Between The Covers

Michelle Peñaloza’s ambitious and remarkable debut searches for a place to anchor in spite of a rancorous world where we might have “began as crumbs ferried in the beak of waxwings.” These poems read mythic yet contemporary in their burst of bloom-song and bright blood s... Read more

  "Wilk's debut novel is a strange, vivid thought experiment. In a near-future Berlin, scientist Anja lives in an eco-settlement on an artificial mountain . . . Anja’s quiet, shy analysis turns a critical eye to our future, asking daring questions of how the desire to c... Read more

  Host Jenna Yokoyama spoke with two members of the team behind the They Called Us Enemy (Top Shelf, 2019), a graphic novel that tells the biographical story of George Takei's experience with Japanese American concentration camps. Featured are graphic artist Harmony Bec... Read more

  “Max Porter's innovative hybrid of fairy tale, fable, and myth cunningly evokes the freewheeling fantasies of children at play. . . .The result is a puckish celebration of imagination and free spirits rising above the buzz of societal scolds and the anxieties of paren... Read more

Portland author Renee Watson discusses her latest book, "Watch Us Rise." This episode originally aired Feb 07, 2019 on Black Book Talk. Jasmine and Chelsea are best friends on a mission--they're sick of the way women are treated even at their progressive NYC high school, ... Read more

  “Like such eclectic predecessors as Philip K. Dick, James Tiptree, Jr., Jorge Luis Borges, Ursula K. Le Guin, Margaret Atwood, Haruki Murakami, China Miéville, and Kazuo Ishiguro,  Ted Chiang has explored conventional tropes of science fiction in highly unconventional... Read more

  “One of the first great novels of the year... In a narrative so sharp it could draw blood, Miriam Toews' Women Talking asks an immense, weighty question: How do women who have lived their entire lives in a society that severely limits their agency act when suddenly ne... Read more

“Kenji Liu’s Monsters I Have Been writhes knotty tentacles through textual boneyards," raves Douglas Kearny, "disturbing screenplays, theoretical works, and literatures in their coffined-off sleeps... Sharp, protean, dexterous, and discontent―Liu’s collection shows where... Read more

Host Ken Jones talks with Karen Russell, author of the new book Orange World and Other Stories. Orange World is Karen’s fifth book, following the novel Swamplandia!, the novella Sleep Donation, and two collections of short fiction – St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by W... Read more