Poured Over

The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon follows the headstrong Grace O'Malley, a young woman who defies her family's expectations by becoming a sea captain with her own mighty fleet of ships. As she sails, she learns to defend her land, her people and herself. Ariel joins us to talk about the craft of historical fiction, defying genre, and Irish folklore with cohost Brenda Allison.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Brenda Allison and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books & Authors:

The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon

Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls

Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon

Lisa Gardner

I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon

The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon

Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon

Madeline L'Engle

Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel begins in future America, where society is crumbling, and a bewildering mystery unravels after a man vanishes during a house party. Emily joined us live in Philadelphia to talk about the craft of fiction, hinge moments, world-building, transience, and quantum entanglement with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books & Authors:

Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Zone One by Colson Whitehead

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Sebastian Junger

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu

The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World by Nathaniel Philbrick vividly brings to life the western migration that changed the United States forever, propelling it into a new era of expansion and conflict. Nathaniel joins us to talk about the Wild West, vigilante justice, Herman Melville, and the value of reading history with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

The Rush by Nathaniel Philbrick

The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

Away Off Shore by Nathaniel Philbrick

Why Read Moby-Dick by Nathaniel Philbrick

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick

In the Hurricane's Eye by Nathaniel Philbrick

Valiant Ambition by Nathaniel Philbrick

Sea of Glory by Nathaniel Philbrick

Second Wind by Nathaniel Philbrick

Suttree by Cormac McCarthy

The Confidence-Man by Herman Melville

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

McTeague by Frank Norris

The Octopus by Frank Norris

The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk

Public Access Afterworld, a harrowing mystery from filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun, follows a content moderator who discovers the horrific realm beyond the television static. Jane joins us to talk about creating a mythology, nostalgia, screenwriting and more with cohost Jenna Seery.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Jenna Seery and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Authors & Films:

Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun

I Saw The TV Glow

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

Cormac McCarthy

Don DeLillo

TBR Featured Books:

Slade House by David Mitchell

Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay

The Occidental Book of the Dead by T. Geronimo Johnson is a sharp-eyed look at America which follows George Washington Jonson across two decades of his life as a Black cop in Atlanta. T. Geronimo joins us to talk about class, community, belonging, and empathy with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books & Authors:

The Occidental Book of the Dead by T. Geronimo Johnson

Welcome to Braggsville by T. Geronimo Johnson

Hold It 'Til It Hurts by T. Geronimo Johnson

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

Percival Everett

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

Tibetan Book of the Dead

Egyptian Book of the Dead

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

James Baldwin

There Is No Place for Us by Brian Goldstone

Luna, Phoenix, Queen is Julie Orringer's latest, a thoughtful, and thought-provoking novel about the stories we tell about ourselves—and who gets to tells them. Julie joins us to talk about autonomy, memory, patience, and her adopted dog, Hazel with cohost Jenna Seery.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Jenna Seery and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

Luna, Phoenix, Queen by Julie Orringer

The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer

How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

Dear Life by Alice Munro

How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend by The Monks of New Skete

The Art of Raising a Puppy by The Monks of New Skete

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Last Days of the Dog-Men: Stories by Bad Watson

Have Dog, Will Travel: A Poet's Journey by Stephen Kuusisto

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Day for Night by Frederick Reiken

Intimacies by Katie Kitamura

Foster by Claire Keegan

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders

Music Against the Night is an epic story about love and betrayal, music and power, creativity and lust, that cuts across time and countries, from Yiyun Li, the acclaimed author of The Book of Goose. Yiyun joins us to talk about Hilary Mantel, movement and music, laughter and more with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

Music Against the Night by Yiyun Li

Book of Goose by Yiyun Li

Wednesday's Child by Yiyun Li

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel

Childhood; Boyhood; Youth by Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

King Lear by William Shakespeare

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

The Collected Stories by William Trevor

Nocturnes for the King of Naples by Edmund White

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Moderation by Elaine Castillo

Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin

Duel Duet: Selected Stories by Graham Greene

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

After the global sensation Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus delivers a charming and funny novel about a young man searching for his place in the world in Peck & Peck. When he stumbles into a job at an unconventional New York City poetry journal, Batter Gray discovers the transformative power of language and a community he never knew he needed. Bonnie joined us live in New York to talk about her dog Friday, the magic of poetry, and the future of the arts with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books & Poets:

Peck & Peck by Bonnie Garmus

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Thanatopsis by William Cullen Bryant

Robert Lowell

Sylvia Plath

Jericho Brown

Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Jorie Graham

Geraldine Brooks

Langston Hughes

Claudia Rankine

Edgar Allen Poe

Charles Bukowski

A. A. Milne

Phillip Larkin

When a dark secret comes to light after his mother's death, Jay sets out to uncover the truth in Mystery Play, a haunting tale steeped in Dracula lore from master storyteller, Elizabeth Kostova. Elizabeth joins us to talk about seances, mysticism, the theater and Indiana Jones with cohost Jenna Seery.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Jenna Seery and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books & Authors:

Mystery Play by Elizabeth Kostova

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Booth by Karen Joy Fowler

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Henry James

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Arthur Conan Doyle

Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

King Lear by William Shakespeare

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare

In Look What the Cat Dragged In by Jason Rekulak, after agreeing to pet sit, a cartoonist becomes haunted by violent nightmares and starts to find disturbing imagery in her art. Jason joins us to talk about demonic possession, viral videos, collaborating with Doogie Horner and Will Staehle on the book's illustrations, and more with cohost Chris Gillespie.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Chris Gillespie and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

Look What the Cat Dragged In by Jason Rekulak

Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

Smile by Raina Telgemeier

Baby-Sitters Club Graphix Series

The Adventures of Invisible Boy by Doogie Horner

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

Cujo by Stephen King

Dead Zone by Stephen King

Christine by Stephen King

Carrie by Stephen King

The Shining by Stephen King

The Green Mile by Stephen King

Jaws by Peter Benchley

Pet Semetary by Stephen King

Paperbacks from Hell by Grady Hendrix

Man in the Mirror by Anand Giridharadas is a meticulously reported, empathetic and urgent account of America at a crossroads, where mental health and systemic failure intersect. Anand joins us to talk about his reporting process, compassion, civic engagement, and the questions of democracy with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

Man in the Mirror by Anand Giridharadas

The Persuaders by Anand Giridharadas

Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas

Evicted by Matthew Desmond

There Is No Place for Us by Brian Goldstone

Rough Sleepers by Tracy Kidder

Invisible Child by Andrew Elliott

The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw is a scandalous, messy satire about a pageant for the wives of megachurch pastors, following Scharisse Freeman, a church "First Lady" who gets caught between childhood secrets and her public image. Deesha joined us live at B&N City Center in Philadelphia to talk about creating humor on the page, obedience, faith, and her skepticism of forgiveness with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Phillyaw

The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

The Prophets by Robert Jones

Pulitzer Prize winner Barbara Kingsolver returns with Partita, an unforgettable story of resilience, possibility and the transformative power of music. Barbara joins us to talk about her craft, her passion for classical music, and her Appalachian heritage with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. The episode features musical accompaniment from pianist and musicologist, César Reyes.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

Partita by Barbara Kingsolver

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver

Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver

The Death of the Hired Man by Robert Frost

Every Story is a Love Story by Imbolo Mbue is a smart and tender exploration of grief following a man who meets the person responsible for his wife's fatal car accident. Imbolo joins us to talk about faith, community, regret, and forgiveness with cohost Brenda Allison.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Brenda Allison and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

Every Story is a Love Story by Imbolo Mbue

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue

Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundathi Roy

Monkey Boy by Francisco Goldman

The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland

The Laughter by Sonora Jha

In Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hernan Diaz's Ply, centuries from now, society has adapted to a new way of life as humans mend their relationships to the world…and each other. Hernan joined us live in Philadelphia to talk about subjectivity, selfhood and identity; particle physics; and Charles Dickens with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

Ply by Hernan Diaz

Trust by Hernan Diaz

In the Distance by Hernan Diaz

The Bostonians by Henry James

Zone One by Colson Whitehead

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Moderation by Elaine Castillo

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

The acclaimed, bestselling author of Pachinko, Min Jin Lee returns with American Hagwon, a modern classic about ambition and love, family and finding home. Min Jin joined us live at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church to talk about education and ambition, the 19th century social novel, compressed modernity, and trying to be a good person in an anxious world with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Can You Forgive Her? By Anthony Trollope

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

The Risk of Compressed Modernity by Chang Kyung-Sup

Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu

In The French Illusion by John Grisham, a honeymoon unravels into terror as newlyweds Paul and Chelsea get snatched from the French countryside, prompting a puzzling investigation. John joins us to talk about his time in law school, his prolific writing career, and his advocacy for the wrongfully convicted with cohost Chris Gillespie.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Chris Gillespie and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

The French Illusion by John Grisham

The Law Student by John Grisham

Time to Kill by John Grisham

Pelican Brief by John Grisham

The Innocent Man by John Grisham

Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions by John Grisham & Jim McCloskey

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and author, Ayad Akhtar joins us to talk about craft, the campus novel, autofiction, and his latest book, The Radiance, with host Miwa Messer.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

The Radiance by Ayad Akhtar

Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar

Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar

American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar

Junk by Ayad Akhtar

McNeal by Ayad Akhtar

The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar

Poor Folk and Other Early Stories by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fifty-Two Stories by Anton Chekhov

The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy

Herzog by Saul Bellow

The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow

Seize the Day by Saul Bellow

Ravelstein by Saul Bellow

The Republic of Plato translated by Allan Bloom

The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom

Sexual Personae by Camille Paglia

Antiquities and Other Stories by Cynthia Ozick

Nature and Selected Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hawthorne's Short Stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser

The American Canon by Harold Bloom

The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Christian Nation by Harold Bloom

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

The Complete Odes and Epodes by Horace

Now out in paperback, The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon casts a needed spotlight on the other heroes of American greatness — ones you may not have heard of. Sharon joins us to talk about raising engaged citizens, local news, and communication as a leadership skill with cohost Chris Gillespie.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Chris Gillespie and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

The Small and the Mighty by Sharon McMahon

We are Mighty by Sharon McMahon

Beloved storyteller John Green returns with a tender love story set against the underbelly of the entertainment industry as two actors balance their rising fame with their complicated feelings in Hollywood, Ending. John joins us to talk about the social internet, the attention economy, Andy Warhol, having fun writing, and the world's largest ball of paint with cohost Brenda Allison.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Brenda Allison and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books:

Hollywood, Ending by John Green

Looking for Alaska by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Respect for Acting by Uta Hagen

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Canon by Paige Lewis

Some of Us May Never Die by Robin Wasserman (coming soon)

The visual artists mentioned are Joan Mitchell, Agnes Martin, Kerry James Marshall, and Andy Warhol.