Gays Reading

Host Jason Blitman talks to prolific author Yann Martel (Life of Pi) about his latest novel, Son of Nobody. They talk about religion versus art, dreams versus reality, Greek gods like Hades, and Martel’s enthusiasm for CrossFit burpees.

Yann Martel is the author of Life of Pi, the international bestseller that won the 2002 Booker Prize and was adapted to the screen in the Oscar–winning film by Ang Lee. He lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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On this episode of What Are You Reading?, host Jason Blitman sits down with actor, writer, and all-around fandom icon Felicia Day to talk favorite books, current reads, and her brand-new graphic novel, The Last Daughter of Sparta.

Felicia Day has appeared as an actress in numerous television shows and films, including Supernatural, The Magicians, and Mystery Science Theater 3000. However, Felicia is best known for her work in the web video world, behind and in front of the camera. She costarred in Joss Whedon’s award-winning internet musical Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and created and starred in the seminal web series The Guild. She is the New York Times bestselling author of three books, including her debut graphic novel The Last Daughter of Sparta. Find out more at Felicia.Day and follow her on X and Instagram @FeliciaDay.

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Host Jason Blitman talks to Lauren Groff about her new story collection, Brawler. This conversation was recorded live at Warwick's in San Diego.

Conversation highlights include:

📓 A therapy session about story collections

💡 How Lauren knows an idea is a story and not a novel

🇫🇷 Expectations of Paris

Lauren Groff is a three-time National Book Award finalist and the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Monsters of Templeton, Arcadia, Fates and Furies, Matrix, and The Vaster Wilds, and the celebrated short story collections Delicate Edible Birds and Florida. She has won the Story Prize and the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2024 she was named one of the “TIME 100 most influential people.” Groff ’s work regularly appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. Her work has been translated into thirty-six languages. She lives in Gainesville, Florida, where she and her husband run an independent bookstore, The Lynx.

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Jason Blitman talks with novelist Saleem Haddad about what he's been reading, his new novel Floodlines, and the story behind its stunning cover.

Saleem Haddad was born in Kuwait City to a Palestinian-Lebanese father and an Iraqi-German mother, and educated in Jordan, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He has worked as an aid worker with Doctors Without Borders in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq, and has advised on humanitarian and peacebuilding issues throughout West Asia and North Africa. He is the author of the acclaimed debut Guapa, a 2017 Stonewall Honor Book and the winner of the 2017 Polari Prize. His 2019 directorial debut, Marco, was nominated for the 2019 Iris Prize for “Best British Short Film” and is available to watch on YouTube. He is currently based in Lisbon. 

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Announcing the April Gays Reading Book Club pick with Allstora 

ALMOST LIFE by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Two young women meet in Paris one sultry summer in a decades-spanning tour de force about the enduring power of young love and the poignant heartbreak of missed chances—perfect for fans of One Day and Normal People.

New to the club? Get your first book for just $1!

When you join the Gays Reading Book Club with Allstora, here’s what you get:

• A SIGNED copy of the book!
• 30% off everything on Allstora’s website
• Access to our Book Club chat
• Every subscription donates a children’s book to an LGBTQIA+ youth
• A book club that exclusively supports LGBTQIA+ authors
• And more along the way

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Host Jason Blitman is joined by debut novelist Tara Menon to talk about her new book, Under Water. 

Conversation highlights include:

🍦 The food textures that Tara hates

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Chosen family

🐦‍⬛ Venery nouns

Tara Menon was born in India, grew up in Singapore, spent a decade in New York, and now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she is an assistant professor of English at Harvard University. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, the Nation and the Paris Review.

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Host Jason Blitman is joined by Kate Schatz who lives out her Reading Rainbow fantasy by sharing some of her favorite books. Kate then shares the personal story behind writing her debut novel, Where the Girls Were.

Kate Schatz is a feminist author from California. She’s the New York Times bestselling author of Do the Work: An Anti-Racist Activity Book, with W. Kamau Bell, and the “Rad Women” book series (including Rad American Women A-Z, Rad Women Worldwide, and Rad American History A-Z). Her book of fiction, Rid of Me: A Story, was published as part of the cult-favorite 33 1/3 series.

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Host Jason Blitman is joined by T Kira Madden, author of the acclaimed memoir Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, to discuss her debut novel, Whidbey.

Conversation highlights include:

⛴️ T Kira's trip to Whidbey Island

☀️ The trauma of growing up in Florida

📺 Favorite reality TV

T Kira Māhealani Madden is a diasporic Kanaka 'Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) writer and author of the acclaimed memoir Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, which was named a New York Times Editors' Choice, as well as a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, and the Lambda Literary Award. She is the Founding Editor of No Tokens, a magazine of literature and art, and has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Hedgebrook, Tin House, MacDowell, and Yaddo. Winner of the 2021 Judith A. Markowitz Award, she is an assistant professor at Hamilton College in Creative Writing and Indigenous studies and served as the Distinguished Writer in Residence at University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.

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Jason Blitman talks with singer-songwriter and queer icon Ani DiFranco about her reading life and the story behind her new book, The Spirit of Ani.

ANI DiFRANCO is a Grammy Award–winning singer-songwriter and musician who has released twenty-three albums, traversing genres and addressing a range of autobiographical, political, and social issues. She is widely considered a feminist icon, and created her own record label, Righteous Babe Records, in 1990. She regularly releases new music, and continues her decades-long career as a major touring artist. DiFranco released a collection of poems and paintings titled Verses in 2007. Her memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream, was a New York Times bestseller, and she is the author of two children’s books, The Knowing and Show Up and Vote. In 2024, she completed a five-month run on Broadway in the role of Persephone in Hadestown.

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Host Jason Blitman sits down with author Amy Jo Burns — who returns to Gays Reading after co-interviewing Abraham Verghese with Jason in summer 2024 — to discuss her latest novel, Wait for Me, the March pick for Read with Jenna's book club.

Conversation highlights include: 

🎶 Amy Jo's relationship to (and the power of) music

🫂 Embracing your authentic self

🖼️ Commercialization of art

Amy Jo Burns is the author of the memoir Cinderland and the novel Shiner, which was a Barnes & Noble Discover pick and an NPR Best Book of the Year. Her novel Mercury was a Barnes & Noble Book Club pick, a Book of the Month selection, a People Magazine Book of the Week, and an Editor's Choice at The New York Times. A western Pennsylvania native, she lives in New Jersey with her family.

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