Podcast
New Books in Literature
Hosted by Marshall Poe · EN
This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field.
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65episodes
Episodes
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Paige Lewis, "Canon" (Viking, 2026)
Yesterday00:03:45Tap to summarizeIn Canon (Viking, 2026), two unlikely heroes embark on quests to win God’s favor in this outrageously entertaining, profoundly heartfelt novel that announces an ingenious new voice in the tradition of Chain-Gang All-Stars, No One Is Talking About This, and Martyr!Yara can’t comprehend why God has chosen them to slay Dominic, the ruthless leader of the army of Bad Guys. Cast out by their family and reeling from a destructive relationship, Yara has never felt weaker—but with nothing left to lose, they strike a deal. Abandoning their solitary days of embroidery and obsessive cleaning, Yara reluctantly embarks on a perilous odyssey designed to prepare them for the daunting mission ahead.Meanwhile, Adrena, a disillusioned prophet with a terrifying secret power, is determined to become the hero of this story. Desperately seeking the glory of God’s approval and the promise of heaven, where she hopes to reunite with her beloved mother, Adrena must first persuade Harpo, the leader of the Good Guys, that her plan is God’s will.As their journeys unfold in a series of unforgettable adventures, Yara and Adrena are propelled toward each other and transformative revelations about life, death, and destiny in this intensely captivating, irreverent epic from a singularly brilliant new voice in fiction. Paige Lewis is the author of the poetry collection Space Struck (Sarabande Books, 2019) and the novel Canon (Viking Press, 2026). They co-edited Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction and Deliverance (Sarabande Books, 2023) with Kaveh Akbar. Paige teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa.Recommended Books: Tom Lin, Babylon, South Dakota Layli Long Soldier, We Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro Against World Literature, is published with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
Transcribe →Mike Papantonio, "A Death in Arcadia" (Arcade Publishing, 2026)
2d ago00:37:58Tap to summarizeIn Mike Papantonio's A Death in Arcadia (Arcade Publishing, 2026) Nicholas “Deke”Deketomis Returns to Face His Darkest Case Yet—And His Own Haunted Past When fifteen-year-old Trayvon Clapper is murdered by a guard at Camp B in Florida, his fringe-living mother and boyfriend come to Bergman-Deketomis to file a lawsuit against the facility. Details of the case trigger in Deke memories of his own troubled childhood. As a boy, Deke had no stable parents around him, so he lived with several different families over the years as he grew up, avoiding the foster care system. However, his best friend, Bucky, was not so fortunate. He, too, was killed in a similar facility… and Deke has carried within him a powerful guilt that he has never talked about to anyone, including his wife and children. Cara Deketomis, Deke’s daughter, is a young lawyer at the firm also working on the case. She comes to recognize the pain her father is feeling but she does not have the ability to break through to the truth. An opportunity in Cara’s personal life also hammers a wedge between father and daughter, adding more stress to the situation. Meanwhile, investigation into the case uncovers a hidden threat that could endanger everyone at the law firm. A corrupt Congressman, Bob Minds, and his shady colleague, Skyler Bannock, are “fixers” for Phoenix Industries, the parent company of Camp B and other child “protective” services facilities that do anything but that. Minds and Bannock resort to nefarious crimes to make Phoenix’s problems go away,i ncluding bribery, intimidation, and even murder. And then there’s Skyler’s brother, Midas, a killer straight out of a nightmare, who does the team’s dirtiest work. Will the ugly forces behind the scenes wreak lethal havoc on Deke and his team? Will the echo of Deke’s guilt get in the way of a successful legal action against Phoenix? In the tradition of The Middleman, Suspicious Activity, and Inhuman Trafficking, Papantonio takes Deke and his cohorts on a new and different kind of legal gamble, but full of the action and thrills for which he is known. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
Transcribe →Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, "A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams" (William Morrow, 2026)
5d ago00:40:12Tap to summarizeSo close to the semiquincentennial, it’s great to see a novel focused on the life of Abigail Adams, a woman appreciated even in her own time—especially by her husband of more than half a century, John Adams, the second president of the United States—but not, at the time, for her determination that her new country should also extend liberty to its female citizens. Of course, Abigail Adams has received considerable attention since for her views on the need for adult women to control their own futures, but in the process much of the complexity of her life, her character, her surroundings, and her family has dropped out of the discussion. In A Founding Mother: A Novel of Abigail Adams (William Morrow, 2026), Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie dive into the story of Abigail’s and John’s long and loving marriage, their political service and economic problems, their time at home and abroad, and their six children—four of whom survived to adulthood but not all of whom thrived once they got there. It’s all wonderfully rich and complex, both emotionally and in terms of the history revealed here—enhanced by the feminine perspective. The American Revolution as it happened was not the neat story told in school but messy, sprawling, contentious, risky, and eventful, and the formation of the resulting republic reflected all those competing trends. Unless you’re a historian specializing in this place and time, I can guarantee you will find out things you never knew, and in entertaining ways. Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie have published numerous novels, together and separately. Find out more about their joint projects here. C. P. Lesley is the author of two historical fiction series set during the childhood of Ivan the Terrible and four other novels. Her next book, Song of the Silk Weaver, will appear later in 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
Transcribe →K'wan, "House of the Rising Sun" (Akashic Books, 2026)
5d ago00:27:42Tap to summarizeWhen Artie Howell moves with his wife back to her sleepy hometown, he must protect their son Nicky from the skeletons coming out of the closets from both of their pasts in House of the Rising Sun (Akashic Books, 2026) When the Howell family moves into a house on Heckler Lane, it causes quite a stir around the small town of Sunny Cove, Pennsylvania. Elise Howell, a well-known cardio surgeon, has returned home after fifteen years to fill her recently deceased mother’s position at Sunny Cove General Hospital. In a town this size, it’s big news. But it’s Elise’s new husband, Artie, who has the whole town talking. Artie Howell is a man who always seems to be wearing a smile. He’s an accomplished crime fiction writer, a soccer dad to their young son Nicky, and he volunteers his weekends teaching creative writing to youths in the local detention center. When they first arrived at Heckler Lane, the Howells had seemed like a wholesome American family. Then came the murders. A nun turning up missing from the Convent of St. Mary becomes the first in a string of unexplained tragedies that have befallen the town. Tragedies that all seem to be tied to scenes from Artie’s novels. The writer now finds himself as the prime suspect in an investigation that threatens to not only tear apart his family, but the entire town of Sunny Cove. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
Transcribe →Caroline Bicks, "Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King" (Hogarth, 2026)
6d ago00:53:29Tap to summarizeMy guest is Caroline Bicks, whose new book Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King (Hogarth, 2026) became a bestseller shortly after release. After she was named the University of Maine's inaugural Stephen E. King Chair in Literature, Caroline Bicks became the first scholar to be granted extended access by King to his private archives, a treasure trove of manuscripts that document the legendary writer's creative process—most of them never before studied or published. The year she spent exploring King’s early drafts and hand-written revisions was guided by one question: What makes Stephen King’s writing stick in our heads and haunt us long after we’ve closed the book?Bicks focuses on five early works—The Shining, Carrie, Pet Sematary, 'Salem's Lot, and Night Shift—to reveal how he crafted his language, storylines, and characters. While tracking King’s margin notes and editorial changes, she discovered scenes and alternative endings that never made it to print, but that King is allowing her to publish now. The book also includes interviews Bicks had with King along the way that reveal new insights into his writing process and personal history.Monsters in the Archives—authorized by Stephen King himself—is unlike anything ever published about the master of horror. It chronicles what Bicks found when she set out to unearth how King crafted some of his scariest, most iconic moments. But it’s also a story about a grown-up English professor facing her childhood fears and getting to know the man whose monsters helped unleash them. --------- Caroline Bicks is the Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at the University of Maine, where she teaches courses in Shakespeare, early modern culture, and horror fiction. She is the author of Cognition and Girlhood in Shakespeare’s World and Midwiving Subjects in Shakespeare’s England; co- author of Shakespeare, Not Stirred: Cocktails for Your Everyday Dramas; and co- host of the Everyday Shakespeare podcast. Her essays and humor pieces have appeared in the Modern Love column of the New York Times, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and the show Afterbirth. She lives in Blue Hill, Maine, with her family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
Transcribe →J.J. Dupuis, "Roanoke Ridge: A Creature X Mystery" (Dundurn Press, 2020)
1w ago00:39:38Tap to summarizeIn this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with J.J. Dupuis about Roanoke Ridge—the first book in his Creature X series published with Dundurn Press, 2020. There’s been a string of Bigfoot sightings in Roanoke Ridge. Do they have something to do with the body in the woods?When Bigfoot researcher Professor Berton Sorel goes missing in the temperate rainforest of Roanoke Ridge, Oregon, help is summoned in the form of his former star pupil, Laura Reagan, online science populist and avowed skeptic. But what begins as a simple search and rescue operation takes a drastic turn when a body is discovered — and it isn’t the professor’s.Caught in the fallout of the suspicious death, perplexed by a sudden wave of Bigfoot sightings, and still desperately searching for Professor Sorel, Reagan reluctantly admits two things: her old mentor was right about there being secrets hidden in Roanoke Ridge, and it’s up to her to uncover them. J.J. Dupuis is the author of the Creature X Mystery series. When not in front of a computer, he can be found haunting the river valleys of Toronto, where he lives and works. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
Transcribe →Maria Ingrande Mora, "A Wild Radiance" (Peachtree Teen, 2026)
1w ago00:54:05Tap to summarizeMaria Ingrande Mora's latest fantasy romance A Wild Radiance (Peachtree Teen, 2026) brings readers to the magical industrial revolution. Josephine Haven is about to find out exactly where she fits into the march of Progress. Her outbursts are infamous at the House of Industry, the school for children who can wield radiance, an electricity-like magic. She's tried to follow the rules, but her fiery nature is at odds with the core tenet of the House: Never form attachments. If she is meant to feel nothing, why are her emotions so volatile? No one is surprised when, upon graduation, Josephine is banished from the city to a remote Mission. In Frostbrook, she must work under standoffish Julian, the former golden boy of the House of Industry who seems determined to watch her fail. And then there's Ezra, the flirtatious stranger who's a little too curious about how the Mission operates. But there are bigger problems than Julian and Ezra's secrets. A deadly disease is spreading across the countryside, and in Frostbrook, not everyone is eager to embrace Progress. As Josephine questions the system that raised her--and gives in to desire she's been taught to suppress--she must decide what she's willing to sacrifice to expose not just corruption within the House but the devastating truth about the radiance in her core. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
Transcribe →Shannon Chakraborty, "The Tapestry of Fate" (Harper Voyager, 2026)
1w ago00:46:56Tap to summarizeShannon Chakraborty’s novel The Tapestry of Fate, the second installment in the The Adventures of Amina-al Sarafi, encounters the titular Amina at a time of transition. trying to balance her work on her ship chasing arcane artifacts and time on land spent raising her daughter Marjana. After interference from her estranged husband, Amina finds herself and her crew on a possibly futile quest to steal a spindle from a mysterious sorceress on an island that no one can escape. Despite the presence of magic that complicates the perception of reality itself, Amina remains determined to find a way home for herself and her crew. In this interview, Chakraborty describes her longstanding affection for the history of the Indian Ocean in the 12th century, the wealth of primary sources we have from that time period, and the process of sharing her love of history with readers. She discusses the role of magic and gender in the medieval Islamicate world, research rabbit holes, and the importance of middle aged protagonists in fantasy. We also chat about crafting a fun adventure story and the role of textiles and religion across time. The Tapestry of Fate is a joyful and empathetic novel full of adventure and a deep appreciation for the past. It was an absolute joy discussing it with the author. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
Transcribe →Sarah Stone, "Marriage to the Sea: Linked Novellas" (Four Way Books, 2026)
1w ago00:22:14Tap to summarizeSix years ago, Katya Zamarin’s mother was murdered by a stranger who also maimed her Aunt Julia. More recently, her father died of a heart attack. He visits Katya in a dream, and she believes he wants her to head to Paris for a conference organized by his environmentalist hero. Katya’s youngest sister, Arielle, a recovering addict and aspiring actress, tags along. And Aunt Julia, once an infamous soap opera star, flies to Paris when Arielle suffers an unexplained sleeping sickness. Everyone is grappling with survival, grief, and worry about the climate in these two entwined novellas about sisters, family, identity, and finding one’s purpose. Listen to this interview about Marriage to the Sea: Linked Novellas (Four Way Books, 2026) Sarah Stone was born in San Francisco; her father was a professor of psychology and an environmental activist and her mother a collagist, assemblagist, and ceramic sculptor. Sarah studied art and creative writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and later got her MFA in Fiction from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She has taught ESL in Bujumbura, Burundi, and in person and on TV in Seoul, South Korea. She was a volunteer at the Jane Goodall chimpanzee orphanage in Bujumbura, a psychiatric aide in a locked facility by the Pacific Ocean, and office help at an apparently haunted massage school and retreat center in the Santa Cruz mountains. She has taught at UC Berkeley and the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers, among other places. She now lives in the SF East Bay and teaches creative writing online through Stanford Continuing Studies. She’s also a facilitator of the Jewish Studio Process. Her books include Hungry Ghost Theater, a finalist for the 38th annual Northern California Book Awards; The True Sources of the Nile; and now Marriage to the Sea. She is also the co-author, with her spouse, Ron Nyren, of Deepening Fiction: A Practical Guide for Intermediate and Advanced Writers. When she’s not writing or reading (though mostly she is writing or reading), she loves drawing, inventing recipes, exploring art museums, or picnicking on the beach with her extended family (bundled up, winter or summer, because the Northern California beaches tend to be bracing). You can find Sarah online at here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
Transcribe →Wesley Brown, "Looking for Frank Wills" (McSweenys, 2026)
1w ago00:37:38Tap to summarizeIn this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Wesley Brown about how novella, Looking for Frank Wills (McSweenys, 2026). It's 1972. Tricky Dick is in office, James Brown is on the radio, and Wayne Beasley reluctantly presides over the comings and goings of his barbers and patrons at Wayne's Clip and Trim in Augusta, South Carolina. When one of Wayne's former customers, an unassuming small-town son, is designated 4-F, unfit to serve in Vietnam, he seeks refuge in becoming the next best thing—a security guard for a downtown DC hotel. It is there on a hot summer's night, that Wayne's wayward patron interrupts a break-in that will disrupt the course of a nation's history and his own. Wesley Brown, author of Tragic Magic, Darktown Strutters, and Blue in Green: A Novella, once again remaps the tributaries that run into the stream of our American subconscious, by dipping into the headwaters of pivotal memories and histories to tell the tale from the perspective of the real folks whose stories were too long submerged. Without Frank Wills there is no Watergate. And without Watergate the veil of secrecy and corruption that came to define the Nixon years, warping the very fabric of political discourse from that moment on, would have remained firmly in place. Wesley Brown's re-imagining of the life of Frank Wills reconciles the greatest heist of all—our place in the American story. What was stolen from Wills as he was briefly thrust into the spotlight, while excluded from the annals of history, is reclaimed, as Brown gives voice and breath to the people who loved him and the barber who did his best to guide him. Wesley Brown is an acclaimed novelist, playwright, and teacher. He worked with the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1965 and became a member of the Black Panther Party in 1968. In 1972, he was sentenced to three years in prison for refusing induction into the armed services and spent eighteen months in Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. For twenty-six years, Brown was a much-revered professor at Rutgers University, where he inspired hundreds of students. He currently teaches literature at Bard College at Simon's Rock and lives in Chatham, New York. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
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