On today’s episode of The Literary Life, Mitchell Kaplan is joined by Peter Balakian to discuss his latest poetry collection, No Sign, out now from University of Chicago Press.

Peter Balakian is the author of Black Dog of Fate, winner of the PEN/Martha Albrand Prize for Memoir and a New York Times Notable Book, and June-tree: New and Selected Poems 1974-2000. He is the recipient of many awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship. He holds a Ph.D. in American Civilization from Brown University and teaches at Colgate University, where he is a Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor of the Humanities.

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On today’s episode of The Literary Life, at a live event at Books & Books, Connie Ogle interviews Douglas Stuart to discuss his new novel, Young Mungo, out now from Grove Atlantic.

Douglas Stuart is a Scottish-American author. His New York Times-bestselling debut novel Shuggie Bain won the 2020 Booker Prize and the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. It was the winner of two British Book Awards, including Book of the Year, and was a finalist for the National Book Award, PEN/Hemingway Award, National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, Kirkus Prize, as well as several other literary awards. Stuart’s writing has appeared in the New Yorker and Literary Hub.

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On today’s episode of The Literary Life, Mitchell Kaplan is joined by Jeff Deutsch to discuss his new book, In Praise of Good Bookstores, out now from Princeton University Press, from a live event at Books & Books.

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Jeff Deutsch is the director of Chicago’s Seminary Co-op Bookstores, which in 2019 he helped incorporate as the first not-for-profit bookstore whose mission is bookselling. He lives in Chicago.

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Joining Mitchell Kaplan from Ukraine is Marjana Savka and Victoria Amelina, with Askold Melnyczuk in Boston.

Marjana Savka was born in Kopychyntsi, Ternopil oblast, in 1973. She published her first poetry collection, Naked Riverbeds, at the age of twenty-one. Eight other books, for which she received several awards, have appeared since then, including four poetry collections and three children’s books. A former actress and journalist, she edited We and She, an anthology of poems by female writers from Lviv, Ukraine, where she lives. She cofounded, with her husband, the Old Lion Publishing House. Marjana is the winner of “Torch” award (1998) and the International Vasyl Stus Prize (2003).

Victoria Amelina is an award-winning writer living in Ukraine and the US. She was born in 1986 in the city of Lviv, Ukraine. Before becoming a writer, she worked in high tech as an engineering manager; she holds an MS degree in Computer Science. In 2014 she became a laureate of the Ukrainian National Literary Award Koronatsiya Slova, and released her debut novel “Fall Syndrome, or Homo Compatiens” that was shortlisted as one of the best books of the year according to the LitAkcent and Valerii Shevchuk literary awards. Her second novel “Home for Dom” won the Best Prose Book award at Zaporizhya Book Festival, and was shortlisted for numerous awards including LitAkcent Book of the Year, Lviv City of UNESCO Literary Award, and European Union Prize for Literature.

Askold Melnyczuk’s book of stories, The Man Who Would Not Bow, appeared in 2021. His four novels have variously been named a New York Times Notable, an LA Times Best Books of the Year, and an Editor’s Choice by the American Library Association’s Booklist. He is also co-editor of From Three Worlds, an anthology of Ukrainian Writers. His published translations include work by Oksana Zabuzhko, Marjana Savka, Bohdan Boychuk, and Ivan Drach. His shorter work, including essays, stories, and reviews, have appeared in The Threepenny Review, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Times Literary Supplement (London), The Los Angeles Times, The Harvard Review and elsewhere. He’s received a three-year Lila Wallace-Readers’ Digest Award in Fiction, the McGinnis Award in Fiction, and the George Garret Award from AWP for his contributions to the literary community. As founding editor of Agni he received PEN’s Magid Award for creating “one of America’s, and the world’s, leading literary journals.” Founding editor of Arrowsmith Press, he has taught at Boston University, Harvard, Bennington College and currently teaches at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

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On today’s episode of The Literary Life, Mitchell Kaplan is joined by Diana Abu-Jaber to discuss her new book, Fencing With the King, out now from W.W. Norton.

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Diana Abu-Jaber is the award-winning author of seven books of fiction and nonfiction, including Crescent and The Language of Baklava. She lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

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Joining Mitchell Kaplan from Ukraine is Dr. Olha Poliukhovych, writer, philosopher, and professor of humanities at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine’s oldest university. From Boston, Askold Melnyczuk, acclaimed novelist, short story writer, founding member of Writers for Democratic Action, and co-editor of From Three Worlds, an anthology of Ukrainian writers. "When I read or hear the news from abroad, I see Ukrainian crisis, conflict, Ukrainian-Russia conflict…It’s not a conflict; it’s war,” said Dr. Poliukhovych.  

Dr Olha Poliukhovych holds a Ph.D. in Literature from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMA). She is an associate professor at the Department of Literature of NaUKMA. Olha Poliukhovych is a co-founder and managing editor of the Kyiv-Mohyla Humanities Journal. In 2017–2018 she was a Fulbright Fellow at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute of Harvard University. In 2020 she co-founded the NGO New Ukrainian Academic Community (Kyiv).

Askold Melnyczuk’s book of stories, The Man Who Would Not Bow, appeared in 2021. His four novels have variously been named a New York Times Notable, an LA Times Best Books of the Year, and an Editor’s Choice by the American Library Association’s Booklist. He is also co-editor of From Three Worlds, an anthology of Ukrainian Writers. His published translations include work by Oksana Zabuzhko, Marjana Savka, Bohdan Boychuk, and Ivan Drach. His shorter work, including essays, stories, and reviews, have appeared in The Threepenny Review, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Times Literary Supplement (London), The Los Angeles Times, The Harvard Review and elsewhere. He’s received a three-year Lila Wallace-Readers’ Digest Award in Fiction, the McGinnis Award in Fiction, and the George Garret Award from AWP for his contributions to the literary community. As founding editor of Agni he received PEN’s Magid Award for creating “one of America’s, and the world’s, leading literary journals.” Founding editor of Arrowsmith Press, he has taught at Boston University, Harvard, Bennington College and currently teaches at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

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When Deesha Philyaw stans see that she’s read and endorsed a book, big chances are, they're buying that book. “The thing I wanna say about blurbing, first, is it could be a full-time job. I’m happy to share these books with you today but for each one there are two that I couldn’t say yes to blurbing, just because I didn’t have time…The blurbs are really important so I try to do as many as I can,” shared Deesha. On this new episode of The Literary Life, you’ll hear Mitchell and Deesha talk about so many great books, perfect timing for the long weekend. So, listen and take a look at the list below, and follow the link to your new favorite book. This episode was recorded in sunny Miami, where Deesha is warming up from Philadelphia winter.

Deesha Philyaw's debut short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, won the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the 2020/2021 Story Prize, and the 2020 LA Times Book Prize: The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. She is currently adapting The Secret Lives of Church Ladies for HBO Max, working together with Tessa Thompson’s production company, Viva Maude. Deesha was chosen to be the John and Renée Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi in the fall of 2022. 

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On today’s episode of The Literary Life, Mitchell Kaplan talks with Julie Otsuka about her new novel, The Swimmers, out next month from Knopf.

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Julie Otsuka was born and raised in California. She is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and her first novel, When the Emperor Was Divine, won the 2003 Asian American Literary Award and the 2003 American Library Association’s Alex Award. Her second novel, The Buddha in the Attic, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2011 and won the 2012 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the 2011 Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction. The Buddha in the Attic was an international best seller and the winner of the prestigious Prix Femina Étranger in 2012, and the Albatros Literaturpreis in 2013. She lives in New York City.

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Richard Blanco, inaugural poet for Barack Obama’s second term as president and Elisa New, creator, director and host of PBS’s Poetry in America series, are Mitchell Kaplan’s guests this week. Richard's poem, "Looking for the Gulf Motel," is featured as season three of the acclaimed series begins. 

“The episode with Richard is a wonderful example of the opportunity we had to really get into the cultural life of Cuban-American families,” said Elisa. “Often people say “I don’t get poetry” and I ask, when was the last time that you read a poem? Maybe 20 years? It’s not that you don’t get poetry, you haven’t given it a chance probably since high school,” said Richard. “I’m a big champion of humanities. Poetry in America is taking poetry out there, letting people have access to it in ways they might not have otherwise,” he added.

To bring Richard’s poem to life, the episode includes home movies from his family, illustrations and special guest, his friend Gloria Estefan, who sings throughout the interview with Elisa.

Listen to this special conversation recorded in New York and Miami, and watch the Poetry in America episode -- and please, support the arts!

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On today’s episode of The Literary Life, Mitchell Kaplan is joined by Anjanette Delgado, Yaddyra Peralta, and Mia Leonin to discuss their new anthology, Home in Flordia: Latinx Writers and the Literature of Uprootedness, out now from University Press of Florida.

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Anjanette Delgado is a Puerto Rican writer and journalist based in Miami. She is the author of The Heartbreak Pill and The Clairvoyant of Calle Ocho. She has written for the New York Times “Modern Love” column, Vogue, NPR, HBO, the Kenyon Review, Pleiades, the Hong Kong Review, and others.

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