Seppetys
Mirror Girls, Kelly McWilliams

Gear Breakers, Zoe Hana Mikuta

Iron Widow, Xiran Jay Zhao

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Christopher Finan, Author, Executive Director National Coalition Against Censorship Mar 23, 2022

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Christopher Finan is NCAC’s executive director. He previously served as president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFE), the bookseller’s voice in the fight against censorship. He has been an advocate for free expression since 1982. Prior to joining ABFE, he was executive director of Media Coalition, a trade association that defends the First Amendment rights of producers and distributors of media. He is a former chair of NCAC and Media Coalition. He was a trustee of the Freedom to Read Foundation and received its Roll of Honor Award in 2011.

A native of Cleveland, Chris is a graduate of Antioch College. After working as a newspaper reporter, he studied American history at Columbia University where he received his Ph.D.

He is the author of From the Palmer Raids to the Patriot Act: A History of the Fight for Free Speech in America (Beacon Press), which won the 2008 Eli Oboler Award of the American Library Association. He also wrote Alfred E. Smith: The Happy Warrior (Hill and Wang) and edited National Security and Free Speech: The Debate Since 9/11 (IDEBATE Press), a reader for high school students. The Hugh M. Hefner Foundation honored the latter with its First Amendment Award. His latest book is Drunks: The Story of Alcoholism and the Birth of Recovery (Beacon Press).

Chris is married to Pat Willard, author of several food histories, including America Eats! On the Road with the W.P.A.–The First Fries, Box Supper Socials, and Chitlin’ Feasts that Define Real American Food (Bloomsbury). They have two sons and live in Brooklyn.
Christopher M. Finan
National Coalition Against Censorship
How Free Speech Saved Democracy, Christopher M. Finan

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Arsen Kashkashian, Boulder Book Store Mar 21, 2022

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In this episode, I chat with Arsen Kashkashian, head buyer and general manager at the Boulder Book Store in Boulder, Colorado. I asked him about the plethora of local authors, such as Jon Krakauer and Stephen Graham Jones, hiking, books in translation, and Allen Ginsberg’s time in the Boulder community.
Arsen received the 2006 Gordon Saull Award for outstanding bookseller from the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association. Maeve Conran and Arsen Kashkashian host the monthly KGNU-Boulder Book Store Radio Book Club.

Boulder Book Store

Reprieve, James Han Mattson

Marcel Proust

Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Truman Capote

To Break a Covenant, Alison Ames

Stephen Graham Jones

Kaye Gibbons

Percival Everett

Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel, Anthony Doerr

Burntcoat: A Novel, Sarah Hall

The Temps, Andrew DeYoung

Stephen King