David Levithan on BOY MEETS BOY
06/02/22 • 44 min
“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.
“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.
Previous Episode
Sarai Walker on THE CHERRY ROBBERS
“I didn't want it to be just a very overwhelming dark book. I mean, it has so much tragedy that I had to balance that I wanted to make it part of, you know, light and airy and fun and frothy and feminine to contrast with what's going to happen. I think there's power in that contrast ... I felt like it can't all be this very goth all the time, this very gothic world, the kind of fog-on-the-Moors kind of thing...” We were utterly thrilled by Sarai Walker’s debut novel, Dietland—inspired in part by beauty culture and in part by Fight Club (yep, that one)—and we’re delighted by her newest, The Cherry Robbers. Sarai joins us on the show to talk about sisterhood, love, marriage, romance, feminism, her literary inspirations (including Emily Dickinson and Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life), and much more with Poured Over’s host, Miwa Messer. And we end the episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and his bookseller guest, Becky.
Featured Books:
The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker
Dietland by Sarai Walker
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
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 show is available here.
Next Episode
Katie Runde on THE SHORE
“I missed it so much. And definitely didn't get it or appreciate the specialness of it, or this particular beauty of it ... until you have to show up at a party full of strangers. And answer that, where are you from question so many times. I'm not sure I would have written this book, if I didn't have to do that over and over and over again, in so many different places.” That’s Katie Runde, riffing on the Jersey Shore; it’s more than just the setting for her debut novel, The Shore, it’s a character in its own right. Katie joins us on the show to talk about writing a coming-of-age novel for an entire family, homesickness, grief, sisterhood, jump-starting her own writing career with help from Jami Attenberg’s #1000wordsofsummer + a Catapult class + a Tin House workshop, her literary inspirations for this book 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, Becky.
Featured Books:
The Shore by Katie Runde
Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach
We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas
Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
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.
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