This week’s guest is Josh Ritter, novelist, musician, all around highly intelligent gentleman.  In 2006, he was named one of the "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" by Paste magazine and his music has won numerous accolades. His albums The Animal Years and So Runs the World Away are both extremely important to me. But of course we’re here to talk books, including his own. His first novel, Brights Passage, came out in 2011, and then earlier this autumn, his second novel was published. It’s called THE GREAT GLORIOUS GODDAMM OF IT ALL, and its both a coming-of-age novel and a memory novel set during the last age of the lumberjacks. The protagonist is ninety-nine year old Weldon Applegate, and he’s looking back at his life among larger-than-life characters that populated the Pacific Northwest around the turn of the twentieth century. Ritter is from Moscow, Idaho, and the novel captures that part of the world in vivid detail. He writes in poetic, playful prose that is consistent with what we have seen in his songs for more than two decades now. As the book’s jacket says, it’s a novel that is “Braided with haunting saloon tunes and just the right dose of magic,” and “is a novel bursting with heart, humor and an utterly transporting adventure that is sure to sweep you away into the beauty of the tall snowy mountain timber.” Ritter joined the show recently to discuss the books that have inspired him and the differences he sees in songwriting and fiction writing.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Libromania

Josh Ritter

Walter is the author of seven novels, one book of short stories and one nonfiction book. His work has been selected three times for Best American Short Stories as well as the Pushcart Prize and Best American Nonrequired Reading. He’s been published in, Harper's, Esquire, McSweeney's, Tin House, Ploughshares, the New York Times, the Washington Post and many others.He began his writing career in 1987 as a reporter for his hometown newspaper, The Spokesman-Review where he was a finalist for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize as part of a team covering the shootout and standoff at Ruby Ridge, in Northern Idaho. Eventually he wrote about this in his first book, Every Knee Shall Bow, in 1995. He has also worked as a screenwriter and has taught graduate creative writing at the University of Iowa, Pacific University, Eastern Washington and Pacific Lutheran.Walter has twice won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award (for The Zero and We Live in Water), the Washington State Book Award (The Cold Millions) and was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize (The Zero) and the PEN/USA Award in both fiction (The Zero) and nonfiction (Every Knee Shall Bow). His novel Beautiful Ruins was a #1 New York Times bestseller and spent more than a year on the bestseller list. It was also Esquire's Book of the Year and NPR Fresh Air's Novel of the Year. The Financial Lives of the Poets was Time Magazine's#2 novel of the year and Walter's story collection, We Live in Water, was longlisted for the Story Prize and the Frank O'Connor Short Story Award. Walter's latest novel is the national bestseller, The Cold Millions, A BOOK OF HISTROICAL FICTION “Featuring an unforgettable cast of cops and tramps, suffragists and socialists, madams and murderers, The Cold Millions is a tour de force from a “writer who has planted himself firmly in the first rank of American authors” (Boston Globe). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jess Walter

Best known for his David Robicheaux series of novels, James Lee Burke is a New York Times best selling author many times over, who has been awarded two Edgar Awards for best novel, as well as the Grand Master Master Award, by the Mystery Writers of America. His novels have been translated into almost every language in the world and his stories of the Deep South and American West make him on the essential American novelist of the last half century. His newest book came out this fall and its called ANOTHER KIND OF EDEN. It’s described as a captivating tale of justice, love, brutality, and mysticism set in the turbulent 1960s. And for my money, it’s well worth a read this fall. It’s rollicking and weird in exactly the right sort of ways, while also featuring the precise prose that led to one publication calling him “America’s best novelist.” Burke joined the show recently to discuss the books that inspire him, his favorite of his own books, the life of the writer, and much more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

James Lee Burke

Kate Baer is a #1 New York Times bestselling poet and author of What Kind Of Woman, a book that Publishers Weekly describes as “ confident and fearless.” Her new collection of poems, I Hope This Finds You Well, is out this week and is inspired by critical messages and comments she has received over the past year, primarily on Instagram. Baer created the poems in the collection by deleting words from the original more-ugly messages such that what is left over is a poem. Erasure poetry is not new, per se, but in Baer’s hands it to becomes a contemporary feminist vision that both explores and comments on what it means to be a woman in the twenty-first century. It’s a deeply personal collection of poems, yet its also full of so much empathy that it can’t help but be universal. In this episode, she chatted with David about the books inspire her the most. They discuss books that take risks, lit Twitter, comedy writing, a book about a hermit, and how we are all going to die. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kate Baer

Wiley Cash is a NC-based writer whose new novel is called When Ghosts Come Home.  It’s the story of a NC sheriff named Winston Barnes who is forced to reckon with a complicated and strange murder investigation on the NC coast that is instigated by a mysterious plane crash. Cash’s previous award winning fiction includes A Land More Kind Than Home, The Last Ballad and This Dark Road to Mercy and he has received numerous awards including the Southern Book Prize, The Thomas Wolfe Book Prize, The Appalachian Writer’s Association Book of the Year, among many other prestigious awards. He’s been a fellow at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony, and he teaches fiction writing and literature at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, where he serves as Alumni Author-in-Residence. He lives in North Carolina with his wife, photographer Mallory Cash, and their daughters.In this conversation, David chats with Mr. Cash about the books that mean the most to him. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Wiley Cash

Alexandra Andrews is the author of Who is Maude Dixon, a delightfully twisty new mystery that has been described as heir to Patricia Highsmighth’s legacy (think Strangers on a Train or The Talented Mr. Ripley). It's the story of a young woman who works in publishing, is disillusioned with her prospects, and suddenly finds herself as the assistant for an Elene Ferrante-like novelists. Suddenly, the two of them are caught up in an international mystery complete with mistaken identities, cliffside car crashes, and foreign investigators that may or may not be bribable. It's a great time between two covers. So join David as he chats with Alexandra about the books she loves the most, the titles that inspired her to become a writer. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Alexandra Andrews

Ron Rash is one of the Carolina's most beloved authors, known in equal measure for his novels and his short fiction. He's the author of Serena, an award-winning 2008 novel about love and timber in depression-era North Carolina, and Something Rich and Strange, a 2014 collection of stories, and most recently 2020's In the Valley, a collection of stories and novella that follow up on Serena. Rash has won several awards for his writing, has been anthologised multiple times in the Best Short Stories of the year collections, and today is the Parris Distinguished Professor in Appalachian Cultural Studies at Western Carolina University. In this conversation David and Ron chat about the books he loved as a child, the books he reads when he's writing, and much, much more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ron Rash

In this episode of Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed, David chats with historian, Christopher Hull, about his new book Our Man Down in Havana: The Story Behind Graham Green's Cold War Novel. Although he's obviously best known for his many wonderful novels (and screenplays), Greene spent most of his adult life working for Great Britain's secret service. He was an adventurer, and a bit of rogue, and in many ways his work in the world of espionage met a deep-seated psychological need. In this episode, David and Dr. Hull cover this back-story (and much more).Be sure to find Our Man Down in Havana wherever you love to buy books -- and be on the lookout for the brand new audio book, out now.Remember: subscribe, rate, review! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Graham Greene the Spy, with Christopher Hull

In this episode of Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed, David chats with novelist David Joy about what it's like to be a regional novelist and whether that was something he set out to be when he first started writing fiction. They discuss the authors that influenced his work, how his neighbors have responded to his novels, and much more. Remember: subscribe, rate, review! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On the Work of the Regional Novelist, with David Joy

In this episode of Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed, David chats with author and teacher Callie Feyen about her book, The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet, in which she contemplates her time teaching Shakespeare to a group of students who didn't seem ready for it. They discuss her classroom strategies, her own love of Shakespeare, her love of libraries, and much, much more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Callie Feyen on Teaching Shakespeare

Join David Kern and guest Levi Stahl (marketing director for University of Chicago Press and a wonderful books-based Twitter follow) for a conversation about some great summer reads. They start by chatting about what makes for a good summer read, then dive in to their own lists.Here are some of the books discussed on this show: A Month in the Country, by J. L. CarrNovels and stories by Craig RiceDorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo series, Lymond Chronicles, and King HereafterThe Canterbury TalesThe Country of the Pointed Firs, Sarah Orne JewettDavid Epstein's Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized WorldA.E. Stallings' “Like”Eric Ambler's Journey into FearP.G. Wodehouse's Carry on JeevesWallace Stegner's Crossing to Safety See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Summer Reading Episode

In which David chats with Paul Sahre, one of the world's foremost book cover designers. Sahre's designed covers for the likes of Chuck Klosterman and Malcolm Gladwell, and he's done updates for Hemingway and Spark, among others. In this conversation, David and Paul discuss the process of designing a cover, some of his favorite covers of all time, and much more. Remember: If you like this episode be sure to subscribe, rate, review! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Paul Sahre, One of the World's Foremost Book Cover Designers

In this episode, longtime book critic and former editor of Books and Culture, John Wilson, joins the show to discuss the three finalists for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize: Richard Powers' The Overstory, Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers, and Tommy Orange's There There. They discuss what makes each book appealing, some of their flaws, and what these choices say about the contemporary literature world at-large. Remember: Subscribe, rate, review. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Discussing the 2019 Pulitzer Prize Finalists with John Wilson

Welcome to Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.In this episode, David chats with novelist Christian Kiefer about his new novel, Phantoms, a page-turner that weaves the "splintered stories" of two broken families torn apart by two key twentieth century wars, the cruelty of Japanese internment camps, and the devastation of dishonesty. They chat about Kiefer's writing process, revision and working with editors, the influence of Faulkner on his work, the diversity of bookstores, and much more. Remember: Subscribe, rate, review. Please note: this episode does include bleeps. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Christian Kiefer on "Phantoms" and the Writing Life

Welcome to Libromania, a podcast for the book-obsessed from the Close Reads Podcast Network. Each week David Kern will be chatting with authors, biographers, designers, collectors, critics and other people who help make book's so worthy of our attention.In this episode David chats with Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson, author of Walker Percy, Fyodor Dostoesvsky, and the Search for Influence (among other books), about Dostoevsky's gambling problem and the impact that it had on his life and his work. They talk about the way he was an open book as a writer, the role of his second wife, Anna, and his seemingly autobiographical novel, The Gambler.Remember: subscribe, rate, review! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dostoevsky's Gambling Problem (featuring Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson)

A podcast for the book-obsessed featuring interviews with contemporary authors, discussions about key figures and movements in literature history, examinations of various genres and current events in the lit world, and celebrations of book nerdom (book stores, book design, book collections, etc.)