Village Well Podcast

Welcome to the Village Well Podcast (formerly Shelf Talkers). After devastating wildfires swept through Los Angeles, we decided to dedicate an episode to cover the extent of their impact on our community. We interviewed staff and customers about their experiences going through the fires. Whether affected directly or indirectly, we all feel the grief caused by such a generational disaster. We hope...

This week’s guest is author, anthropologist, and MacArthur Foundation Fellow ⁠ Jason de León. We discuss his book Soldiers and Kings (winner of the National Book Award), which covers the world of immigrant smuggling across North and South America. We had a wide-ranging conversation covering US Immigration, Jason's work as an anthropologist, and how the 2024 election will reshape American history....

This week’s guest is Mirin Fader , sports journalist and author of biographies on Giannis Antetokounmpo and Hakeem Olajuwon. We cover Hakeem's legacy on the court, his devotion to Islam, and Mirin's experience in journalism. Recommendations - ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Beloved by Toni Morrison - ⁠ The Friend by Sigrid Nunez - The Sentence by Louise Erdrich - ⁠ Giannis: The Improbable Rise of an NBA Champion by Mirin Fa...

On this special holiday episode, the staff of The Village Well recommends gifts for 2024! See what we picked out below: Fiction American Rapture by CJ Leede We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell Nonfiction The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger Cherished Belonging by Father Greg Boyle The Creative Act by Rick Rubin Hitler in Los Angeles by Stev...

This week’s guests are David A Romero and Matt Sedillo , poets, authors, and co-founders of El Martillo Press . We talked about the creative process, making a living as an artist, and the world of indie publishing. Recommendations - ⁠ Real Americans by Rachel Khong - Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut - City on the Second Floor by Matt Sedillo Shelf Talkers is a podcast from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Village Well Books...

This week’s guest is Father Greg Boyle , a Jesuit priest, founder of Homeboy Industries , and author of the new book Cherished Belonging .  In this episode, he shares stories and spiritual lessons from 40 years of working with Homeboy industries. Father Boyle's Recommendations - Ordinary Mysticism by Mirabai Starr - Somehow by Anne Lamott - Falling Upward by Richard Rohr - ⁠ The Healing Path ⁠ by...

This week’s guest is Jesse Katz , a Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The Rent Collectors . We cover his research for the book, the history of street vending in Los Angeles, and issues with the criminal justice system. Jesse's Recommendations - Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky - Evicted by Matthew Desmond - Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond Shelf Talkers is a podcast from ⁠⁠⁠ Villa...

This week's guest is the current Mayor of Culver City, Yasmine-Imani McMorrin. She talks about her book club, Los Angeles and country-wide politics, and a whole lot more! SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from⁠⁠⁠ Village Well Books & Coffee⁠⁠⁠ in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are themselves reading. A new episode is released every...

This week's guest is the best-selling author of the murder-mystery-puzzle series Murdle , GT Karber . Murdle has won many awards, including the 2024 British Book Award, and has been a bestseller internationally (and at VW) for over a year! We talk puzzles, mystery writing, and a whole lot more! SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from ⁠⁠ Village Well Books & Coffee⁠⁠ in downtown Culver City, CA, wh...

Today's episode is a fun experiment of format; we have a wonderful roundtable discussion among employees of the Village Well about the NYT article, " The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century ". Click the link to follow along or to see which you have read! We hope you enjoy this new episode. SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from ⁠⁠ Village Well Books & Coffee⁠⁠ in downtown Culver City, CA...

What do you get when a film critic and acclaimed video essayist writes a sci-fi series set in an alternate reality contemporary America? Complex aliens, three dimensional romance, societal critique, and a lot of pop-culture references. This week’s guest is ⁠Lindsay Ellis , author, media critic, and Hugo-nominated video essayist. Her debut novel, Axiom's End , published in July 2020, became an...

This week’s guest is Jesse Byrd , a children’s book author, children’s book developer with his company Moonbeam Literary and Media , and a literary agent, as well as a board member of the NPR foundation. Jesse had a career in tech at Google but decided to quit that life -- twice -- to pursue telling stories that make a difference in the world. His newest book, The Switch , is a children’s book tea...

Our first graphic novelist on the pod! Our first fellow podcaster on the pod! Our first fellow comedian on the pod! Our first fellow recovering youth group go-er on the pod! This week’s guest is Jordan Morris ! Jordan is a graphic novel writer and long-time comedy writer/podcaster. He is the host of the popular podcast Jordan Jesse Go , cohosted by NPR’s Jesse Thorn, as well as recurring cast memb...

Rosanna Xia gives us perspective. A fresh and thoughtful conversation with the busiest Los Angeles Times' environmental reporter, Rosanna was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2020 for explanatory reporting. She wrote “California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline" (Heyday 2023), which won the 2023 California Independent Booksellers Alliance Golden Poppy Award for best nonfiction, the...

Did Julia or Jared win in trivia? Guess which co-host is better at retaining obscure knowledge… Find out on this episode!  This week’s guest is Buzzy Cohen - the 9-time "Jeopardy!" winner. Buzzy later won the 2017 "Jeopardy!" Tournament of Champions. In 2021, Buzzy Cohen served as a guest host for Jeopardy’s Tournament of Champions. On this episode, Buzzy discusses his newest b...

We have the honor and privilege of talking with writer/author/poet/folklorist GennaRose Nethercott. Gennarose gives us the lowdown on all things magical realism and weird fiction. Her 2024 release, Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart , is a collection of short stories that show the uncanny yet spooky nature of human affection. Gennarose wrote the 2022 fantasy release, Thistlefoot , declared one of NP...

We are joined by award-winning anthology editor and author and blogger Jared Shurin , editor of the new, massive, absolutely sleek and dope-looking cyberpunk anthology book The Big Book of Cyber Punk ! He has edited or co-edited over 12 anthologies in his life, and has been a finalist for the Hugo and British Science Fiction awards, and founded and led the geek culture website Pornokitch for many...

Samara Bay is a downright truth-giver. She is the author of Permission to Speak: How to Change What Power Sounds Like , Starting With You (Penguin Random House, 2023). Samara coaches rising business leaders, political hopefuls, and public figures. In Hollywood, Samara worked as a speech and dialect coach on Wonder Woman 1984 with Gal Gadot, American Crime Story: Versace with Penelope Cruz and Edga...

Pearl AuYeung is the absolutely delightful author and illustrator of the 2022 children’s picture book The Best Kind of Mooncake (Page Street Kids).  Based in Los Angeles, born in Hong Kong, and raised in Shanghai, China, Pearl works as a Mattel Toy Designer. She is the illustrator of the upcoming children’s picture book Nearly Almost Exactly Like Me (Simon and Schuster, 2025).  Books recommended b...

Brian Sonia-Wallace is a multifaceted author and poet raised in Culver City, California and Santiago, Chile. His memoir, The Poetry of Strangers (Harper Collins, 2020), details his experiences engaging with the world through poetry. Brian has contributed to notable publications like the Guardian, LitHub, and Rolling Stone. His latest publication is Maze Mouth (Moontide Press, 2023). Brian fosters...

An LA native mystery author of 20 novels and short story collections, a television writer on the acclaimed FX series Snowfall, Gary Phillips is the real deal . The sequel to his most recent novel, One Shot Harry (2022), will come out in April 2024, entitled Ash Dark as Night . Gary's classic 1994 LA-based Noir fiction novel Violent Spring has its 30th anniversary edition release in May of 2024...

Kayla Min Andrews is the daughter of Katherine Min, author of The Fetishist , a book both the LA Times and Washington Post are calling “ahead of its time.” Katherine Min received a National Endowment of the Arts writer’s grant, a Pushcart Prize, and attended 8 different writers residencies. The Katherine Min MacDowell Fellowship exists in her name.  Kayla wrote the afterword to The Fetishist . Her...

Olivie Blake is the massively prolific and impressive New York Times best-selling fantasy and young adult author of The Atlas Six , and it’s sequel, The Atlas Paradox , Alone with You in the Ether , My Mechanical Romance , and many more books. Her newest book, The Atlas Complex , released on January 9th, concludes the Atlas trilogy. Books recommended by Olivie Blake: ⁠I Never Promised You a Rose G...

CJ LEEDE is a horror writer based in Los Angeles. Her debut novel,  Maeve Fly , won this year’s Octavia E. Butler 2023 Golden Poppy Award. CJ has an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University, and a BA from NYU's Gallatin School, where she studied Mythology and the Middle Ages. When she is not driving around the country, she can be found in LA with her boyfriend and rescue dogs.  Village...

Francesca Lia Block is the wildly prolific author of over 25 books, including her newest novel House of Hearts , and her writing memoir, The Thorn Necklace , and the YA classic Weetzie Bat . We discuss how writing is a source of healing, her parallel career as an MFA instructor, and her position as editor of Lit Angels , an online literary journal. SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Book...