Author Jesmyn Ward was raised in coastal Mississippi and she was the first in her family to go to college, which is where she started writing. Her second novel "Salvage the Bones,” informed by her experience enduring Hurricane Katrina, won the National Book Award. She talks to Brendan about what inspired her new novel, "Sing, Unburied, Sing," and more.
Jenny Zhang's writing has been featured in publications like the New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, and Jezebel. She has two published collections of poetry, "Hags" and "Dear Jenny, We Are All Find." Her debut short-story collection, "Sour Heart," is available now.
Teju Cole is a true polymath. His novel, 'Open City,' won the PEN/Hemingway award. And he writes about photography in a column for The New York Times Magazine, which makes sense since he also exhibits his own photography around the world. His new book, 'Blind Spot,' combines all these pursuits into one publication. talks with Brendan about what he learned about himself in the process.
Alan Alda is beloved for starring as "Hawkeye" Pierce on one of the best TV shows of all time, "M*A*S*H." He was a regular on another great show, "The West Wing," and he hosted the PBS series "Scientific American Frontiers" for over a decade. He's also releasing a new book to help us all communicate better. Listen as he tries to solve our listeners' etiquette woes on thankless relatives and more.
Celebrated chef and cooking teacher Samin Nosrat's first-ever fine dining meal was at the famed restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Almost immediately thereafter, Samin dropped everything to work there. That led her to develop a whole new way of cooking, which she teaches in her new book, "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat." She digs a little into the acid element, before helping our listeners let go in the kitchen and more.
Writer Samantha Irby is known for her hilarious personal essays and deadpan storytelling style. You can read some of her work on her blog, of the B**ches Gotta Eat. FX is turning her memoir "Meaty" into a TV show. Listen as she tells a tale from her latest collection, "We Are Never Meeting in Real Life."
The great-great-grand kids of etiquette queen Emily Post return! The brand-new edition of their etiquette manual, called "Emily Post's Etiquette, 19th Edition," just came out. They help our listeners, especially one who is sick of people yawning without covering their mouths.
Anne Lamott's spunky, soul-bearing non-fiction has made her a best-selling author many times over. Her books sometimes investigate spiritual themes and sometimes they're about very human triumphs and tribulations, like overcoming alcoholism or raising a son as a single mother. In her new book, she celebrates a virtue that seems to be in short supply these days: mercy.
Millions of listeners tune in to hear Charlamagne co-host the nationally syndicated radio show "The Breakfast Club." He's known for his long, sometimes combative interviews with everyone from Kanye West to Hillary Clinton. Now, he's available in book form. Before answering our listeners' etiquette questions about competitive gym bunnies, he explained his ideas behind the title of the book, his "F" Your Dreams principle, and more.
Each week, our listeners send in their questions about how to behave, and answering them this time around is Charlamagne Tha God. He is an outspoken giant of terrestrial radio, co-hosting the morning show "The Breakfast Club," which is syndicated by iHeartRadio. He's also got an MTV2 show. After we spoke to him about his new book, "Black Privilege," he stuck around to help our listeners with a few etiquette woes and shared some sage wisdom from his grandmother.