KGNU Radio Book Club

Listen to more of our conversation with author T. A. Barron where he talks about the origins of the names of creatures from the vampire squid from hell to the aquatic salamander called the hellbender, also known as the Allegheny alligator. We also hear about the fertility benefits of eating truffles and T.A. Barron's spiritual encounter with an ancient redwood tree.

The June selection for the Radio Book Club is Naming Nature: A Cabinet of Natural Curiosities for Word Lovers by Colorado author T.A. Barron. Barron is best known for his fantasy novels for children and young adults, including the popular Merlin series. Throughout his more than 30 books, he has frequently explored themes of nature, stewardship and conservation. In his latest work, Barron turns to...

In this edition of Afterhours at the Radio Book Club, author Nina McConigley talks more about growing up as an immigrant in 1980s Wyoming, and navigating an Indian, Irish, American identity. 

The May 2026 installment of the Radio Book Club, a collaboration between KGNU and the Boulder Bookstore, is How to Commit a Post Colonial Murder, by author Nina McConigley. The book is set in 1986 in rural Wyoming and tells the story of two sisters Georgie Ayyar and Agatha Krishna as they plot to murder their uncle to end a cycle of abuse. The book is darkly funny and explores themes of identity,...

Listen to more of our conversation with Laura Pritchett where she talks more about nature writing and the urgency for literature to address the climate crisis. 

The April 2026 selection for the Radio Book Club is "Three Keys" by Colorado author Laura Pritchett. The novel follows Ammalie, a recently widowed woman who sets out on a journey across the Mountain West and eventually to New Zealand. Along the way, she begins to reconsider her role as a mother, what it means to be a woman in her fifties, and how to navigate life after the loss of her husband. The...

In this edition of Afterhours at the Radio Book Club, author Thea Weiss answers questions from the audience. This episode was recorded at Chautauqua as part of the inaugural Boulder Bookstore Reading Retreat on Sunday, March 1st, 2026. Thea talks more about her debut novel The Second Chance Cinema, and how her background as a screen writer influenced the book.

The March 2026 selection for the Radio Book Club is "The Second Chance Cinema" by Thea Weiss. The novel blends magical realism and  romance, telling the story of Ellie and Drake, an engaged couple preparing for their wedding. When they stumble upon a mysterious, seemingly abandoned movie theater, they find it’s anything but empty. Inside, films begin to roll, but instead of fictional stories on th...

In this episode of Afterhours at the Radio Book Club, Peter Heller answers questions from the audience at the event that was recorded at the Boulder Public Library on Thursday, January 15th, 2026. Peter talks about his writing process, the upcoming movie version of his novel The Dog Stars, and his favorite places to visit in Boulder.

The February episode of the Radio Bookclub features The Orchard, the latest novel by best-selling author Peter Heller. The story's protagonist is Frith, a little girl who lives with her mother, Hayley, on a remote Vermont apple orchard. The story weaves in strands of Chinese poetry to explore memory, loss and the enduring complexity of love between parent and child. This episode was recorded at th...

In this episode of Afterhours at the Radio Bookclub, author Edward Hamlin talks more about the inspiration for his novel Sonata in Wax, including how the Spanish Flu pandemic and a tuberculosis outbreak ravaged Boston.

The January 2026 selection for the Radio Bookclub is "Sonata in Wax," by Edward Hamlin. The book weaves together two timelines: a contemporary story in 2018 about a music producer in Chicago, and a story set during World War I in Boston and France, that focuses on a mysterious, lost sonata recorded on wax cylinders. In 2018, Ben Weil, the music producer, attempts to recreate the sonata that is rec...

 Listen to more of our conversation with R.L. Maizes, where she talks about being part of a writing community in Colorado, and the reality of being a writer after having had a career in law.

The December 2025 selection for the Radio Bookclub is "A Complete Fiction," by R. L. Maizes. The book tells the tale of two feuding authors: George Dunn, an author and editor at Peapod Press, a small publisher, and P.J. Larkin, an author who has accused him of plagiarizing her novel. At the center of the novel is the question "Who has a right to tell a story?" This interview was broadcast on KGNU...

This special episode of the Radio Bookclub features book sellers from the Boulder Bookstore sharing their favorite books of the year. Arsen Kashkashian's recommendations: What We Can Know by Ian McEwan The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar Barrie Kenyon children's book recommendations:  The 13th Day of Christmas (picture book) by Adam Rex Flora and the Jazzers by...

Listen to more of our conversation with author Robert McBrearty, where he talks about the art of the short story and combining light and dark tones in his stories.

Robert McBrearty's new collection of short stories is called "The Problem You Have." The stories explore the pressures of daily life, personal regrets, and the lasting impact of trauma. From a stranded man finding an unexpected bond in “Cold Night in Waterloo” to fathers and soldiers grappling with loss and moral dilemmas in “Convergence” and “Sarge and Hollings.” This interview was broadcast on K...

Listen to more of our conversation with best-selling author Shelby Van Pelt from the live event at the Boulder Public Library Foundation gala on September 18, 2025. In this special Afterhours segment, Shelby answers questions from the audience. 

The October 2025 selection for the Radio Bookclub is Remarkably Bright Creatures, which tells the story of Tova Sullivan, an elderly widow who forms an unlikely friendship with Marcellus, a remarkably intelligent yet curmudgeonly Pacific octopus living at the aquarium where she works. This episode was recorded at the Boulder Public Library Foundation annual gala on September 18, 2025, and was broa...

Listen to more of our conversation with best-selling science writer David Baron from the live event at the Boulder Public Library on August 26, 2025 In this special Afterhours segment, David answers questions from the audience. 

The September 2025 selection for the Radio Bookclub is The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America, the latest book by best-selling science writer David Baron. In the early 1900s, “Mars mania” gripped America, driven by astronomer Percival Lowell’s claim that vast canals on Mars revealed an advanced civilization. In his new book, David Baron recounts ho...

In this podcast-only episode of the Radio Bookclub, Erika Wurth talks about themes of identity in her new book, The Haunting of Room 904, and she discusses her writing process and why she is attracted to horror as a genre.

The August 2025 selection for the Radio Bookclub is The Haunting of Room 904, the latest novel by author Erika Wurth. As with Erika’s previous book White Horse , this is a horror novel that incorporates Native American history and mythology. The story tells the story of Olivia Becente, who discovers she has the ability to commune with the dead after her sister Naiche dies unexpectedly and under st...

In this episode, David Hicks talks more about his new book,  The Gospel According to Danny , and discusses life as a professor who teaches writing. 

The July 2025 selection for the Radio Bookclub is The Gospel According to Danny , the latest novel by author David Hicks. The story follows Danny Gausepohl, a man who appears to have it all — a marriage to his college sweetheart and a steady job as head waiter at a local restaurant. But as the nation reels from tragedies like the Columbine shooting and the Sept. 11 attacks, Danny finds his own lif...