The Greenlight Bookstore Podcast

In front of a packed house at Greenlight Bookstore, author Jeff Chang discussed his book We Gon’ Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation, with panelists Nikole Hannah-Jones, New York Times Magazine investigative journalist, and Rebecca Carroll, a producer of special projects on race at WNYC. In their discussion on stage, and in an impassioned audience Q&A, Chang, Hannah-Jones, and Carroll dig deep into story telling and code switching, the complexities of educational “diversity”, the manifestations and effects of gentrification, and the way that studying the long history of American racism can actually keep you sane.

On the publication date of her seventh novel Commonwealth, author and bookseller Ann Patchett (Bel Canto, Run, State of Wonder, etc.) launched the book onstage with her friend J. Courtney Sullivan (The Engagements, etc.). The conversation touched on the joys and pitfalls of first chapters, Ann's mother's take on the new novel ("None of it happened and all of it is true"), the freedom Patchett learned from Catholicism, engaging with the Nashville community as a retailer vs. as an artist, and a lot of really great book recommendations.

On a hot August night in Brooklyn, novelist, art critic and photographer Teju Cole (Open City, Every Day is for the Thief) celebrates the launch of his essay collection Known and Strange Things. His conversation with novelist and essayist Amitava Kumar (Lunch With a Bigot, Nobody Does the Right Thing) encompasses the difference between an essay and a take, the concept of the punctum in a work of art, the importance of constellational thinking, and several jokes about air conditioning. Part of the Brooklyn Voices series at St. Joseph's College.

Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner) uses the release of his latest, And The Mountains Echoed, to discuss east and west, war and peace, and everything in the middle. Plus two excellent graphic novels, one old and one new.

Alexi Zentner (Touch) talks to friend and fellow novelist Téa Obreht (The Tiger's Wife) about Shakespeare, shellfish, and his newest novel, The Lobster Kings. Also, Denis Johnson's heart of darkness, and getting cosmic with Italo Calvino. Find the books mentioned in this episode at www.greenlightbookstore.com/radio12

Damon Galgut (In a Strange Room) speaks about his latest – Arctic Summer, a fictionalization of E.M. Forster’s life while writing A Passage to India. Also, new poetry from Saeed Jones, and Atul Gawande on what we talk about when we talk about dying.

Happy Halloween! In this bonus mini-episode, David Mitchell and John Freeman tell each other ghost stories. S'mores not included. Find a selection of appropriately spooky literature at: Greenlightbookstore.com/radio9

Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven, sits down with fellow author Emma Straub to talk about the craft of writing, the vicissitudes of publishing, and the how her particular dystopian vision was influenced by survivalist blogs, King Lear, and Calvin and Hobbes. Also, reviews of Lila by Marilynne Robinson, and Splash State by Todd Colby. Find all the titles discussed in this episode at Greenlightbookstore.com/radio8 

David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas, Number9Dream) on his new novel, The Bone Clocks, his illicit dreams of Amsterdam, and why Optimism is probably the best choice – in conversation with John Freeman (How to Read a Novelist). Also: exciting new reissues from Wakefield Press and a second look at Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca. Find all the titles discussed in this episode at Greenlightbookstore.com/radio7