The Bookshop Podcast

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Ruthie Marlenée is a Mexican-American novelist, screenwriter, and poet born and raised in Orange County, California. She earned a Writers’ Certificate in Fiction from UCLA and is the author of Isabela’s Island, Curse of the Ninth, nominated for a James Kirkwood Literary Prize and Agave Blues from which an excerpt A Good Tabernero Listens is nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

 Ruthie Marlenée

The Human Stain, Philip Roth

The Tortilla Curtain, T.C. Boyle

The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett

Where The Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens

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Mandy Jackson-Beverly
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Fiona Dutrayn is the owner of Damn fine Bookstore in Lyon, France. The bookshop offers an international selection of books in English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, along with a cafe. You can find the bookshop online at damnfinebookstore.com.   

Damn Fine Bookstore

A Stopover In Lyon: The Adventures Of The Three Storks, Alexandra Horvath & Stephane Perraud

 Plain Bad Heroines, Emily M. Danforth

 We Ride Upon Sticks, Quan Barry

 CIRCE, Madeline Miller

 Normal People, Sally Rooney

 Conversations With Friends, Sally Rooney

 Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste NG

 Milk Fed, Melissa Broder

 Good And Well Restaurant, Lyon

 Sept ´Epices, Lebanese Restaurant, Lyon

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Mandy Jackson-Beverly
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After reading James Nestor's book, Breath, I had plenty of questions. James and I chat about his approach to research and writing, what it's like to swim with sperm whales, breathing through your nose, and his upcoming breath retreat in Costa Rica.

James Nestor is an author and journalist who has written for Scientific American, Outside, The New York Times, and more. His latest book, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, was released May 26, 2020 by Riverhead/Penguin Random House and was an instant New York Times and London Sunday Times bestseller.

Breath explores how the human species has lost the ability to breathe properly--and how to get it back. Breath spent 18 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list in the first year of release, and became a bestseller in Spain, Italy, Germany, and Croatia.

Breath will be translated into more than 35 languages in 2022. Breath was awarded the Best General Nonfiction Book of 2020 by the American Society of Journalists and Authors and was a Finalist for Best Science Book of 2021 by the Royal Society.

Nestor has spoken at Stanford Medical School, Yale School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, the United Nations, Global Classroom, and appeared on more than 60 radio and television shows, including Fresh Air with Terry Gross, the Joe Rogan Show, and more. He lives and breathes in San Francisco.

James Nestor

Instagram: instagram.com/mrjamesnestor

Facebook: facebook.com/mrjamesnestor

Twitter: twitter.com/mrjamesnestor

I Am Water Foundation

TEDx Talk - James Nestor

PROJECT CETI

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Mandy Jackson-Beverly
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This episode is about children's books, from picture books to YA readers. We've got you covered!

In October of 2016, Melissa Music & Stephanie Cannon created The Story Shop, an independent children's bookstore, in Monroe, Georgia. The Story Shop is a place where reading, imagination, and celebration are experienced and appreciated daily. 

The Story Shop is co-managed by creative director Lisa Dibble and director of operations Lauren Brown.

The Story Shop

the-story-shop.square.site

Tiny T. Rex And The Impossible Hug, Jonathan Stutzman, Jay Fleck

Song For A Whale, Lynne Kelly

Skin of the Sea, Natasha Bowen

Dream Animals, Emily Winfield Martin

Books by Sara O’Leary

Fablehaven, Brandon Mull

Within These Lines, Stephanie Morrill

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Books and TV series have kept me sane during the past few years. Two series that pop into mind are The Durrells in Corfu and, more recently, Around the World in 80 Days. As the credits rolled by, I smiled when I saw Steve Barron's name pop up as episode director multiple times. 

My mind drifted back to the 80s when I’d been lucky enough to work on a few music videos Steve directed out of Limelight Production in Los Angeles. Steve was one of the good guys, a gentleman who didn’t scream or pout, and due to his background in the camera department, he understood and appreciated film crews.  

Steve Barron started in films as a camera assistant on epic productions such as Richard Donner's Superman, Richard Attenborough's A Bridge Too Far and Ridley Scott's The Duellists. He began directing what were known in the UK as promotional videos in the early eighties for bands such as The Jam, Human League, and Adam & the Ants. 

 In 1982 he conceived and directed the award-winning Billie-Jean music video, the first single from Michael Jackson's incredible Thriller album. More seminal videos followed, and at the 1986 MTV Awards, Steve’s work was acknowledged when Dire Straits' Money for Nothing won Best Video, and A-Ha's Take On Me was awarded Best Director. 

 Steve’s cult classic film Electric Dreams was released in 1984. His second film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1986), stunned the industry by becoming the first independent feature to break the $100 million theatrical mark. Steve directed other features, including Coneheads, Rat, Mike Bassett: England Manager, and TV network mega-series Merlin, Arabian Nights, Dreamkeeper, and Treasure Island, all garnering him a slew of awards, including 27 Emmy nominations, 5 Gold Globe nominations, and a DGA nod.

Oh, and he’s also a hemp farmer!

Steve Barron IMDB

EGG N CHIPS & BILLIE JEAN

Around the World in 80 Days

The Durrells in Corfu

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Have you ever wanted to know what makes a first edition book valuable, apart from the obvious?! Let me introduce you to Harvey and Louis Jason, the father and son team behind Mystery Pier Books.

Turn through an unexpected entryway on the famed Sunset Strip, proceed down a few stone steps, then just a bit further through a slim, magical passage tight out of old Europe, and be met with blooming flowerbeds fronting a charming English cottage that might well have been plucked from Stratford-upon-Avon. Oh, and this cottage is filled with first edition books!

Mystery Pier Books

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In this episode, I'm chatting with author and short story writer Nadia L. King about her decision to open up about her past, her love of indie bookshops, and her interesting path from a finished manuscript to a publishing deal.

Nadia L King is an Australian author of Indian and Irish descent. She is a children’s author and award-winning short story writer who believes passionately in the power of stories to make the world a better place.

 Her books include Claire Malone Changes the World, The Lost Smile, Claire Malone Makes a Friend. Can the Real JR Stand Up, Please? and Jenna’s Truth.

 Nadia is currently undertaking postgraduate studies in English and creative writing. She lives in Western Australia with her family and an ever-expanding collection of books.

Nadia L. King

Nadia's books

Nadia's books available from Paper Bird, Western Australia

The Bottle of Scent, Nadia L. King, Short Story

Freedom from Violence and Lies: Anton Chekhov’s Life and Writings, Michael C. Finke

 Books in Homes

 The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World, Peter Wohlleben

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Today I'm chatting with sister and brother, Hannah Harlow and Sam Pfeifle, co-owners of The Book Shop of Beverly Farms about how publishers can better support indie bookshop owners, writing, the perils of driving in Massachusetts, and of course, books!

The Book Shop of Beverly Farms

Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan

 What Strange Paradise, Omar El Akkad

 Powder Days, Heather Hansman

 The Last White Man, Mohsin Hamid

 A Lie someone Told You About Yourself, Peter Ho Davies

 Firekeeper’s Daughter, Angeline Boulley

 Poet Warrior: A Memoir, Joy Harjo

 The Little French Bridal Shop, Jennifer Dupee

 Swimming to the Top of the Tide, Patricia Hanlon

 Ever Heard of Her, Lisa Savage, Ruby Pfeifle

 Seaside Towns of the North Shore of Mass, Ingrid Moller Potenza

 Beer & Weed Magazine

 Grief is the Thing With Feathers, Max Porter

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In today’s episode, I chat with Jeff Hoffman about his new book Other People’s Children, adoption, and writing. 

Jeff Hoffman attended Bradley University and then earned an MFA in fiction from Columbia College Chicago. His writing has appeared in Barely South Review, The Sun, Harpur Palate, The Roanoke Review, Booth, and Lunch Ticket. Hoffman is the winner of the Madison Review’s 2018 Chris O’Malley Prize in Fiction and a finalist for the Missouri Review’s 2019 Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize.

Jeff Hoffman

Other People's Children, Jeff Hoffman

Crossroads, Jonathan Franzen

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Today I'm chatting with picture book author and owner of The Flying Pig Bookstore, Elizabeth Bluemle, about writing and the magic of solo writing retreats, the diversity database she has developed, and of course, BOOKS!

The Flying Pig Bookstore 

 Elizabeth Bluemle, books

 Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson

Their eyes Were Watching God: A Novel, Zora Neale Hurston

 On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel, Ocean Vuong

 Friday Black, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

 The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune

 Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata, Ginny Tapley Takemori (translator)

 Sankofa: a novel, Chibundu Onuzo

 Roxanne Gay, books

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