Episodes

Saturday May 10, 2025
Roxane Gay - The Portable Feminist Reader
Saturday May 10, 2025
Saturday May 10, 2025
Dr. Roxane Gay is writer, editor, social commentator and a professor of media, culture and feminist studies at Rutgers University. She has written many best-sellers, including her essay collection Bad Feminist, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, and the novel An Untamed State. Today we’ll be discussing her latest release, The Portable Feminist Reader, which is published by Penguin Classics.

Saturday Apr 26, 2025
Dolen Perkins Valdez - Happy Land
Saturday Apr 26, 2025
Saturday Apr 26, 2025
We are delighted to welcome Dr. Dolen Perkins Valdez back to the program today. Dolen is an associate professor of English literature at American University, but our listeners better know her as an award-winning, critically-acclaimed novelist. Her previous works are Wench, Balm, and Take My Hand. Today we’ll be discussing her latest release, Happy Land, which is published by Berkley.

Saturday Apr 19, 2025
Amor Towles - Table for Two - Part Two
Saturday Apr 19, 2025
Saturday Apr 19, 2025
We welcome Amor Towles back to the program today for the second of a two-part interview. Amor is a best-selling novelist known for his historical novels The Rules of Civility, A Gentleman Moscow, which was turned into a miniseries starring Ewan McGregor, and The Lincoln Highway which is development to become a feature film. Today we’ll begin the discussion of his collection of shorties and a novella, Table for Two, which is now in paperback from Penguin Books.

Saturday Apr 12, 2025
Amor Towles - Table for Two - Part One
Saturday Apr 12, 2025
Saturday Apr 12, 2025
We welcome Amor Towles to the program today for the first of a two-part interview. Amor is a best-selling novelist known for his historical novels The Rules of Civility, A Gentleman Moscow, which was turned into a miniseries starring Ewan McGregor, and The Lincoln Highway which is development to become a feature film. Today we’ll begin the discussion of his collection of shorties and a novella, Table for Two, which is now in paperback from Penguin Books.

Saturday Apr 05, 2025
Anita Kopacz - The Wind on Her Tongue
Saturday Apr 05, 2025
Saturday Apr 05, 2025
Today we welcome a new co-host to the program today, Miriam Oliphant. Miriam is a veteran of the publishing industry and recently joined WYPL on a full-time basis. Her first interview for Book Talk is with novelist Anita Kopacz, who has found great success in the magazine world and become a spiritual advisor. She currently in the midst of a trilogy looking at spirits in the Yoruba tradition. The first book was Shallow Waters, and today she and Miriam will discuss the second installment, which is entitled The Wind on Her Tongue and is available from Atria/Black Privilege Publishing.

Saturday Mar 29, 2025
Tova Mirvis - We Would Never
Saturday Mar 29, 2025
Saturday Mar 29, 2025
Tova Mirvis, a native of Memphis, is an author, who has previously joined us on Book Talk to speak about her memoir The Book of Separation as well as her novels, Visible City and The Outside World. Today, we’ll discuss her latest novel, We Would Never, published by Simon and Schuster.

Saturday Mar 22, 2025
Preston Lauterbach - Before Elvis
Saturday Mar 22, 2025
Saturday Mar 22, 2025
Preston Lauterbach is a former Memphian who has written extensively about African-American music and history and has helped musicians tell their own stories, as well. Preston has appeared on Book Talk several times to discuss his books, The Chitlin Circuit and the Road to Rock ‘n’ Roll, Beale Street Dynasty, and Bluff City. Today, we’ll be discussing his latest title, Before Elvis:The African American Musicians Who Made The King, which is published by Da Capo Press.

Saturday Mar 15, 2025
Mark Greaney - Midnight Black
Saturday Mar 15, 2025
Saturday Mar 15, 2025
Mark Greaney is a New York Times best-selling author of international thrillers. He co-authored several Jack Ryan novels with Tom Clancy, and continued the series for a few years after Mr. Clancy’s passing. He recently started a new series starring Josh Duffy, a security contractor, but today we’ll be discussing his 14th installment in his Grey Man series, featuring burned CIA asset, Court Gentry. Midnight Black features Gentry trying to infiltrate Russia in order to free his love Zoya Zakharova.

Saturday Feb 22, 2025
Manan Ahmed Asif - Disrupted City - Part 2
Saturday Feb 22, 2025
Saturday Feb 22, 2025
Guest host Dr. David Mason is back to conclude a special two-part interview with historian Dr. Manan Ahmed Asif. Dr. Ahmed is an associate professor of history at Columbia University. A Book of Conquest: The Chachnama and Muslim Origins in South Asia, Where the Wild Frontiers Are: Pakistan and the American Imagination, and The Loss of Hindustan. He and Dr. Mason will wrap up their conversation today about his latest title: Disrupted City: Walking the Pathways of Memory and History in Lahore which is published by the New Press.

Saturday Feb 15, 2025
Manan Ahmed Asif - Disrupted City - Part 1
Saturday Feb 15, 2025
Saturday Feb 15, 2025
Guest host Dr. David Mason is back to host a special two-part interview with historian Dr. Manan Ahmed Asif. Dr. Ahmed is an associate professor of history at Columbia University. A Book of Conquest: The Chachnama and Muslim Origins in South Asia, Where the Wild Frontiers Are: Pakistan and the American Imagination, and The Loss of Hindustan. He and Dr. Mason will begin their conversation today about his latest title: Disrupted City: Walking the Pathways of Memory and History in Lahore which is published by the New Press.

Saturday Feb 08, 2025
Rachel Kushner - Creation Lake
Saturday Feb 08, 2025
Saturday Feb 08, 2025
We are honored to welcome Rachel Kushner to the program today. Rachel is an award-winning novelist, whose previous work includes the novels, Telex from Cuba, The Flame Throwers and The Mars Room, as well as the collection of essays, The Hard Crowd. Today we’ll be discussing her recent acclaimed novel, Creation Lake, which is published by Scribner.

Saturday Jan 25, 2025
Russell Muirhead - Ungoverning - Part 2
Saturday Jan 25, 2025
Saturday Jan 25, 2025
We welcome Dr. Russell Muirhead back to the program today for the second of a two-part interview. Russel is the Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics and Co-Director, Political Economy Project at Dartmouth College. He has many publications, including two books co-written with Dr. Nancy L. Rosenblum, who is the Senator Joseph Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government emerita at Harvard University. Their first title together was 2019’s A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy and recently Princeton University Press released Ungoverning: The Politics of Chaos and the Attack on the Administrative State which we will conclude discussing today.

Saturday Jan 18, 2025
Russell Muirhead - Ungoverning - Part 1
Saturday Jan 18, 2025
Saturday Jan 18, 2025
We welcome Dr. Russell Muirhead to the program today for the first of a two-part interview. Russel is the Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics and Co-Director, Political Economy Project at Dartmouth College. He has many publications, including two books co-written with Dr. Nancy L. Rosenblum, who is the Senator Joseph Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government emerita at Harvard University. Their first title together was 2019’s A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy and recently Princeton University Press released Ungoverning: The Politics of Chaos and the Attack on the Administrative State which we will discuss today and next time.

Saturday Jan 11, 2025
Eugenia Bone - Have a Good Trip
Saturday Jan 11, 2025
Saturday Jan 11, 2025
Eugenia Bone previously appeared on the show to talk about her books, The Kitchen Ecosystem: Integrating Recipes to Create Delicious Meals and Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms. It’s been ten years since her last time with us, and today, we’ll be discussing her most recent title Have a Good Trip: Exploring the Magic Mushroom Experience which is published by Flat Iron Books. A note, the possession and use of psilocybe mushrooms is illegal in most of the United States, including Book Talk’s home state of Tennessee. A couple of states are exploring medical usage of them and several, mainly college towns, have decriminalized possession. These are the early days of scientific research, and Book Talk makes no claims on their efficacy, and strongly warns against possession and use where such is in violation of the laws of one’s jurisdiction.

Saturday Dec 21, 2024
Charles Bock - I Will Do Better
Saturday Dec 21, 2024
Saturday Dec 21, 2024
Charles Bock was last on Book Talk for his debut novel, Beautiful Children, which won the 2009 Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His second novel was Alice and Oliver. Today, we’re talking about his recent memoir, I Will Do Better: A Father’s Memoir of Heartbreak, Parenting, and Love published by Harry N. Abrams, which is distributed by Hachette.

Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Charles King - Every Valley - Part 3
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
We welcome Charles King back to the program today for the final segment of a special three-part interview. Charles is a professor of International Affairs and Government at Georgetown University. His previous titles include Midnight at the Pera Palace and Gods of the Upper Air. Today we will continue to discuss Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel’s Messiah which is published by Doubleday and was just named to the New York Times 100 Best Books of 2024 list.

Saturday Dec 07, 2024
Charles King - Every Valley - Part 2
Saturday Dec 07, 2024
Saturday Dec 07, 2024

Saturday Nov 30, 2024
Charles King - Every Valley - Part 1
Saturday Nov 30, 2024
Saturday Nov 30, 2024

Saturday Nov 23, 2024
Wright Thompson - The Barn
Saturday Nov 23, 2024
Saturday Nov 23, 2024
Wright Thompson is a writer of non-fiction. His journalism has appeared in The New Orleans Times Picayune, The Kansas City Star and currently at ESPN.com. His previous books are The Cost of These Dreams and Pappyland. Today we’ll be discussing his new effort, The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi, which looks at the infamous murder of 14 year old Emmett Till in 1955, but also reveals the socio-economic facts that set the scene for this evil act, as well as the repercussions for the guilty and for Till’s family and friends, which go on until this day.

Saturday Nov 16, 2024
Sonia Purnell - Kingmaker - Part 2
Saturday Nov 16, 2024
Saturday Nov 16, 2024
Sonia Purnell is a former journalist and current author of non-fiction. She first appeared on Book Talk for her previous book, A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II. Her other books include Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill and Just Boris: A Tale of Blond Ambition - A Biography of Boris Johnson. Today we conclude our two-part interview for her new book, KINGMAKER: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue, which is published by Viking.