GrottoPod

Beat the dog days of summer by stepping into the GrottoPod, where BQ and Larry await. This week, your hosts sit down for a wide-ranging discussion about the writing life that touches on everything from process to payment, 1,000 words a day,

What’s poet Matthew Zapruder’s favorite book? Find out this week, as the author of Why Poetry and former New York Times poetry editor joins BQ and Larry for a live podcast at the San Francisco Public Library,

Victoria Piontek’s literary journey has taken her all over the U.S., but when it came time for this author and literary associate to publish her first book, she chose to return to the verdant lushness of her Florida birthplace. This week,

This week, BQ and Larry enter the extended Nick Mamatas universe to learn about horror novels, manga, writing term papers for profit and much more. Join them as the author of the upcoming short story collection The People’s Republic Of Everything share...

Don’t miss this one! For the first time, BQ goes solo as host -- and she’s talking with influential author and body-image activist Virgie Tovar, who is dropping the truth bombs. Tovar talks writing honestly and writing to empower,

This week, BQ and Larry are joined by high-quality, low-maintenance, independent writer and editor (and GrottoPod producer) Beth Winegarner for a podcast that tracks Beth’s career as a writer, reporter, editor and student. In our conversation,

Listen up! This week we’re joined in the ‘Pod by fresh-off-the-plane-from-the-East-Coast author and widely sought speaker Katherine Reynolds Lewis. Her new book about contemporary childhood and its discontents, The Good News About Bad Behavior,

Things have never been livelier in the GrottoPod. This week, longtime Bay Area book author, editor and journalist Stephanie Rosenbaum Klassen enters the 'Pod bearing Pisco Punch (plus Meyer lemonade for BQ) and things unfold rather pleasantly from ther...

This week, acclaimed first-time novelist Aja Gabel takes a break from her hectic book tour to join the GrottoPod. In an hour between bookstore appearances, Gabel settles in to discuss how being a musician inspired her new book, The Ensemble,

For this week's episode, Vanessa Hua, author of the upcoming novel A River of Stars, takes the stage at the San Francisco Public Library with GrottoPod hosts Larry Rosen and Bridget Quinn to talk about her favorite book. In this case, it's books,

Some writers have day jobs; some teachers write “on the side.” Gordon Jack does both -- and neither. On the one hand, he spent more than a decade as a classroom teacher, has taught teachers and is now a high school librarian. On the other,

Let's say you're on a summer hike and a grizzly crosses your path. Would you know what to do? Rachel Levin does. (Which is not to say she wants to encounter a bear!) Her new book, Look Big: And Other Tips for Surviving Animal Encounters,

Crime may not pay, but Paul Drexler has discovered that becoming an expert on crime does. Introduced to true crime when his uncle’s car was used in a New Jersey mob killing, Drexler is now a writer, video game developer,

What hasn’t Caroline Paul done? A one-time collegiate rower and Olympic-caliber luger, Paul has published non-fiction and historic fiction, books about stalking her cat, a memoir about being one of the first women to join the San Francisco Fire Departm...

Dashka Slater already had a novel, several children’s books and a long career as a journalist in her pocket when, inspired by an incident in her hometown of Oakland, she decided to invent something new: a genre-bending true crime narrative for young adults. This week, Slater joins the GrottoPod to talk about how her career as a “punch-the-clock” working writer led her to examine what, exactly, hap...

Author Kirstin Chen graduated college with thoughts of getting a “practical” job. Two acclaimed novels later, Chen takes time out from a hectic book tour to join the GrottoPod and talk about how her new book, Bury What We Cannot Take,

This week, New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Evison joins us for our last live show from Boise’s Storyfort literary festival. Evison, who’s the executive editor of The Nervous Breakdown, rose to fame with his 2008 novel All About Lulu.

A Boise hotel suite is the GrottoPod’s roving studio this week as our Storyfort Festival episodes continue. We talk with five-time novelist -- and Richmond Fontaine and The Delines frontman -- Willy Vlautin.

When one-time model and actress August McLaughlin set out to become a writer, she never imagined she’d become a brand. Inspired after overcoming struggles with body image and an eating disorder, McLaughlin emerged to become an author, podcast host,

For the first of four episodes recorded at the Storyfort Festival in Idaho, the GrottoPod breaks format and sits in a Boise nightspot with Stewart O’Nan, whose 16 novels include Snow Angels, West of Sunset, and City of Secrets,

Natalie Baszile’s ascent from working in her family’s business to publishing her first novel is the classic story of a 20-year “overnight” success, one that ends with a TV deal and a playdate with Oprah. Join Natalie as she steps into the GrottoPod to ...

In 1993, Pete Mulvihill chose an uncertain future in San Francisco over graduate school in Oregon, then “stumbled into a temp job” at iconic local bookstore Green Apple Books. Flash-forward a quarter century: Mulvihill is now co-owner of two Green Appl...

One of the best places to find compelling stories and characters is public spaces. Like, say, the bus. Launched a decade ago by a San Francisco State class assignment, the Muni Diaries blog quickly grew into a multimedia mini-empire.

  - Anna Brones followed her heart, and it led her around the world -- and into a career writing books about her favorite things: bicycles, food and Swedish culture. Her latest, Live Lagom: Balanced Living the Swedish Way,

Tamara Barak Aparton got more than than she expected when she left the San Francisco Examiner for a post with San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi’s office. The former reporter found that, far from being the dry,