Book Public

The Scrapbook is a novel that is a modern-day love story in the shadow of German history—a Germany of artists, philosophers, virtuosos—and World War II. Heather Clark is the guest on this episode of Book Public to discuss her novel, The Scrapbook.

Readers of Geoff Dyer's books have come to expect his trademark humor and incisive cultural commentary. His new book, Homework, shows us that the more success he had in school, the further he diverged from his parents. But his telling of this story brings us up close to share in his profound appreciation of his past.

In the novel Endling, by Maria Reva, protagonist Yeva joins guided romance tours in Ukraine to help pay for her research as a snail conservationist. Somehow, she becomes part of a kidnapping caper. Then Russia invades Ukraine. And the book shifts to a work of nonfiction with the author herself telling her story. Fiction and reality collide—beautifully.

Richard Bausch discusses his latest story collection, The Fate of Others. This may be the author's 24th book, but it is a fresh, powerful collection of stories for today's world with all its resonances of loss and isolation—but also of hope.

The flaws and follies of Cupolo's characters teach us something about what it means to be human when we make mistakes or when we allow each other mercy. Lisa Cupolo discusses her award-winning story collection.

The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff is a multigenerational family saga that underscores the ways that a family tries to navigate and survive addiction, grief, shame and the losses that loving deeply can bring to our lives. Secrets and regrets, forgiveness and grace—all figure in this tender story about love in its many forms.

Jock Heidenstein. Anita Lasker. Chana Zumerkorn, Regina Feldman. These young women did not know each other. They never met—not before or after their respective experiences during the Holocaust. What connects their incredible stories? A red sweater. Lucy Adlington discusses her book Four Red Sweaters.

The Imagined Life is a novel about memory, music and longing—and about the bonds between a father and a son. Andrew Porter discusses his latest novel on the latest episode of Book Public.

For author Lauren K. Watel, “potions” are part poem and part fiction. There are 75 prose-like vignettes with the density and intensity of poems in her "Book of Potions."

The novel is set in 2038 in Three Rivers, Texas. A corrupt industrialist is the mayor. Women are indentured laborers in a fish cannery. Reading books is against the law. Protagonist Neftalí is the last literate citizen of the town. What can she do to reclaim and help her city?

The novel is about race and class and about parents trying to raise their sons in our fraught times.

The protagonist is a supremely talented man who is also deeply troubled. He must emerge from his isolation to help a blind, wounded, helpless horse—but can he also save himself?

Edwidge Danticat discusses her essay collection, We're Alone. The essays cover subjects like environmental catastrophe, the traumas of colonialism, motherhood, and the complexities of resilience.

In the novel, Back After This, a podcast producer in Washington D.C. becomes the host of a new podcast—about dating. It's a break she's been waiting for. But will this new opportunity destroy her chances at love instead? Linda Holmes discusses her latest novel on the next episode of Book Public.

A young, pregnant mother tries to leave an abusive husband. Obstacles are everywhere for her and her children. Yvette Benavides reviews Nesting—a tense and emotional novel by Roisín O'Donnell.

Tod Lending joins Yvette Benavides for a discussion about The Umbrella Maker's Son. This World War II novel is a powerful and poignant story about survival and hope in the face of terror and violence. It's an important addition to modern works of Holocaust literature.

A new Little Golden Book biography immortalizes the story of Selena Quintanilla for a new generation of young readers.

Erika Krouse discusses her story collection.

Eiren Caffall's The Mourner's Bestiary, is a memoir about her experiences with polycystic kidney disease (PKD)—a chronic illness that has afflicted her family for 150 years—with the stories of marine life struggling to survive in the world's fastest warming marine ecosystem.

Jenny Minton Quigley is the editor of the series. Amor Towles is this year's guest judge.

Severo Perez's Filmmaker's Journey recounts Perez's story from his humble beginnings on San Antonio's West Side to 2024—and a celebration of his film “...and the Earth did not Swallow Him” being nominated to the National Film Registry by Congressman Joaquín Castro.

Taiyon J. Coleman discusses her essay collection.

An interview with Colm Tóibín about his latest book, 'On James Baldwin.'

'The Disappeared' by Rebecca J. Sanford is a debut novel inspired by the real mothers and grandmothers who spoke out against Argentina's military dictatorship.

José Antonio Rodríguez discusses his latest poetry collection, "The Day's Hard Edge."

Many works of fiction feature cataclysmic weather events. In "God's Gonna Trouble the Water" by Randall Kenan, the effects of a hurricane don't always affect diverse communities the same way.

A review of the memoir Getting to Know Death: A Meditation by Gail Godwin

A young girl must come to terms with her role in a tragic loss—and work to reshape the narrative of her own life in the aftermath. A review of Poor Deer by Claire Oshetsky.

What is an emotional history? What of the “emotional history” of the United States? This is what historian Andrew Burstein investigates—and answers— in his latest book, Longing for Connection: Entangled Memories and Emotional Loss in Early America. The book covers the period from America's founding through the Civil War.

On this episode of Book Public, Simon Van Booy discusses his latest novel, Sipsworth.

In his latest book, Truth is the Arrow, Mercy is the Bow, Steve Almond explores the trials and myths that influence our writing lives.

Lilly Gonzalez is the executive director of the San Antonio Book Festival. She discusses this year's exciting author line-up at the April 13 all-day event.

Book Public: Lynn Schmeidler discusses her story collection, Half-Lives, with Book Public host, Yvette Benavides.

Rowan Beaird discusses her novel The Divorcées. It's set in the 1950s on a divorce ranch, a place where women could live for six weeks to establish residency in order to be able to file for divorce in a Nevada court.

Tommy Orange discusses Wandering Stars. The novel traces the legacies of the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School through three generations of a family.

Leslie Jamison discusses her memoir, 'Splinters: A Kind of Love Story' with Yvette Benavides.

Book Public podcast host Yvette Benavides interviews Margot Livesey about her latest novel, 'The Road from Belhaven.'

Book Public host Yvette Benavides interviews Kristin Hannah about her latest novel, "The Women."

The author Katherine Min passed away in 2019. Her daughter, Kayla Min Andrews, discusses her mother's posthumously published novel, The Fetishist.

Richard Blanco reads from and discusses his latest poetry collection.

In All the Little Bird-Hearts, debut novelist Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow has created a richly drawn psychological drama set in the late 1980s about a woman, Sunday Forrester, who is autistic. The author is also autistic. The novel was longlisted for the Booker Prize for 2023.

Kelly Sather discusses her award-winning story collection, 'Small in Real Life.'

Elizabeth Crook's latest novel, The Madstone, is a thrilling story set in Texas in the late 1860s. Protagonist Benjamin Shreve sets out on a long journey to help a pregnant mother and her little son evade a murderous gang.

At 95 years old, Lore Segal is at the top of her game with her latest story collection, Ladies' Lunch.

In James McBride's The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, we are in Pottstown, Pennsylvania in 1972. A human skeleton has been discovered at a construction site. Who holds the secrets of this discovery? The answer might be found among the residents of Chicken Hill, a neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans have lived side by side for decades, sharing life's sorrows and joys—and looking out for each other.

Richard Russo won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Empire Falls and millions have followed the saga of Donald “Sully” Sullivan. Richard Russo discusses Somebody's Fool, the third book in his North Bath trilogy.

Cristina García discusses her latest novel, Vanishing Maps. The novel follows the del Pino family we first met in García's first novel, Dreaming in Cuban.

A review of the novel 'Home Reading Service' by Fabio Morábito

Isabel Allende's novel traces the ripple effects of war and immigration on one child in Europe in 1938 and another in El Salvador in 2019. Each finds refuge in the U.S.