Poured Over

“...The idea just kind of spun itself into existence in my head, the world started to form almost immediately — when my creative brain kind of immediately kicks in like that, I've learned to listen to it, because usually, that means something, something good is trying to come out.” N.K. Jemisin — winner of three consecutive Hugo Awards for Best Novel (each of the Broken Earth books) and now a fourth for Best Graphic Story or Comic (Far Sector), and MacArthur “genius grant” recipient — is one of our favorite writers, and we’ll follow her anywhere. She joins us on the show to talk about closing out her Great Cities duology with The World We Make, adapting the Broken Earth series for the screen, the challenges of writing about a city massively in flux, NY pizza, Ozymandias the cat, her literary inspirations, what’s she’s reading and more with guest host Kat Sarfas. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Madyson.

Featured Books (Episode):

The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin

Monstress by Sana Takeda and Marjorie Liu

Witch King by Martha Wells

Featured Books (TBR Topoff):

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jean Anders

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

This episode of Poured Over was produced and hosted by Kat Sarfas and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

“I love being immersed in the grand project of a novel. When I was a kid, I was drawn to books about secret worlds, like The Secret Garden, or The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where you disappear to the back of a wardrobe...”

How many times have you re-read Emily St. John Mandel’s genre-blending novels Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel? Emily joins us on the show to talk about her latest novel Sea of Tranquility — our April 2022 Barnes & Noble Book Club pick­ — along with what she loves most about writing, breaking the rules of time + space, how character development makes an imaginary world real, the writers and books who inspire her, and more with Poured Over’s host, Miwa Messer. And we end the episode with a TBR Topoff segment featuring Margie and Marc.

Featured Books:

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

The Singer’s Gun by Emily St. John Mandel

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

The Executioner’s Song by Normal Mailer

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional bonus episodes on Saturdays).

A full transcript of this episode is available here.

How We Do It: Black Writers on Craft, Practice, and Skill is edited by Jericho Brown and contains diverse and expansive essays and other works on the craft of writing from acclaimed Black authors like Nikki Giovanni, Barry Jenkins, Jacqueline Woodson and more. Brown joins us to talk about identity and language, the necessity of treating yourself like a writer, creating a new form of poetry and more with Miwa Messer, host of Poured Over.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.

Featured Books (Episode):

How We Do It: Black Writers on Craft, Practice, and Skill by Jericho Brown

Black on Black by Daniel Black

The Tradition by Jericho Brown

The New Testament by Jericho Brown

“I wrote The Sum of Us in the hopes that people would read it together, that people from all walks of life, different backgrounds, whether they're connected by something, a community, a school, a workplace, would pick it up and find for each person, a way into the story of America's troubled history with racism, and then a way out together.” Trained as a lawyer, and an expert in economic and social policy, Heather McGhee also excels at getting Americans to tell their stories — and look for solutions. Her urgent, important book, The Sum of Us is just out in paperback and she joins us on the show to talk about The Zero-Sum Hierarchy, The American Dream and other stories (and stereotypes) we tell ourselves, where we can go from here, the writers who inspire her, and more.

Featured Books: The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with bonus episodes on occasional Saturdays).

“I was very, very unintentionally smart in that I started it as a short story, I genuinely believed it was a short story, which was good, because if I hadn't sat down and said, I'm now going to write my first novel I'd probably still be working on it, but because it was a short story that got longer and became a long story, and then became a novella. And then like, Oh, I'm writing the book that I want in the world, both as a person and as an editor.” David Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy is one of the most charming rom-coms we’ve ever read, and David joins us on the show to talk about his development as a writer and editor, the power of story, his creative process, his writing partnerships with Rachel Cohn (Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares) and others, his literary influences, Heartstopper, what he’s learned from his readers and much more with Poured Over’s host, Miwa Messer. And we end the show with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and his guest bookseller, Rhys.

Featured Books:

Boy Meets Boy (B&N Exclusive Edition) by David Levithan Every Day by David Levithan Answers in the Pages by David Levithan

Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

A full transcript of this episode is available here.