Poets & Writers Theater

In this episode of NPR’s Wild Card podcast hosted by Rachel Martin, author Zadie Smith reflects on the twenty-fifth anniversary of her debut novel, White Teeth (Random House, 2000), and talks about her forthcoming book of essays and her generation’s struggle with the notion of time. “I’ve always felt there wasn’t enough time. I would like to accept time and also love it,” she says.

In this Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast episode hosted by Miwa Messer, author Laila Lalami talks about the quickly evolving nature of surveillance technology and how a conversation with her husband about data privacy led her to write her novel The Dream Hotel (Pantheon, 2025).

In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast hosted by Miwa Messer, author Eric Puchner talks about the yearslong process of writing his second novel, Dream State (Doubleday, 2025), and how he felt urged to write about the lives and landscapes of Montana and climate change.
 

In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast hosted by Miwa Messer, book critic and editor Sarah Chihaya talks about her debut memoir, Bibliophobia (Random House, 2025), and the concept of “life ruiner” books that “not only make you want to keep reading, but make you read the world around you differently.”

“Some things, then, cannot be repaired and must go on, into a kind of dusk that seems somehow endless,” reads Matthew Nienow from his poem “Dusk Loop,” which appears in his second poetry collection, If Nothing (Alice James Books, 2025), in this reading and conversation for the Table For Deuce podcast hosted by poets Kate Hanson Foster and Michael Schmeltzer. Nienow’s collection is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast hosted by Miwa Messer, author Abraham Chang talks about writing his debut novel, 888 Love and the Divine Burden of Numbers (Flatiron Books, 2024), after working for years in the publishing industry, as well as how Eastern traditions, pop culture, and growing up in the borough of Queens in New York influenced his book.

In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast with guest host Chris Gillespie, award-winning author Richard Powers discusses how the issues of environmental exploitation and artificial intelligence inspired his new novel, Playground (Norton, 2024), which is set on the island of Makatea in French Polynesia.

In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast hosted by Miwa Messer, author Juliet Grames speaks about her new novel, The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia (Knopf, 2024), which is set in an isolated Italian village in the 1960s.

“I was building up a writing life alongside working on this project, and for many of those years, I didn’t even know that it would look like this.” In this interview for the Otherppl With Brad Listi podcast, Nina Sharma talks about her writing practices while working on her debut essay collection, The Way You Make Me Feel: Love in Black and Brown (Penguin Press, 2024).

In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast hosted by Miwa Messer, Dinaw Mengestu discusses the complex characters with sometimes uncertain motivations in his latest novel, Someone Like Us (Knopf, 2024), the nature of diasporic communities in American cities, and the mainstream expectations placed upon immigrant stories.

In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast hosted by Miwa Messer, author Julia Phillips talks about the ferocity of sister relationships, themes of isolation and survival, and her second novel, Bear (Hogarth, 2024). A profile of Phillips by Renée H. Shea appears in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast hosted by Miwa Messer, author KB Brookins speaks about gender identity, resiliency and joy in the face of adversity, nonlinear storytelling, and their debut memoir, Pretty (Knopf, 2024).

“What is it about a woman being ambitious that feels so wayward, that feels so dangerous?” In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast, R. O. Kwon talks about the themes of ambition and desire in her second novel, Exhibit (Riverhead Books, 2024), and what women of color face in the world of art with guest host Jenna Seery. A profile of Kwon by Brian Gresko appears in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this episode of Tightwires with host Hiba Tahir, poet Saba Keramati talks about the submission process and publication of her debut collection, Self-Mythology (University of Arkansas Press, 2024), and offers advice on giving and receiving feedback, and a writing prompt. Keramati is featured in Literary MagNet in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast hosted by Miwa Messer, author Rachel Heng discusses her latest novel, The Great Reclamation (Riverhead Books, 2023), and talks about writing fiction that is both historical and speculative, and how she uses notecards to organize writing her gargantuan novels.

“It was a curiosity, it was a fear that led me to write the book.” In this interview for the Otherppl With Brad Listi podcast, Athena Dixon speaks about living and dying alone, and the origins of her new essay collection, The Loneliness Files (Tin House, 2023), which is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“The greenery of Los Angeles for this wild animal isn’t natural. I certainly felt that all the time.” For this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast produced and hosted by Miwa Messer, Henry Hoke talks about feeling overwhelmed while living in Los Angeles and how the experience inspired the queer mountain lion narrator of his novel Open Throat (MCD, 2023) in a conversation with editor Jackson Howard. Open Throat is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“My whole task in writing a book is to get closer; to hear what I’m hearing more clearly and to see what I’m seeing more clearly.” In this conversation for the Reading the Room podcast, Amina Cain speaks about her book A Horse at Night: On Writing (Dorothy, a Publishing Project, 2022) and her creative process with host Jaylen Lopez. 

Poet and producer of The Slowdown podcast Myka Kielbon introduces a special episode featuring a conversation with host Major Jackson and poet Aria Aber, author of the Whiting Award–winning collection, Hard Damage (University of Nebraska Press, 2019). Jackson answers questions about The Slowdown in a Q&A by Julia Mallory in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“It would be a beautiful world if young people were encouraged to chart their histories in really deep and meaningful ways.” Prince Shakur talks about his debut memoir, When They Tell You to Be Good (Tin House, 2022), and the significance of writing in this genre for the Black Writer’s Studio podcast with host Khadijah Ali-Coleman, executive director of the Hurston/Wright Foundation. Shakur is featured in “The New Nonfiction 2022” in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.