WYPL Book Talk

Daniel Brook - The Accident of Color

Daniel Brook is a writer of non-fiction and his journalism has appeared in Harper's, The Nation, and The New York Times Magazine. His books are The Trap, A History of Future Cities, and his most recent one, The Accident of Color: A Story of Race in Reconstruction, which is published by W.W. Norton.

Chanelle Benz - The Gone Dead

 

Chanelle Benz was first on Book Talk to discuss her first book, the short story collection, The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead, which won the 2018 Sergio Troncoso Award for Best First Fiction and the Philosophical Society of Texas 2018 Book Award for fiction. In this episode, we'll be talking about her new novel, The Gone Dead, which is published by Ecco/Harper Collins.

 

Mary Miller - Biloxi

Mary Miller teaches at the University of Mississippi and has published five books of fiction, including three short story collections, and the novel The Last Days of California. We'll be talking about her latest novel, Biloxi, which is published by Liveright, an imprint of W.W. Norton.

Deb Spera - Call Your Daughter Home

Deb Spera is known as Deborah Spera in the television industry where she has executive produced series like Criminal Minds, Reaper, and Army Wives. Today we'll be talking about her debut historical novel, Call Your Daughter Home, which is published by Park Row Books.

David Maraniss - A Good American Family

David Maraniss is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The Washington Post. His non-fiction books are always best-sellers which also receive critical acclaim like winning the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and the Anthony Lukas Book Prize. Today we'll be discussing his latest book, A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father.

Michael Knight - At Briarwood School for Girls

Michael Knight teaches creative writing at the University of Tennessee Knoville and has written seven books of fiction including, The Holiday Season and The Typist. Today we'll be talking about his latest novel, At Briarwood School for Girls which is published by The Atlantic Monthly Press.

Casey Cep - Furious Hours

Casey Cep is a writer of non-fiction whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The New Republic, among others. We'll be discussing her first book today, Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, which is published Knopf.

Mary Kay Andrews - Sunset Beach

Mary Kay Andrews has a phenomenal track record of publishing engaging best-selling novels. She and Linda Lloyd talk about her latest, Sunset Beach, the story of a young woman who inherits a broken down beach bungalow and becomes involved is a decades old mystery.

Eric Barnes - Above the Ether

Eric Barnes is the publisher of several newspapers in Memphis, Tennessee, but we have him on the program to talk about his novels. His previous ones are Shimmer, Something Pretty Something Beautiful, and The City Where We Once Lived. Today we'll be talking about Above the Ether which is published by Arcade and distributed by Simon and Schuster.

Basil Hero - The Mission of a Lifetime: Lessons from the Men Who Went to the Moon

Basil Hero is a former television reporter who decided to interview as many of the surviving Apollo astronauts to see if he could share how their views of life and the world were changed by going to the moon in his new book, The Mission of a Lifetime: Lessons from the Men Who Went to the Moon is available from grand Central Publishing.

Nathan Englander - kaddish.com

 

Nathan Englander won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his collection, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank. In addition to fiction, Nathan writes for the stage, and has also won a Guggenheim Fellowship. Today we'll be talking about his fifth book of fiction, kaddish.com, which is published by Knopf.

Mary Laura Philpott - I Miss You When I Blink

Mary Laura Philpott is the founding editor of the in-house magazine for Parnassus Bookstore in Nashville, TN. She is also co-host of A Word on Words for Nashville Public Television, and first appeared on Book Talk for her collection of cartoons, Penguins with People Problems. Today we'll talk about her new book, a collection of essays entitled, I Miss You When I Blink, which is published by Atria Books.

Aram Goudsouzian - The Men and the Moment - Part Two

Dr. Aram Goudsouzian is a professor of history at the University of Memphis. He has written biographies of Sidney Poitier and Bill Russell, as well as an in-depth look at the Civil Rights landmark Meredith March Against Fear. We have the second of our two part interview about his latest book, The Men and the Moment: The Election of 1968 and the Rise of Partisan Politics in America, which is published by University of North Carolina Press. Today we'll be looking at the Democratic Party primaries and the path up to the general election.

Aram Goudsouzian - The Men and the Moment - Part One

Dr. Aram Goudsouzian is a professor of history at the University of Memphis. He has written biographies of Sidney Poitier and Bill Russell, as well as an in-depth look at the Civil Rights landmark Meredith March Against Fear. Today, we have the first of two part interview about his latest book, The Men and the Moment: The Election of 1968 and the Rise of Partisan Politics in America, which is published by University of North Carolina Press.

Erin McGraw - Joy and 52 Other Very Short Stories

Erin McGraw is a respected writer of fiction, having penned the novels, The Baby Tree, The Seamstress of Hollywood Boulevard, and Better Food for a Better World. Today, we'll be talking about her fourth collection of short stories, Joy: and 52 Other Very Short Stories, which is published by Counterpoint Press.

Greg Iles - Cemetery Road

Greg Iles is one of the biggest, best-selling thriller writers in America. He recently wrapped up his Natchez Burning trilogy starring Mayor Penn Cage. Today, we're going to talk about his latest book, Cemetery Road, set in a fictional town fifty miles north of Natchez. Award-winning journalist Marshall McEwan returns home to run his estranged father's newspaper, while a local business development promises to revitalize the area economy but at the price of how many lives?

Tim Johnston - The Current

Tim Johnston's 2009 short story collection Irish Girl won the Katharine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction, and several of the stories won individual prizes, as well. His novels are Never So Green, Descent, which we spoke about on Book Talk back in 2013, and today we'll be talking about The Current, new for 2019, the story of two college students attacked near the Iowa-Minnesota state border that recalled the death of a young woman 10 years earlier, which was never solved and destroyed the bonds connecting several local families.

Snowden Wright - American Pop

Snowden Wright has written for The Atlantic, Salon, Esquire, The Millions, and The New York Daily News. His first novel, Play Pretty Blues, was published in 2013 to critical acclaim, and today we'll be talking about his new novel, American Pop, which is published by William Morrow.

Dani Shapiro - Inheritance

 

Dani Shapiro is a respected writer of fiction and memoir. Her novels include Black and White and Playing with Fire as well as memoirs including Devotion and Slow Motion. Today we'll be talking about her latest memoir, Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love which is published by Knopf.

Nick Petrie - Tear it Down

 

Nick Petrie earned his MFA from the University of Washington and is known for his series of thrillers starring veteran Peter Ash. The first three were The Drifter, Burning Bright, and Light It Up, and today we'll be talking about the fourth installment, Tear It Down, which is published by G.P. Putnam's Sons.