Marth Barnette is the host of the public radio show and podcast, A Way with Words. Her latest book, Friends with Words, is a linguistic memoir. We learn about her lifelong passion for languages and her fascination with words.

Bridgett M. Davis shares a tribute to her sister, Rita. The memoir is a family history, social commentary, elegy, and celebration of life.

Fanny Howe passed away on July 9 at the age of 85. Yvette Benavides pays tribute to the author and shares Howe's poem, "Loneliness."

The Slip by Lucas Schaefer is an epic novel, but it tells a very intimate story about the basic human need to belong. Spanning over a dozen years and weaving the intersecting tales of a varied cast of characters, it's a story for right now—about all of us.

Yvette Benavides reflects on the power of short fiction to convey what we might not have the words for. "Birdsong from the Radio" is from the collection The Souvenir Museum by Elizabeth McCracken.

The Scrapbook is a novel that is a modern-day love story in the shadow of German history—a Germany of artists, philosophers, virtuosos—and World War II. Heather Clark is the guest on this episode of Book Public to discuss her novel, The Scrapbook.

Readers of Geoff Dyer’s books have come to expect his trademark humor and incisive cultural commentary. His new book, Homework, shows us that the more success he had in school, the further he diverged from his parents. But his telling of this story brings us up close to share in his profound appreciation of his past.

In the novel Endling, by Maria Reva, protagonist Yeva joins guided romance tours in Ukraine to help pay for her research as a snail conservationist. Somehow, she becomes part of a kidnapping caper. Then Russia invades Ukraine. And the book shifts to a work of nonfiction with the author herself telling her story. Fiction and reality collide—beautifully.

Richard Bausch discusses his latest story collection, The Fate of Others. This may be the author’s 24th book, but it is a fresh, powerful collection of stories for today’s world with all its resonances of loss and isolation—but also of hope.

The flaws and follies of Cupolo’s characters teach us something about what it means to be human when we make mistakes or when we allow each other mercy. Lisa Cupolo discusses her award-winning story collection.