WYPL Book Talk

 

Jacob Rubin's writing has appeared in Best New American Voices, The New Republic, and Slate. Viking recently published his debut novel, and it is entitled The Poser.

Jason Miller has written for graphic novels, Rifftrax, the spin off of Mystery Science Theater 3000, and was recently named one of the funniest people on Twitter.This debut novel was recent published, and it's entitled Down Don't Bother Me. It's the story of a coal miner in southern Illinois who gets dragged into investigating a missing person case which threatens to bring the ceiling down on everyone.

David Joy is the author of the memoir, Growing Gills: A Fly Fisherman's Journey, and Putnam has recently published his debut novel, Were All Light Tends to Go, which paints a vivid picture of a meth dealing family in the Appalachians in western North Carolina.

Jamie Kornegay owns Turnrow Books down in the Mississippi Delta town of Greenwood, but his debut novel is set in the hill country of Northern Mississippi. It's entitled Soil and is published by Simon and Schuster.

Michael Kardos was last on to talk about his debut novel, The Three Day Affair, which was named an Esquire Best Book of The Year. The Mysterious Press has just published his second novel, and it's called Before He Finds Her.

Bill Loehfelm made a splash with two stand-alone crime novels, Blood Root and Fresh Kills. 2011 saw character Maureen Coughlin debut in The Devil She Knows, 2013 brought us The Devil in Her Way, and Sarah Chrichton books has just published the third installment of the series, Doing the Devil's Work.

Dr. Alan Lightman has taught astrophysics at Harvard and MIT and writing at MIT. Best known to literary audiences for his novel Einstein's Dreams, Lightman's new book is Screening Room, a memoir about growing up in in a family known for running one of the largest movie theater chains in the South.

Moriah McStay recently stopped by the Book Talk studio to chat about her debut young adult novel, Everything That Makes You, which is available from Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of Harper Collins. It's two stories about Fiona Doyle and the very different paths her life could have taken based on if an accident had scarred her face when she was young or not.

M.O. Walsh is the director of the creative writing program at the University of New Orleans, and his pieces have appeared in The New York Times, The Southern Review, and The Best New American Voices. Putnam has recently published his debut novel, My Sunshine Away, which has already appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list.

Ravi Howard was an Emmy Award-winning television producer and is now a respected writer of fiction. His first novel, Like Trees, Walking was a finalist for the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award and the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. His new novel, Driving the King, is now available from Harper. It's the story of Nathaniel Weary, a childhood friend of Nat King Cole's who is sent to prison for defending Cole from a racist assault and the opportunities Weary has after his release.

Frank Portman is known to fans of punk rock as Doktor Frank, the lead singer of The Mr. T Experience. He's also made a name for himself as an author of hilarious, no-holds-barred young adult fiction. He made a splash in 2004 with King Dork, the story of a high schooler by the name of Tom Henderson, called ChiMo by his classmates. Delacorte/Random House has recently released the sequel, and it's entitled, King Dork Approximately.

Natalie Baszile's debut novel Queen Sugar was much acclaimed when it was first released in 2014, and it's now available in paperback from Penguin. And just a couple of days after our chat with Natalie, Oprah Winfrey announced that she and Ava DuVernay, the director of Selma, will be developing Queen Sugar into a television series.

Tim Johnston is a writer of fiction with a YA novel called Never So Green, a collection of short stories, and a new novel from Algonquin Books. It's called Descent, and it's one of the best reviewed literary thrillers in recent memory.

 

If you would like to meet Tim and hear him read from his work, he'll have an event at the University of Memphis on Thursday, February 19, 2015 beginning at 5:30 in the Bluff Room at The University Center. The event is open to the public. For more information, call (901)678-3732.

Sharon Draper won the 1997 National Teacher of The Year Honor, and has gone on to become even more famous as the author of best-selling and award-winning books for children and young adults. We talk about her latest book for middle-graders, Stella by Starlight, which was inspired by her father and her maternal grandmother. 

 

David Vaughn Mason is chair of the theater department and director of Asian Studies at Rhodes College. During the so-called Mormon Moment during the 2012 Presidential election, Dr. Mason gained notice for his editorials in the Washington Post addressing his faith and how it fits into America. Routledge has recently published his biography of  Church of Latter Day Saints leader entitled, Brigham Young: Sovereign in America.

We're happy to welcome Mark Greaney back to the program. Mark has previously appeared to discuss his Gray Man series of international thrillers, but today we'll talk about his latest NY Times best-selling novel in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series, Full Force and Effect.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Rick Bragg won for feature writing while at the New York Times. He's also the author of eight books, including the best-selling and beloved All Over But the Shoutin'. His newest book is a look at one of America's most talented and mercurial music legends in: Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story.

Dinaw Mengestu became a major player in the literary scene in America and around the world with the 2007 publication of his first novel, The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears. 2010 saw the publication of How to Read the Air. In this episode, we discuss All Our Names which was just released in paperback this week by Vintage. 

Craig K. Collins is the author of Thunder in the Mountains: a Portrait of American Gun Culture, a hybrid of memoir and a look at the role guns have played in violence in the American West over the years.

Robert Bausch is a winner of the Dos Passos Prize for literature, and he has published a collection of short stories and nine novels.His third novel, Almighty Me was eventually adapted into the film Bruce Almighty. His fourth novel A Hole in the Earth was a New York Times Notable Book. Bloomsbury has recently published number nine, Far as the Eye Can See, a novel of finding humanity in the post-bellum big west.