Listen Up! June 2022 on Poured Over

We’re kicking off Pride Month with one of our absolute favorite writers, David Levithan—we have a B&N Exclusive Edition of his classic rom-com Boy Meets Boy, and we promise you won’t want to miss this episode.

We have fresh takes on coming-of-age stories from debut authors to add to your Summer Reading TBR lists: 2018 Youth Poet Laureate of Oakland, Leila Mottley started writing her extraordinary, assured first novel, Nightcrawling, when she was only sixteen (she’s twenty now). Katie Runde will make you laugh and break your heart with her debut novel, The Shore.

Looking for a fairy tale retelling to stop you in your tracks? Hannah Whitten’s here with a B&N Exclusive Edition of For the Throne, the sequel to her fan favorite novel, For the Wolf.

We have interviews with bestselling, acclaimed authors Tom Perrotta and Geraldine Brooks, too. Perrotta, whose debut story collection Bad Haircut was a B&N Discover pick back in the day, follows up his last hit, Mrs. Fletcher, with Tracy Flick Can’t Win (featuring the one and only future class president from Election.) Brooks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March and People of the Book, among others, returns with a stunning new novel, Horse, that transports readers between the 1850s and the present day.

They’re not the only writers we’re excited to hear from again: Sloane Crosley’s genre-busting new novel, Cult Classic, is gobs of fun and utterly original. (Who hasn’t snuck out of a dinner to buy cigarettes?) You won’t want to put down Lapvona, a medieval tale from Ottessa Moshfegh, author of the critically acclaimed #booktok hit My Year of Rest and Relaxation. 

We’re not the only readers who will follow Patrick Radden Keefe’s reporting (Empire of Pain, Say Nothing) wherever it takes us. His latest, Rogues, is a pitch-perfect collection of his smart, sharp long-form profiles and reportage. Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin is an incredible work of art; the Jasons join us on the show to talk about their new (old) collaboration, My Name is Jason, Mine Too. Corban Addison moves over from fiction in his latest, Wastelands, a page-turning true story of families fighting for legal justice in North Carolina. If you’re looking for a writer with the honesty and verve of Kiese Laymon, let us introduce you to Brian Broome and his searing (and often very funny) memoir, Punch Me Up to the Gods.