POPULARITY
Lisa Swayze has been the General Manager at Buffalo Street Books for 7 years and will transition to becoming the Executive Director of the bookstore's new literary nonprofit in 2025. Lisa is on the board of directors of the American Booksellers Association and the Downtown Ithaca Alliance. Jessica Stockton-Bagnulo is the owner and co-founder of Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, New York, where she also currently serves as the Events & Marketing Manager (because she loves hosting parties). She has worked in independent bookstores in New York City since 2000, has served on the board of NAIBA and various other book industry boards and committees, and is currently on the board of the American Booksellers Association (along with lovely colleagues Lisa and Jake). She lives with her husband and daughter (both avid readers, thankfully) in Brooklyn. Lisa's Favorites: James - Percival Everett The Sapling Cage - Margaret Killjoy Not for the Faint of Heart - Lex Croucher (YA) Swift River - Essie Chambers American Daughters - Maurice Carlos Ruffin God of the Woods - Liz Moore Where They Last Saw Her - Marcie Rendon Anita de Monte Laughs Last - Xochitil Gonzalez Blue Light Hours - Bruna Dantas Lobato Catalina - Karla Cornejo Villavicencio The Pairing - Casey Mcquiston Shred Sisters - Betsy Lerner A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy - Nathan Thrall Jessica's favorites: The Book of Love by Kelly Link — Best Literary Novel Featuring Complex Magic Systems, Diverse Love Stories, Unexpected Beauty, and Karaoke Hum by Helen Phillips — Best Near-Future Dystopia that is Also About Parenting Help Wanted to Adelle Waldman — Best Novel About Capitalism The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger — Best Science Writing / Best Book About Plant Intelligence and Scientist Drama The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman — Best Doorstop Literary/Historical Fantasy (With Philosophical Caveats) In Universes by Emet North — Best Queer Multiverse Novel Playground by Richard Powers — Best Nature Writing as Fiction Far Sector by N. K. Jemisin — Best Socially Aware Superhero Graphic Novel Orbital by Samantha Harvey — Best Sentences About Earth non-frontlist / rereads: Space Crone by Ursula LeGuin — Best Essays by Best Essayist The Privilege of a Happy Ending by Kij Johnson — Best Quest Narrative Berlin: City of Stones, City of Smoke, City of Light — Best Epic of Quotidian Life Before the Abyss Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Lisa Swayze has been the General Manager at Buffalo Street Books for 7 years and will transition to becoming the Executive Director of the bookstore's new literary nonprofit in 2025. Lisa is on the board of directors of the American Booksellers Association and the Downtown Ithaca Alliance. Jessica Stockton-Bagnulo is the owner and co-founder of Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, New York, where she also currently serves as the Events & Marketing Manager (because she loves hosting parties). She has worked in independent bookstores in New York City since 2000, has served on the board of NAIBA and various other book industry boards and committees, and is currently on the board of the American Booksellers Association (along with lovely colleagues Lisa and Jake). She lives with her husband and daughter (both avid readers, thankfully) in Brooklyn. Lisa's Favorites: James - Percival Everett The Sapling Cage - Margaret Killjoy Not for the Faint of Heart - Lex Croucher (YA) Swift River - Essie Chambers American Daughters - Maurice Carlos Ruffin God of the Woods - Liz Moore Where They Last Saw Her - Marcie Rendon Anita de Monte Laughs Last - Xochitil Gonzalez Blue Light Hours - Bruna Dantas Lobato Catalina - Karla Cornejo Villavicencio The Pairing - Casey Mcquiston Shred Sisters - Betsy Lerner A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy - Nathan Thrall Jessica's favorites: The Book of Love by Kelly Link — Best Literary Novel Featuring Complex Magic Systems, Diverse Love Stories, Unexpected Beauty, and Karaoke Hum by Helen Phillips — Best Near-Future Dystopia that is Also About Parenting Help Wanted to Adelle Waldman — Best Novel About Capitalism The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger — Best Science Writing / Best Book About Plant Intelligence and Scientist Drama The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman — Best Doorstop Literary/Historical Fantasy (With Philosophical Caveats) In Universes by Emet North — Best Queer Multiverse Novel Playground by Richard Powers — Best Nature Writing as Fiction Far Sector by N. K. Jemisin — Best Socially Aware Superhero Graphic Novel Orbital by Samantha Harvey — Best Sentences About Earth non-frontlist / rereads: Space Crone by Ursula LeGuin — Best Essays by Best Essayist The Privilege of a Happy Ending by Kij Johnson — Best Quest Narrative Berlin: City of Stones, City of Smoke, City of Light — Best Epic of Quotidian Life Before the Abyss Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies
Maria chats with screenwriter and actor Marianne Leone about her memoir Five Dog Epiphany, a true story about the small joys she and her husband, actor Chris Cooper, were able to find from their bischons after their son Jesse passed away suddenly. Her story reminds us about the healing powers that animals bring to our lives. (And Maria read the book in a day!!)Marianne is doing a book tour (including Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn NY on Wed 9/18);see all the dates and locations marianneleonecooper.com
The Daily Beast's senior political reporter Roger Sollenberger tells The New Abnormal why Trump's lead in the polls compared with Biden is set to narrow as the election nears. Plus! Danielle Moodie talks to psychiatrist Jonathan Metzl about his new book What We've Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms. Moodie will also host Metzl at the Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn on Feb. 5 where they will further explore how our collective failure to stop mass shootings is betraying the democracy envisaged by the framers of the Constitution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A new novel, set in a world where biodiversity and food stores have been decimated by a persistent fog, a chef accepts a job in an elite mountain community that has become mostly isolated from the rest of the world. Author C Pam Zhang joins us to discuss her latest book, Land of Milk and Honey, which Kirkus calls "mournful and luscious, a gothic novel for the twilight of the Anthropocene Era." EVENTS: Tonight at 7:30 pm, Zhang will be speaking at Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene in conversation with Sarah Thankam Mathews. On Saturday at 7:30, Zhang will be speaking at the Brooklyn Museum.
Edan Lepucki's latest novel, Time's Mouth, follows a woman who discovers an ability to time travel, which she then hones and transmits to other women. She joins us to discuss her book. Lupucki will be appearing at a book event at Greenlight Bookstore tonight at 7:30pm. *This segment is guest-hosted by Kousha Navidar.
Ashley interviews Kirthana Ramisetti about her novel, Advika and the Hollywood Wives. They talk about writing a young woman making choices, writing about #OscarsSoWhite and Bollywood. They also discuss three films she would put into the Criterion Collection. Book content warning: death Bookstores mentioned: Greenlight Bookstore, Beach Books, Book Soup, Book Passage, Sisters Uptown Support our host & guest: Follow Kirthana Ramisetti: Website // Instagram // Twitter Follow Ashley: Instagram // Twitter // Website Beyond the Box: Our weekly round-up of blog and podcast content delivered directly to your inbox every Friday Check out our online community here! This episode was edited by Niba and produced by Renee Powers on the ancestral land of the Dakota people. Original music by @iam.onyxrose Learn more about Feminist Book Club on our website, sign up for our emails, shop our Bookshop.org recommendations, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Pinterest.
Author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Kelly Link is widely considered to be one of the masters of the modern American short story. Her new collection, White Cat, Black Dog, takes seven traditional fairytales and updates them for the modern age, from Snow White to Hansel and Gretel. Link joins us to discuss the collection ahead of her in-person event at Greenlight Bookstore at 7:30 pm.
We bid farewell to our “Quarantine Season” of podcasts as we navigate our way back to in-person author events at Greenlight Bookstore! For our virtual season's swan song, we reprise award-winning poet Yanyi's virtual launch event for DREAM OF THE DIVIDED FIELD, a collection on heartbreak and transitions, written with a piercing lyric ferocity. How can we carry our homes with us? Informed by Yanyi's experiences of immigration, violent heartbreak, and a bodily transition, these poems explore the contradictions that accompany shifts from one state of being to another. Acclaimed poet Sandra Lim (THE CURIOUS THING) joined Yanyi in a generous conversation that telescoped through questions of astrology, craft, the importance of journaling, and the chorus of influences that sing through one poet's voice. (Recorded March 17, 2022.)
On today's show, we are joined by author and survivor, Nelson Simon. Nelson joins us to discuss his new book, “Soul of the Hurricane: The Perfect Storm and an Accidental Sailor”. In 1991, Nelson and the rest of the crew of the Anna Kristina were caught in what became famously known as “The Perfect Storm”. Nelson recalls for us the trauma of this near-death experience, as well as his path to recalibrating himself after the incident. Nelson's story is absolutely incredible, and we could have talked with him for hours. We highly recommend you read his book and attend some of the release events he has coming up if you are in the NYC area.To register for the Launch Party on Oct. 26th, listeners can use this link.To register for the event with Greenlight Bookstore on Oct. 28th, or order a signed copy of the book, listeners can use this link.Listeners outside of the U.S. can get free shipping anywhere in the world and a 10% discount through the Book Depository. Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Processing by becoming a member!Processing is Powered by Simplecast.
Join novelist Joe Moldover, author of EVERY MOMENT AFTER, as he chats with NYT bestselling author Lev Grossman about The Magicians, his other speculative works, and his favorite bookseller, Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn! Hosted by Trisha Blanchet
Greenlight Bookstore events director Jessica Stockton Bagnulo interviews Jason Reynolds and Danica Novgorodoff about Novgorodoff's graphic novel adaptation of Reynold's award-winning young adult novel, Long Way Down. Their generous and brilliant conversation on craft and content explores the process of translating the novel's verse to the graphic novel, the complicated context of masculinity and violence particularly in Black communities with generations of trauma, the challenges of visually depicting violence realistically but not gratuitously, and an unforgettable story about a teacher and a goldfish. (Recorded November 17, 2020)
Yaa Gyasi discusses her new novel, Transcendent Kingdom . It tells the story of a Ghanaian immigrant family in Alabama. When her severely depressed mother declares that prayer is the only thing that will help her, Gifty wrestles with the limits of the evangelical faith she was raised with and the limits of her work as a neuroscientist, trying to discover the neural circuitry of addiction. Event: Yaa Gyasi will be in conversation with Tracy K. Smith on Tuesday, September 8 at 7:30 pm, hosted by Greenlight Bookstore. For more information about this virtual event, visit Greenlight's website.
Nikita Stewart, New York Times Metro reporter covering social services and the author of Troop 6000: The Girl Scout Troop That Began in a Shelter and Inspired the World (Ballantine Books, 2020), examines some of the key issue around poverty and homelessness, and resilience, in telling the story of the Girl Scout troop that started in a shelter, plus discusses some of the current issues facing homeless families at this time. VIRTUAL EVENT: Catch Nikita in coversation with Giselle Burgess, founder of Troop 6000, via live Zoom May 20th at 7:30, presented by Greenlight Bookstore.
WELCOME TO NEW YORK and welcome back to another bonus episode of Books and the City! New York City has always been a pretty big part of this podcast and our book club, so on this episode, we're talking about all things NYC - how we ended up here, how we felt about it, how we feel about it now, etc. Warning: Becky's NYC origin story is almost too pure to handle, Kayla schools us on how to refer to Long Island, Emily tries to turn this into a Chicago episode, and Libby changes her mind about the city every other day. Read on to find links to our favorite NYC bookstores! And want to share your New York faves? Send us a note at booksandthecitypod@gmail.com!-------------> Kayla's favorite bookstore: Strand Bookstore https://www.strandbooks.com/ Emily's favorite bookstore: Book Culture (with a special shout-out to Word Up Books) https://www.bookculture.com/ https://www.wordupbooks.com/ Libby's favorite bookstore: Greenlight Bookstore https://www.greenlightbookstore.com/ Becky's favorite bookstore: McNally Jackson Soho (with a special shout-out to Hoboken's Little City Books) https://www.mcnallyjackson.com/ http://www.littlecitybooks.com/ Music by EpidemicSound, logo art by @niczollos, all opinions our own.
In this Little Girls Doing Big Things interview, Rebecca speaks with Matilda Suh, an 8-year-old writer & illustrator. Rebecca first learned about Matilda’s work after finding her handmade books at her favorite bookstore in Brooklyn. …
Bookstores! They're so full of . . . books. But what about comics? What's their place there? How can people who make comics work to try to find their work a home in a physical space that mostly reaches book readers? What is the audience like? Today we talk to Greenlight Bookstore co-owner Jessica Stockton Bagnulo about how she thinks about comics in bookstores, and how she and her staff to feature authors and books that they like. How big a part of her job is comics-related? Listen to find out! Want to know more about Greenlight Bookstore? You can find them online at their website (https://www.greenlightbookstore.com) or on Twitter at @greenlightbklyn. Or visit them in Brooklyn in one of their two locations!
Social Worker, author, and Greenlight Bookstore staff alum Eleanor Kriseman discusses her debut novel, The Blurry Years, with author Julie Buntin. Together they talk about how novels grow out of short stories, the interior lives of children, working in publishing, and the struggles of female writers with being taken seriously.
The Slow book tour rolls on this week, and in this poggie Brooke sits down to chat with her irrerepressible and inspiring mate Jess Davis - a Brooklyn-dwelling tech ethicist, slow living advocate and founder of Folk Rebellion. This episode was recorded at Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn in August, and during the conversation and Q&A session Brooke and Jess talk through the meaning of slow in a fast-paced city like Brooklyn. Jess shares some of what inspired her to change from living a constantly connected, burnt out, stress-filled life to now helming an organisation who's main goal is to get people off their screens and out in to life, as well as how she manages her life in both a real and practical sense. She and Brooke also answer a whole heap of audience questions and generally just have a hell of a time hanging out. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/slow See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Happy Father's Day from Greenlight Bookstore! From the Brooklyn Voices Series, held at St. Joseph's College, author Julie Orringer speaks with Pulitzer Winner and bestselling writer Michael Chabon about his new book of essays, Pops: Fatherhood in Pieces. They discuss how parenthood and writing fit together in his life, his family ambitions from an early age, how strange his children can seem to him, and his relationship with his own father.
Journalist Jessica Bruder celebrated the launch of her new book Nomadland, an immersive narrative of the time Bruder spent with the new nomadic communities of older, low-income Americans who can no longer afford to retire. With Pulitzer Prize-winning fellow journalist Dale Maharidge, Bruder discussed the surface happiness of a nomadic life, often branded and exploited by corporations, as opposed to the economic tragedies that lead to “houselessness”; the predominance of women on the road, and the need to tell their stories in a genre formerly dominated by men; and the work, including farm work, warehouse work (especially Amazon's CamperForce) and other seasonal labor that Americans in their 70s find themselves performing, often for minimum wage -- and how they might be a canary in a coal mine for the American economy.
Two brilliant novelist/essayists dive deep into issues of photography and text as Teju Cole talks with Ben Lerner on June 14, 2017. Cole returns to St. Joseph's College to present his book Blind Spot, which uniquely synthesizes his photography and essays; after a reading accompanied by images on screen, Cole talks with Lerner about the uses of syntax, montage and interconnection; influences including John Berger and filmmaker Chris Marker; the tension between certainty/objectivity and freedom/positionality; and the complex relationship of political responsibility and visual arts, among other topics.
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 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.
For this week's Please Explain, the veil is lifted on hit-making! New Yorker staff writer John Seabrook spills the secrets of how to produce industrial-strength hits in his new book, The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory. The story of modern pop music today starts with Denniz PoP, a Swedish DJ who produced the band Ace of Base, and was responsible for their smash hit "The Sign." Remember that one? This was an age of dance music, of big soaring choruses, and Denniz PoP knew exactly how to tailor music for the clubs. Swedish musicians were able to combine R&B and Europop because they didn't have to contend with the racial legacy of R&B, says Seabrook. Even the fact that English was not their native language was an asset to these Swedish songwriters. They wrote songs based on the sounds of syllables, not the meaning of words. Gone were the songs with heavy metaphors, double entendre, and symbolism. The Swedes industrialized a form of song-making that started with Hip-Hop, says Seabrook, the track-and-hook approach. Despite the fact that hit machines don't last long, Denniz PoP's disciples continued to churn out hits. Max Martin is responsible for many Backstreet Boys hits, and Britney Spears' infamous "Baby One More Time" (though the song was originally pitched to and rejected by TLC). But as the backlash against pure-pop music emerged and Napster ate into CD sales, many of these hitmakers began to lose work. Until a little show came along called American Idol. Kelly Clarkson worked with Max Martin and his protege, Dr. Luke, on her first smash hit. When Clarkson broke away from Martin and Dr. Luke and released an album of original music, it tanked. Max Martin, Dr. Luke, and their music machine continue to churn out hits. EVENT: On Monday, October 5th, John Seabrook will be at Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217 at 7:30 P.M.
Bookstore Pop-ups, Hybrids, and Rebels: Why Indie booksellers are leading the movement to support and foster local businesses A panel discussion with maverick booksellers David Kipen, Andrew Laties, and Josh Spencer on why there is no better time to be in the book business. “For a while I was really interested in the future of books. Now I'm interested in the present of books.” – Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, co-founder, Greenlight Bookstore, Brooklyn (founded 2009) For the past decade, the book business has been dominated by conversations about chain stores, online retailers, and the e-book market, all of which pointed to the perennial uncertainty about the future of books generally. And yet from coast to coast a new wave of independent booksellers is staking a claim and embracing uncertainty to make the point: books are still here, and the future is now. Skylight books is pleased to welcome David Kipen (Libros Schmibros), Andrew Laties (Rebel Bookseller) and Josh Spencer (The Last Bookstore) for a panel discussion on why and how: Even in a treacherous economy, independent bookshops like Brooklyn's Greenlight Bookstore are opening and succeeding; Pop-up stores, like the current Libros Schmibros partnership with the Hammer Museum, are becoming the norm Independent bookstores are leading the movement to support locally owned businesses. David Kippen is the founder of Libros Schmibros, a hybrid lending library and used book shop in Boyle Heights. He is the former director of the National Endowment for the Arts' National Reading Initiatives, and past book critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, established Libros Schmibros in July 2010 Andy Laties is the author of Rebel Bookseller: Why Indie Business Represent Everything You Want to Fight For—From Free Speech to Buying Local to Building Communities. Laties co-founded Children's Bookstore, Children's Bookfair Company, Children's Museum Store, and Povertyfighters.com, and created the film Art of Selling Children's Books. He co-founded and still manages the museum shop at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts, which Parents Choice called “the very best bookstore for picture books in the entire world.” Josh Spencer is the founder of The Last Bookstore in Downtown LA. After selling books online for a decade, Spencer decided to go backwards in time and open up a physical used bookstore in 2009. With his neighborhood of downtown LA experiencing its own rebirth it seemed like the logical place to try retail time travel. The Last Bookstore did well enough for him to move into a new location 10 times as big less than two years later, and the rest is history in the making (as we speak). Moderated by Emily Pullen from Skylight Books. THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS SEPTEMBER 11, 2011.
In episode 3-2, join Rob and his comedy buddies as they take to the Brooklyn streets to perform at a block party in Fort Green. How can a comedy show succeed in the middle of the street in 90+ degree heat? Find out in this episode!Many thanks to the comics: Peggy O'Brien, Victor Varnado, and our emcee Bob Powers. Also to the Greenlight Bookstore on Fulton St., who host Bob's monthly comedy spoken word series Steamboat.