LARB Radio Hour

By Los Angeles Review of Books

What's LARB Radio Hour about?

The Los Angeles Review of Books Radio Hour is a weekly show featuring interviews, readings and discussions about all things literary. Hosted by LARB Editors-at-Large Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman.

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LARB Radio Hour episodes:

04.19.2024
Mother Tongues and Mother Dolls
A double-header episode about two new novels that each feature high stakes feats of translation. First, the translator and writer Jenny Croft speaks with Medaya Ocher about her debut novel, The Extinction of Irena Rey. It follows eight translators who have just arrived...
04.12.2024
Victoria Chang on Finding Agnes Martin During Crisis
Kate Wolf speaks with the poet Victoria Chang about her latest collection of poems, With My Back to the World. The book is in deep conversation with the work of the painter Agnes Martin: each poem takes the title of...
04.05.2024
Morgan Neville's "STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces"
Eric Newman speaks with director Morgan Neville about his new film "STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces," which explores the legendary comedian's meteoric rise to standup stardom, his abrupt pivot to TV and film, and...
04.02.2024
The Morality of Memoir, or, Daddy I Want Coffee!
On this special episode, hosts Medaya Ocher, Kate Wolf, and Eric Newman talk about the ethics and politics of memoir in the wake of several recent controversies. Touching on Blake Butler’s Molly, Emily Gould’s essay in The Cut on her...
03.29.2024
Tommy Orange's "Wandering Stars"
Eric Newman speaks with writer Tommy Orange about his novel Wandering Stars, a multigenerational epic that is both prequel and sequel to his award-winning 2018 debut There There. Beginning in the immediate aftermath of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864,...
03.22.2024
The Problem with Adoption
Kate Wolf speaks with sociologist Gretchen Sisson about her first book, Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood. The book is based on interviews Sisson conducted over the last decade with birth mothers who relinquished their...
03.15.2024
Brad Gooch's "Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring"
Eric Newman and Kate Wolf speak with Brad Gooch about his new biography, Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring. A deep-dive into the life of an artist whose work can be seen today on everything from museum walls...
03.08.2024
Tana French's "The Hunter"
Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman speak with megawatt mystery maven Tana French about her latest novel, The Hunter. Set in the fictional rural Irish town of Ardnakelty, The Hunter is a dark, slow-burning story of the ties that knit together...
03.05.2024
LARB Radio Hour x Film Comment 2024 Oscars Preview
In this special episode, Eric Newman chats with LARB Film & TV editor Annie Berke and Film Comment co-editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute for a preview of this year's Academy Awards. Breaking down the top Oscar contenders, the group...
03.01.2024
Leslie Jamison's "Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story"
Leslie Jamison joins Medaya and Kate to discuss her latest book Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story, a memoir that chronicles the birth of her daughter and the collapse of her marriage soon after. Jamison writes about...
02.23.2024
Phillip B. Williams' "Ours"
Eric Newman speaks with Phillip B. Williams about his debut novel, Ours. A surrealist epic largely set in the American midwest both pre- and post-emancipation, the book tells the story of Saint, a conjure woman who uses her supernatural powers...
02.16.2024
Lucy Sante's "I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition"
Kate Wolf speaks to cultural critic and historian Lucy Sante about her latest book, I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition. It is the story of how as living as Luc for almost the entirety of her...
02.09.2024
Adam Shatz's "The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon"
Adam Shatz speaks with Kate Wolf and Eric Newman about his latest book, The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon. The book is both a biography of Fanon— one of the most important thinkers on race and colonialism...
02.02.2024
Nathan Thrall's "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy"
Writer Nathan Thrall joins Kate Wolf to talk about his recent book, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy, which was published last October and named one of the best books of the year...
01.26.2024
E.J. Koh's "The Liberators"
Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman are joined by E.J. Koh to discuss her debut novel, The Liberators, LARB Book Club's pick for Winter 2024. Widely acclaimed by critics, The Liberators tells the story of two families as they navigate love...
01.19.2024
Kohei Saito's "Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto"
The philosopher Kohei Saito speaks to Eric Newman and Kate Wolf about his book Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto. A critique of our insufficient response to the climate crisis, Slow Down aptly points to capitalism—its race for profits and endlessly...
01.12.2024
Lexi Freiman's "The Book of Ayn"
Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman are joined by author Lexi Freiman to discuss her latest novel, The Book of Ayn. A punchy satire of contemporary life, the story centers on Anna, a writer reeling from being cancelled after the New...
01.05.2024
Alicia Kennedy's "No Meat Required"
Eric Newman and Kate Wolf speak with writer Alicia Kennedy about No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating. The book unpacks the ethical, spiritual, environmental, economic, and political dimensions of vegetarianism and veganism. It traces...
12.29.2023
Ed Park's "Same Bed Different Dreams"
Author Ed Park joins Kate Wolf and Eric Newman to discuss his new novel, Same Bed Different Dreams. It begins with a former writer named Soon Shen, who’s given up fiction for a cozy suburban life in upstate New York,...
12.22.2023
The Best of 2023
Together we've travelled one more trip around the sun... and that means it's time for our favorite episode of the year! Kate, Medaya, and Eric share their favorite books, movies, TV shows, music, magazines (a new category!) and more in...
12.15.2023
Blake Butler's "Molly"
Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher speak with the writer and editor Blake Butler about his latest book, a memoir called Molly. Molly is dedicated to the poet and writer Molly Brodak, Butler's wife of three years. Molly committed suicide one...
12.08.2023
Robert Glück's "About Ed"
Eric Newman and Kate Wolf are joined by the author, editor, and co-founder of the New Narrative movement Robert Glück to discuss his latest book, About Ed. The book is a non-linear memoir (of sorts), parsing the life and death...
12.01.2023
Andrew Chan's "Why Mariah Carey Matters"
Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher are joined by writer and critic Andrew Chan to discuss his latest book, Why Mariah Carey Matters. Exploring Mariah's career as a singer, performer, and dexterous music producer, Andrew's book unpacks how the music industry...
11.24.2023
Sasha Frere-Jones' "Earlier"
Writer, musician, and critic Sasha Frere-Jones joins Kate Wolf to discuss his first book, Earlier. A non-chronological memoir, Earlier collects fragments of Frere-Jones's life: intimate recollections, minor triumphs, path-defining moments, failures, loves, losses, and all stations in-between. An artist formation...
11.17.2023
Nicole Newnham's "The Disappearance of Shere Hite"
Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher are joined by award-winning director Nicole Newnham to discuss her latest film, The Disappearance of Shere Hite. The documentary explores the life and work of Shere Hite, a sexological researcher whose 1976 book The Hite...
11.10.2023
Dan Sinykin's "Big Fiction"
Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher are joined by writer and professor, Dan Sinykin. His new book is called Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry, which chronicles the many changes publishing has undergone in the past 50 years, starting...
11.03.2023
Justin Torres's "Blackouts"
Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman speak with author Justin Torres about his latest novel, Blackouts. As they discuss the novel's layered revelation of both the characters' lives and the real queer history into which they are...
10.27.2023
Dorothea Lasky's "The Shining" and Anna Biller's "Bluebeard's Castle"
A LARB Radio Hour double-header Halloween horror special. In the first half, Kate Wolf is joined by the poet Dorothea Lasky to discuss her most recent poetry collection, The Shining. The book is an ekphrastic ode to Stanley Kubrick’s classic...
10.20.2023
Lydia Kiesling's "Mobility"
LARB Editor-in-Chief Michelle Chihara and Executive Director Irene Yoon speak with author Lydia Kiesling about her novel Mobility, this fall’s LARB Book Club selection. The inaugural book from Crooked Media Reads, Mobility begins in post-Soviet Azerbaijan, following the main character,...
10.13.2023
Lydia Davis's "Our Strangers"
Kate Wolf speaks to author and translator Lydia Davis about her latest collection of stories, Our Strangers. The book, which is notably not available for sale on Amazon, includes well over 100 stories, with many measuring at just a few...
10.06.2023
Mary Gabriel's "Madonna: A Rebel Life"
Journalist and author Mary Gabriel joins Eric and Medaya to talk about her latest book, Madonna: A Rebel Life. The massive, richly researched biography follows every detail of the superstar’s life: her Michigan roots, her debut amid New York’s heady...
09.29.2023
Hilary Leichter's "Terrace Story" and Lisa Teasley's "Fluid"
In the first half of the show, Medaya Ocher speaks with Hilary Leichter about her novel Terrace Story. It follows a young family who live in cramped quarters in a big city, surviving but financially strapped. One day, a woman...
09.22.2023
Ross Gay's "The Book of (More) Delights"
Ross Gay joins Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher to talk about his latest, book, THE BOOK OF (MORE) DELIGHTS, a second installment of THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS, published before Ross, us, and the world were plunged into the COVID19 pandemic....
09.15.2023
Thea Lenarduzzi's "Dandelions"
Writer and longtime TLS editor Thea Lenarduzzi joins Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher to speak about her debut book Dandelions, a winner of the Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize. Weaving together memoir, history, and criticism, Dandelions explores the life of Lenarduzzi’s grandmother, Dirce, a...
09.08.2023
Colin Dickey's "Under the Eye of Power"
Colin Dickey joins Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher to discuss his latest book, Under the Eye of Power, in which he charts the history of America through its fear of secret societies, like the Illuminati and the Freemasons, as well...
09.01.2023
Maya Binyam's "Hangman"
Writer Maya Binyam joins Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher to speak about her debut novel Hangman. The book begins with a man who finds himself returning to his home country somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa for the first time in 26...
08.25.2023
Prudence Peiffer's "The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever"
Writer, editor, and art historian Prudence Peiffer joins Kate Wolf to speak about her first book, The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever. The book is a group biography of a collection of luminous American...
08.18.2023
Andrew Leland's "The Country of the Blind"
Andrew Leland joins Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher to talk about his first book, The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight. The book recounts Leland’s experience of gradually losing his vision due to a condition...
08.11.2023
Koritha Mitchell and Michelle Lanier on Harriet Jacobs’s “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”
In this special edition LARB Book Club episode of the Radio Hour, Editor-in-Chief Michelle Chihara talks with Koritha Mitchell, editor of Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and Michelle Lanier, professor and public historian in North...
08.04.2023
D. Smith's "Kokomo City" and Claire Simon's "Our Body"
A LARB Radio Hour double feature. In the first half of the show Eric Newman speaks to D. Smith about her new documentary—and directorial debut—Kokomo City. The film turns an intimate lens onto the lives of four Black transgender sex...
07.28.2023
Heidi Julavits’s “Directions to Myself"
Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher are joined by author Heidi Julavits, whose new book is called "Directions to Myself: A Memoir of Four Years." Heidi Julavits is also the author of The Folded Clock: A Diary as well as four...
07.21.2023
Wes Anderson and Jake Perlin's "Do Not Detonate Without Presidential Approval"
Kate Wolf is joined by filmmaker Wes Anderson and film programmer and distributor Jake Perlin to discuss Do Not Detonate Without Presidential Approval, an anthology inspired by Anderson's latest, Asteroid City, which is out in theaters now. The book, edited by Perlin, interprets different aspects...
07.14.2023
John Yau's "Please Wait By the Coatroom: Reconsidering Race and Identity in American Art"
The poet and longtime art critic John Yau joins Kate Wolf and Eric Newman to speak about his latest collection of criticism, Please Wait By the Coatroom: Reconsidering Race and Identity in American Art. The book's title comes from an...
07.07.2023
Juana María Rodríguez's "Puta Life: Seeing Latinas, Working Sex"
Eric Newman is joined by scholar and critic Juana María Rodríguez to discuss her latest book, Puta Life: Seeing Latinas, Working Sex. Moving between stories gleaned from archives, interviews, and Rodríguez's personal experience, Puta Life explores the proliferating and often incongruous meanings of the...
06.30.2023
Rachel Nuwer's "I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World"
Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman speak to Rachel Nuwer about her recent book, I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World. They discuss the drug's emergence in the Bay Area during the 1960s when pioneers...
06.23.2023
Kristin Ross' "The Politics and Poetics of Everyday Life"
Eric Newman and Kate Wolf speak to the author Kristin Ross about her recent book, The Politics and Poetics of Everyday Life, a collection of essays that examine how everyday life emerges as a vantage point for understanding and transforming...
06.16.2023
Martine Syms' "Loser Back Home"
Kate Wolf is joined by the acclaimed artist and filmmaker Martine Syms to discuss her new exhibition Loser Back Home, currently on view at Spruth Magers in Los Angeles. Sym's work in the show encompasses video, sculpture, painting, photography, installation,...
06.09.2023
Craig Seligman's "Who Does That Bitch Think She is? Doris Fish and The Rise of Drag"
Eric Newman and Kate Wolf speak with writer Craig Seligman about his recent book, Who Does That Bitch Think She is? Doris Fish and The Rise of Drag. The book follows the story of the groundbreaking drag queen, performer, and...
06.02.2023
Joanna Biggs' "A Life of One’s Own"
Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher are joined by editor and writer Joanna Biggs, whose new book is called A Life of One’s Own: Nine Women Writers Begin Again. Joanna is an editor at Harper’s Magazine. Her writing has appeared in...
05.26.2023
Gary Indiana's "Do Everything In The Dark"
Kate Wolf is joined by author, critic, and artist Gary Indiana to speak about the recent reissue of his 2003 novel, Do Everything in the Dark. Told on the heels of the aftershock of AIDS and the coming catastrophe of 9/11,...

What's LARB Radio Hour about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LARB Radio Hour episodes:

Mother Tongues and Mother Dolls

Victoria Chang on Finding Agnes Martin During Crisis

Morgan Neville's "STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces"

The Morality of Memoir, or, Daddy I Want Coffee!

Tommy Orange's "Wandering Stars"

The Problem with Adoption

Brad Gooch's "Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring"

Tana French's "The Hunter"

LARB Radio Hour x Film Comment 2024 Oscars Preview

Leslie Jamison's "Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story"

Phillip B. Williams' "Ours"

Lucy Sante's "I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition"

Adam Shatz's "The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon"

Nathan Thrall's "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy"

E.J. Koh's "The Liberators"

Kohei Saito's "Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto"

Lexi Freiman's "The Book of Ayn"

Alicia Kennedy's "No Meat Required"

Ed Park's "Same Bed Different Dreams"

The Best of 2023

Blake Butler's "Molly"

Robert Glück's "About Ed"

Andrew Chan's "Why Mariah Carey Matters"

Sasha Frere-Jones' "Earlier"

Nicole Newnham's "The Disappearance of Shere Hite"

Dan Sinykin's "Big Fiction"

Justin Torres's "Blackouts"

Dorothea Lasky's "The Shining" and Anna Biller's "Bluebeard's Castle"

Lydia Kiesling's "Mobility"

Lydia Davis's "Our Strangers"

Mary Gabriel's "Madonna: A Rebel Life"

Hilary Leichter's "Terrace Story" and Lisa Teasley's "Fluid"

Ross Gay's "The Book of (More) Delights"

Thea Lenarduzzi's "Dandelions"

Colin Dickey's "Under the Eye of Power"

Maya Binyam's "Hangman"

Prudence Peiffer's "The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever"

Andrew Leland's "The Country of the Blind"

Koritha Mitchell and Michelle Lanier on Harriet Jacobs’s “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”

D. Smith's "Kokomo City" and Claire Simon's "Our Body"

Heidi Julavits’s “Directions to Myself"

Wes Anderson and Jake Perlin's "Do Not Detonate Without Presidential Approval"

John Yau's "Please Wait By the Coatroom: Reconsidering Race and Identity in American Art"

Juana María Rodríguez's "Puta Life: Seeing Latinas, Working Sex"

Rachel Nuwer's "I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World"

Kristin Ross' "The Politics and Poetics of Everyday Life"

Martine Syms' "Loser Back Home"

Craig Seligman's "Who Does That Bitch Think She is? Doris Fish and The Rise of Drag"

Joanna Biggs' "A Life of One’s Own"

Gary Indiana's "Do Everything In The Dark"