Book Public

In "Someone's Listening" by Seraphina Nova Glass, protagonist Faith Finley seems to have everything going for her. She’s a psychologist with a thriving practice, a bestselling author, and the host of a popular radio program. Her handsome husband, Liam is a successful food critic.

In "Someone's Listening" by Seraphina Nova Glass, protagonist Faith Finley seems to have everything going for her. She’s a psychologist with a thriving practice, a bestselling author, and the host of a popular radio program. Her handsome husband, Liam is a successful food critic.

In Sameer Pandya’s Members Only, Raj Bhatt is an immigrant now well immersed in his life in California. He has a wonderful wife and children, a good job as a professor at a large university and membership at an exclusive tennis club. Raj appears to have it all, but we quickly learn that while he might outwardly seem to live a charmed life, he’s plagued by instances of racism and discrimination and comes face to face with cultural insensitivity on a regular basis. One day, Raj himself utters something offensive and we see the tenuous nature of all the good things he has worked so hard for and the ways his worst fears are about to consume his life.

In Sameer Pandya’s Members Only, Raj Bhatt is an immigrant now well immersed in his life in California. He has a wonderful wife and children, a good job as a professor at a large university and membership at an exclusive tennis club. Raj appears to have it all, but we quickly learn that while he might outwardly seem to live a charmed life, he’s plagued by instances of racism and discrimination and comes face to face with cultural insensitivity on a regular basis. One day, Raj himself utters something offensive and we see the tenuous nature of all the good things he has worked so hard for and the ways his worst fears are about to consume his life.

Deborah Paredez’s new poetry collection is a haunting collage of photographs and poems that carry us from 1970 to the present. This daughter of the Vietnam War focuses on the ways that women’s voices are at the center of the elegiac tradition, decrying violence and the trauma of oppressive systems.

Deborah Paredez’s new poetry collection is a haunting collage of photographs and poems that carry us from 1970 to the present. This daughter of the Vietnam War focuses on the ways that women’s voices are at the center of the elegiac tradition, decrying violence and the trauma of oppressive systems.

Jacob Soboroff was working as a correspondent for NBC and MSNBC at the end of 2015, covering immigration on the US-Mexico border. On the occasion of a press tour inside a detention facility in Brownsville where 1500 young boys were being held and where reporters were not allowed to bring in recording equipment, Jacob Soboroff put pen to paper, writing notes and filling the pages of a small notebook. Those notes became the seedbed of Separated: Inside an American Tragedy, an expansive, complex, and multi-layered story about the immigration crisis and the policy that separates families seeking asylum in the United States.

Jacob Soboroff was working as a correspondent for NBC and MSNBC at the end of 2015, covering immigration on the US-Mexico border. On the occasion of a press tour inside a detention facility in Brownsville where 1500 young boys were being held and where reporters were not allowed to bring in recording equipment, Jacob Soboroff put pen to paper, writing notes and filling the pages of a small notebook. Those notes became the seedbed of Separated: Inside an American Tragedy, an expansive, complex, and multi-layered story about the immigration crisis and the policy that separates families seeking asylum in the United States.

Jivan is a young Muslim woman who posts a message on Facebook that criticizes the Indian government. She shares the post, seeking affirmation from her online friends, but things snowball and Jivan is thrown in jail. On this week’s episode of Book Public, we’ll talk to novelist Megha Majumdar about her debut novel, A Burning. Heralded by major media outlets as the book of the summer, the book illustrates the ways we can hold dreams close even when institutions and systems conspire to defeat us.

Jivan is a young Muslim woman who posts a message on Facebook that criticizes the Indian government. She shares the post, seeking affirmation from her online friends, but things snowball and Jivan is thrown in jail. On this week’s episode of Book Public, we’ll talk to novelist Megha Majumdar about her debut novel, A Burning. Heralded by major media outlets as the book of the summer, the book illustrates the ways we can hold dreams close even when institutions and systems conspire to defeat us.