Book Dreams

Even when history has been overlooked, ignored, or suppressed, that doesn’t mean it’s hidden. Researching and writing her novels, Kaitlyn Greenidge--author of Libertie and We Love You, Charlie Freeman--“approach[es] Black history from a place of abundance, from the idea that Black people have always been multifaceted, have always been fighting for freedom, and have always been coming up with ingen...

Magic. It’s just a bunch of hocus pocus…or is it? World-renowned magician Joshua Jay--author of the new book How Magicians Think: Misdirection, Deception, and Why Magic Matters--lays his cards on the table for Eve and Julie as they explore the artistry and mastery of the craft. They discuss what draws people to magic and why some devote their entire lives to it; the difference between surprise and...

Hidden behind an Olympic gymnast’s smile or a classical ballerina’s serene grace is a darker reality, one involving grueling work and, often, physical and emotional pain. Megan Abbott, Edgar Award-winning author of the recent novel The Turnout, explores the insular worlds of gymnastics, ballet, and cheerleading and uses them to spotlight the damage that patriarchy can inflict on girls. Megan discu...

What does it say about the American Dream if immigrants achieve financial success but their children, and their children’s children, still experience a lack of belonging? What does it mean to be part of groups that are both privileged and treated as outsiders? What are the flaws in the stories we tell ourselves about our parents’ generation, and what are their consequences? What are the forces, in...

Bryan Christy's investigations as a reporter have led to police raids of ivory shops in Vatican City, the defrocking of a pedophile monsignor, the arrest and imprisonment of the “Pablo Escobar of wildlife trafficking,” and the closing of China's ivory market. What strategies did he use to track down criminals? What mistakes did he make? Why were his stories so effective at generating change? And w...

What happens when a Harvard professor puts the weight of her reputation behind an alleged ancient gospel with monumental implications for the Roman Catholic Church, and the gospel turns out to be a fake? In 2012, Karen King, the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard’s Divinity School, announced the discovery of a gospel in which Jesus refers to “my wife.” Investigative reporter Ariel Sabar, auth...

In this episode of Book Dreams, Julie and Eve talk with Charles Person, the youngest and only surviving member of the original Freedom Riders. In May of 1961, thirteen men and women in Washington, D.C. boarded two public buses headed for New Orleans, to test whether states across the South were abiding by the Supreme Court’s recent decision forbidding segregation in bus depots, waiting areas, rest...

Vanessa Zoltan, author of the recently published Praying with Jane Eyre: Reflections on Reading as a Sacred Practice, is not your usual chaplain. She is an atheist who produces podcasts about treating Harry Potter, Twilight, and romance novels as sacred texts, and she runs pilgrimages and walking tours that explore sacred reading and writing. In this episode, Vanessa talks with Eve and Julie about...

“It’s a testament to [Jo Ann] Beard, a towering talent, that she ... deliver[s] a book as forceful as it is fine, leaving us both awed and unsettled.” -- New York Times review of Festival Days In this week’s episode, Eve and Julie talk to Jo Ann Beard about Festival Days, her extraordinary new collection of essays, some of which took decades to write. Jo Ann describes her deeply reflective, painst...

MINI EPISODE: Need help easing anxieties? Or resisting your cravings for sugar? Julie does. For this week’s episode, she sought help from neuroscientist Judson Brewer, author of Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind and The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Cellphones to Love--Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits. The Director...

What’s it like to see stories through the eyes of a visual artist? Marla Frazee, multiple award-winning children’s book author and illustrator, shares her vision in a captivating conversation with Eve and Julie. The recipient of two Caldecott Honors and the Boston Globe Horn Book Award, Marla knew that she wanted to become an illustrator before she’d even found language. She explains why her three...

“My people are from Wisconsin. We used to be from New York. We had a little real estate problem.”--Charlie Hill, comedian and member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. In this week’s episode, Julie and Eve talk to comedian, writer, and actor Adrianne Chalepah and comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff about Native Americans and comedy. An enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma and a member of th...

The Baby-Sitters Club. You may know the books, but do you know their story? David Levithan--Editorial Director at Scholastic; Founding Editor of Scholastic’s PUSH imprint; and New York Times bestselling author of 23 books, including Boy Meets Boy, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (co-written with Rachel Cohn), and, most recently, The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. as told to his brother--inv...

We’ll take book recommendations for $1,000, please! In a first for Book Dreams, Eve and Julie have teamed up with Brookes May--host of the podcast Books with Brookes--to play a game they’re officially calling “You Want Me to Read What?” The rules are simple: Eve, Julie, and Brookes assign each other off-the-beaten-path books and then reconvene to share their honest (and sometimes hilarious) review...

Storybound is a radio theater program designed for the podcast age. In each episode, listeners will be treated to their favorite authors and writers reading some of their most impactful stories, designed with powerful and immersive sound environments. Season 4 of Storybound features writers including Chuck Klosterman, Morgan Jerkins, Matt Haig, Nichole Perkins, Omar El Akkad, Ruth Wariner, and Tam...

How does an author write her extended family into a madcap romantic comedy and live to tell the tale? Jesse Q. Sutanto--author of the YA thriller The Obsession; the middle-grade fantasy novel Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit; and the debut adult novel Dial A for Aunties, which is being adapted by Netflix into a film--discusses with Eve and Julie the cultural and familial components of her work. They ta...

What strange and unexpected paths might one author take delving into his family's history? Menachem Kaiser--author of Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure, a New York Times Editor’s Choice and People Magazine Best New Book of 2021--shares with Eve and Julie how his attempts to reclaim a building that had belonged to his grandfather before World War II led to unexpected discoverie...

How can a thriller be more personal to an author than her own memoir? Paula McLain--New York Times and international bestselling author of The Paris Wife; the memoir Like Family: Growing Up in Other People’s Houses; and the new thriller When the Stars Go Dark--shares with Eve and Julie various ways in which her childhood of trauma and survival has influenced her writing. They discuss how Paula’s b...

How has one book that barely mentions sports reshaped the game of baseball? Joe Lemire--senior writer at SportTechie and contributor to the New York Times and MLB Network--takes Julie and Eve out to the sandlot to discuss the impact that Thinking, Fast and Slow--a book about flawed human reasoning and decision-making written by Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman--has had on our natio...

In this episode of Book Dreams, our very own Julie Sternberg offers a behind-the-scenes look at her brand new middle-grade novel. Summer of Stolen Secrets is Julie’s most personal book to date, set in her hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Join Eve as Julie guides her to a cemetery where coffins protrude from the earth, human bones visible through holes in their sides, in heat so thick and heavy...

What happens when a novelist takes on complicated and often controversial issues that consume her? And what's the payoff for the reader when she succeeds? Laurie Frankel--a New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of four novels, including the newly released One Two Three--shares with Eve and Julie some of her thoughts about the challenging and important topics that she brings to life i...

What does your collection of toilet paper say about you? Rebecca Falkoff--author of Possessed: A Cultural History of Hoarding, assistant professor of Italian studies at NYU, and stand-up comedian--unpacks the methods and madness behind hoarding with Eve and Julie. They discuss how her family experiences inspired her academic book on hoarding; how her fear of becoming a hoarder herself complicates...

(RE-RELEASE) How do we find hope even in the most difficult of times? How do we thrive after experiencing trauma? Dr. Edith Eger--eminent psychologist, Auschwitz survivor, and author of the New York Times bestseller The Choice: Embrace the Possible and The Gift: 12 Lessons to Change Your Life--talks with Julie and Eve about how to escape the prison of victimhood, fight feelings of hopelessness and...

What’s it like to be a New York Times bestselling author and the editor of bestselling books by authors like Chelsea Clinton, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Vice President Kamala Harris? Jill Santopolo--associate publisher of Philomel Books and acclaimed author of Everything After, More Than Words, and The Light We Lost (a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick)--shares with Eve and Julie why she only wan...

What are the downsides to the way we tell stories? Do we need to re-imagine the craft of writing and the way it’s taught? Matthew Salesses--English professor and bestselling author of The Hundred-Year Flood and The PEN/Faulkner finalist, Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear--takes on these questions in his new national bestseller, Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping. M...