Bookable

The United States is experiencing a time of reckoning, but too often it seems like we’re all talking past each another other rather than attempting meaningful dialogue. In Just Us, Claudia Rankine provides a blueprint for how we talk about and experience race in America. Listen as she and Amanda examine the emotions underpinning white privilege, shine a light on racial inequality in its less obvious forms, and explain what it actually means when a white person, "doesn't see color."

About the Author:

Claudia Rankine is the author of Citizen: An American Lyric and four previous books, including Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric. Her work has appeared recently in the Guardian, the New York Times Book Review, the New York Times Magazine, and the Washington Post. She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, the winner of the 2014 Jackson Poetry Prize, and a contributing editor of Poets & Writers. She received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2016. Rankine is the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry at Yale University.

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media. 

Music:

"Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "Warmer Up Here" by The Upstroke, "This Summer" by Easy McCoy, "Eugene" by Calvin Valentine, "Tidewater" by Grant Harold, "Rebuilding" by 1,2,3.

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Sometimes we hold a secret inside that feels so big and so overwhelming that it distorts the way we see and move through the world. In the memoir Empty, Susan Burton explores an eating disorder she had kept hidden from everyone in her life for nearly thirty years, and how that process of exposure and exploration helped her move through the shame--revealing her biggest secret to family and other loved ones--and how that opened up whole new worlds to her.

About the Author:

Susan Burton’s writing has appeared in Slate, Mother Jones, New York, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine. She is a former editor of Harper’s and a producer of This American Life. Her radio documentaries have won numerous awards. The film Unaccompanied Minors is based on one of her radio essays. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two sons.

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn, Beau Friedlander and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media. 

Music:

"Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "One Minute" by Complicated Congas, "Great Egg Harbor" by Memory Palace, "Decoded" by WayFare, "Moving On" by Sarah Clarke and The Vintage Twin, "I Always Loved You" by Joonie.

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All summer we’ve been inviting previous Bookable guests back to the show to talk to other authors they admire. Well today we’re breaking the mold because there are just too many authors we haven’t been able to get on the show--yet. In our latest installment: Gary Shteyngart and Paul LaFarge. Paul and Gary live in upstate New York in neighboring towns. They talk about writing and craft and living through this present moment--all while a tornado heads directly for them.

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Amanda Stern, Beau Friedlander and Andrew Dunn, who also mixed the episode and created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media. 

Music:

"Books that Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Different Strokes" by Jupyter, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis.

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What do you want to do with your life and how much are you willing to struggle for it? Bestselling debut novelist Raven Leilani has written a luminous book that explores this question. Luster is a fearless, and sometimes funny, story about a complicated, maybe even a bit perverse, black millennial, who finds some of what she thinks she wants out of life with a digital archivist named Eric, a white man twice her age in an open marriage. And then from his wife. And then from their daughter.

About the Author:

Raven Leilani's work has been published in Granta, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Narrative, Yale Review, Conjunctions, The Cut and New England Review, among other publications. She won Narrative's Ninth Annual Poetry Contest and the Matt Clark Editor's Choice Prize, as well as short fiction prizes from Bat City Review and Blue Earth Review. Luster is her first novel.

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn, Beau Friedlander and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media. 

Music:

"When I See You" by Amir Oosman, "Last of Your Love" by Amir Oosman, "Sitcom" by Martian Subculture, "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "Float" by Soul City.

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We are all products of our environment. Who we are, and who we become in the world, is shaped by the places we were raised. In Shawn Stewart Ruff's debut novel Finlater, a Cincinatti housing project takes center stage, acting as a springboard for every aspect of protagonist Cliffy Douglass's young life. The book is fiction but draws closely from Ruff’s own childhood growing up black in the 1970s. Moving and memorable, Finlater explores the overt racism that still plagues America. With a probing eye and tender touch Amanda explores Ruff's world in this secret coming-of-age classic about changing demographics, interracial friendship, sexual orientation, and first love. 

About the Author:

Shawn Stewart Ruff is author of the novels GJS II (2016), Toss and Whirl and Pass (2010), Finlater (2008), winner of a Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction; and the novella One/10th (2013), the first of ten small entwined works inspired by W. E. B. DuBois' The Talented Tenth. He is also the editor of the landmark anthology Go the Way Your Blood Beats (1996).

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn, Beau Friedlander and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media. 

Music:

"No Better Time" by Sarah Clarke and The Vintage Twin, "Dissolve" by Hotel Pools, "Tangerine" by Oatmello, "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "The Comeback" by Moss Electric, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "Lightning Rod" by Cold Storage Percussion Unit.

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On this special 'Summer Reads' episode Amanda calls up authors Ottessa Moshfegh and Nathan Englander to find out what they're reading. Then the rest of Team Bookable gives Amanda their picks, complete with a special appearance from Darth Vader!

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn, Beau Friedlander and Amanda Stern. It was mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media. 

Music:

"Books that Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Different Strokes" by Jupyter, "Timeless Love" by Joonie, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis.

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You may remember Nell Freudenberger from Episode 7 of Bookable when she talked to Amanda about the metaphase typewriter (used to communicate with the dead) and her New York Times bestselling novel Lost and Wanted. Nell returns with Black is the Body author Emily Bernard. Emily and Nell cover a lot of ground, including the role race plays in their interracial friendship. From rituals around writing to how silence doesn’t save you, this conversation exceeded all of our expectations.

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Amanda Stern, Beau Friedlander and Andrew Dunn, who also mixed the episode and created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media. 

Music:

"Books that Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Different Strokes" by Jupyter, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis.

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Meet Storybound, a weekly podcast that features acclaimed authors reading excerpts from their work--sometimes with help from actors--always set to fantastic original score and an immersive sound design.  Today we share one of Amanda's favorite episodes from Season One: Author Mitchell S. Jackson reading from his memoir Survival Math.

About Storybound:

Storybound is a radio theater program designed for the podcast age. In each episode, listeners will be treated to their favorite authors and writers reading some of their most impactful stories, designed with powerful and immersive sound environments. Brought to you by The Podglomerate and Lit Hub Radio, which also features Bookable.   

https://thepodglomerate.com/shows/storybound/

Music:

"Different Strokes" by Jupyter

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Writers can sometimes overlook the richness of their less central characters. Ursula Hegi isn't one of those writers. In The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls, she sets in motion characters that fans of Hegi will remember well to tell an entirely new story. In this eagerly awaited new work, Hegi revisits a story told to great acclaim--this time from a new perspective with an even deeper sense of heartache, compassion, and understanding. 

About the Author:

Ursula Hegi is the author of over a dozen books, including Stones from the River, Children and Fire, Floating in My Mother’s Palm, and Tearing the Silence, and has received more than thirty grants and awards. She teaches in the Stony Brook MFA program and lives with her family on Long Island.

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn, Beau Friedlander and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media. 

Music:

"Gatekeeper" by Sun Shapes, "Lights Out" by The Tree Ring, "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Attempt to be Poetic'" by Keen Collective, "Ferris Wheels" by Paper Rabbit, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "The Silence is Here to Save You" by Greater Alexander.

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You may remember Julie Orringer from Episode 4 of Bookable when she talked to Amanda about her novel The Flight Portfolio and the amazing Varian Fry who saved thousands of cultural creatives during World War II. In this engaging bonus episode, Julie returns with her upstairs neighbor--the one and only New York Times bestselling cartoonist Adrian Tomine. There's no time like the present for this wide-ranging conversation about working from home, parenting (while trying to make a living as a creative) and Tomine's new memoir The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist.

Episode Credits:

This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn, Beau Friedlander and Amanda Stern. It was mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media. 

Music:

"Books that Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Different Strokes" by Jupyter, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis.

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