Listen Up! Celebrating AAPI Month Year-Round
We’re a month away from Poured Over’s third anniversary, and we’re truly excited by the writers who’ve joined us on the show so far and we hope you’ll take a listen to the shows you might have missed, here, on your favorite podcast app or B&N”s YouTube channel. New episodes of Poured Over land Tuesdays and Thursdays with occasional bonus episodes on Saturdays.
Coming later this month: Rachel Khong (Goodbye, Vitamin), author of May B&N Book Club pick The Real Americans live from our store at The Grove in Los Angeles; R.O. Kwon (The Incendiaries) on her new novel, Exhibit; B&N Book of the Year Author Aimee Nezhukumatathil (World of Wonders) on her new essay collection, Bite by Bite; and Kevin Kwan, creator of the mega-bestselling Crazy Rich Asians series, live from our store on New York’s Union Square for his latest, Lies and Weddings.
Amy Tan changes the way we see birding and our own backyards in The Backyard Bird Chronicles and her very charming episode of Poured Over.
Are you watching The Sympathizer on HBO Max? Viet Thanh Nguyen, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the novel that inspired the limited streaming series produced by Robert Downey, Jr., joined us live at our L.A. flagship store at the Grove to take us behind the scenes of his brilliant, edgy memoir, A Man of Two Faces.
Space. Murder. Romance. Tradition and technology collide in Elaine U. Cho’s impressive debut, Ocean’s Godori — the first book from Lena’s Waithe’s Hillman Grad Books imprint — perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth. Elaine’s episode is here.
A National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 pick, Crystal Hana Kim takes us back to a dark time in South Korea’s recent past, in The Stone Home; her episode includes riffs on crafting historical fiction, her literary influences, and some of her own personal (and very surprising) history.
Lisa Ko, a National book Award finalist for The Leavers, returns with Memory Piece, a terrific new novel about art, friendship and coming of age. Her episode is here.
Tessa Hulls’ Feeding Ghosts is a richly woven and visually stunning graphic memoir about three generations of Chinese women exploring themes of grief, trauma and familial love. Hulls joins us to talk about her time as a DJ in Antarctica, her path to art, recording her family’s history and more, here.
“It really illuminates these questions of privilege and pleasure, and what kind of joy we can look forward to in the human experience as things continue to get worse.” In a world facing food scarcity and limited resources, a young chef enters a world of allure, privilege, abundance (and their consequences) in Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang (How Much of These Hills is Gold). Listen to her talk about the mythology of the worlds she creates, the secret to great food writing, and the politics of privilege and pleasure, here.
Loot is a caper flick, a book about a book (and who gets to tell stories), a pointed examination of colonialism’s legacy, and Tania James’s smart, sharp episode of the show is here.
The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan follows one family in 1945 Malaya as they face the realities of a life shaped by war and colonization. Vanessa joined us to talk about her family connection to her novel, her unique journey to becoming an author, the things about writing that surprised her and more. You can catch her episode here.
Loneliness is such a universal experience for so many of us — and I do hope that the book is a balm for that and helps make readers feel less alone. Sea Change, Gina Chung’s debut novel and B&N Discover pick explores family ties, grief and growing up through a complicated protagonist that readers will root for (and yes, there really is an octopus). Gina joins us on the show talk about sad girl characters, allowing women to feel anger, how we never stop “coming of age” and more.
Kayla Min’s mother, writer Katherine Min, died before she could finish her novel, The Fetishist. Kayla joins us to discuss her mother’s darkly humorous and provocative novel of love, revenge, and identity; taking on the task of finishing and publishing this novel; creating and continuing a legacy and more.
R.F. Kuang (Babel) returns to the show to talk about Yellowface, cultural appropriation, the challenges that permeate the world of publishing and what it means to be a writer, live from Union Square in New York City.
Ed Park’s Same Bed, Different Dreams blends history, technology and pop culture in a novel that spans time and reality in an unforgettable way. Park joins us to talk about the long gap between his books, writing and identity, media connections in his work and more, live from the Upper West Side.
Listen in to National Book Award winning author Sigrid Nunez (The Friend) on, among other things, The Vulnerables, the autobiographical details in her works, her unique writing process, and incorporating humor into her novels.
Sowmya Krishnamurthy’s Fashion Killa delivers an in-depth look at the significant cultural intersection of hip-hop music and fashion. Her episode is here.
Elysha Chang and her publisher, Sarah Jessica Parker, on Elysha’s debut, A Quitter’s Paradise, live from Union Square.
K-Ming Chan, author of B&N Discover pick Bestiary on her novel, Organ Meats, writing in a nonlinear way, creating personal and cultural mythologies and finding connection through literature.
Curtis Chin’s Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant follows the author’s life as he grew up in and around his family’s restaurant where he came to better understand himself and those around him. Chin talks about the perils of writing about your relatives, the nuances of cultural identity, a very particular Detroit meal, here.
Jean Kwok (Searching for Sylvie Lee) on The Leftover Woman, how she started a career in writing, the importance and language and cultural identity, how books open doors to learning and growth, and more.
Angie Kim on her B&N Book Club pick Happiness Falls, a family drama with an unconventional cast of characters centered around a missing persons case, disability awareness in fiction, how she started writing, getting into her narrator’s head and more.
Prachi Gupta takes the model minority myth on the chin in her memoir, They Called Us Exceptional. “My book is really an attempt to change that conversation and begin to dismantle some of these pressures so that we don’t have to be upheld to these standards.” Listen in here.
Jimin Han, opens her B&N Discover pick, The Apology, with a bang (and a bus) and introduces us to a surprising and funny 105-year-old woman fending off an intergenerational curse.
Beth Nguyen’s Owner of a Lonely Heart is a memoir about motherhood, loss and coming-of-age while navigating the refugee experience, told with a vivid and powerful voice.
Pirates, adventure, and intrigue: Rita Chang-Eppig’s B&N Discover pick, Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea is an absolute treat.
Mott Street is a Chinese-American Angela’s Ashes, and Ava Chin’s episode of Poured Over is here.
“I have to transport myself, and only then I can transport my reader.” Brinda Charry’s The East Indian, was a finalist for our Discover Prize, and you can hear why in Brinda’s episode.
The Covenant of Water is a gorgeous, epic novel and another huge bestseller for Abraham Verghese (Cutting for Stone), and he talks about tehlong journey to his latest novel, his career as a doctor, finding home and more. His episode of the show is here.
Ed Yong’s An Immense World brings the joy, wonder and imagination of the animal world to readers looking for a new way to perceive the world. He joined us on the show to talk about meeting animals on their own terms, the connection between Jane Austen and mice, peacocks and The Bee Gees and more.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow author Gabrielle Zevin talks with us about the parallels between writing novels and video games, to Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson, money and class, and creativity.
Eric Kim brought us delicious recipes from his life and childhood in his cookbook Korean American. He talked with us about how our family stories connect to food, the politics of spam, his pantry must-haves, making kimchi and testing recipes with his mom.
R.F. Kuang takes on colonialism, magic and the power of words in Babel. She talks with us about friendship, her literary inspirations, Victorian ideas of masculinity and queerness and more.
Yiyun Li and Ling Ma join us in conversation about the balance between humor and dread, how they start a project, some of their favorite writers and more.
From The New Yorker to memoir, Hua Hsu’s writing is gripping and poignant. He joins us on grief and growing up, inside jokes and changing the conversations we’re having about Asian America.
With a debut novel longlisted for the National Book Award, Sarah Thankam Mathews’ work redefines the coming of age novel. She joins us to talk about channeling her characters, challenging the expectations of the immigrant experience, queerness, finding our people.
With novels that have been selected for book clubs and adapted into television shows, Celeste Ng has brought her exciting and emotional voice to the world of fiction. She talked with us about the novel she never planned to write, Asian American history, pushing against our ideas of hero figures, being a word nerd and her love of Shakespeare.
Constance Wu has already conquered with iconic roles in TV and movies and now enters the world of books with her memoir, Making a Scene. She joins us on the show to talk about authenticity and big emotions, her big break (and what happened next) and her literary inspirations including Elena Ferrante and Lily King.
Pulitzer Prize-winner Siddhartha Mukherjee known for his work as an oncologist and professor, as well as the author of groundbreaking works of scientific nonfiction. He joins us on the show to talk about his latest book, The Song of the Cell, along with gene therapies, balancing the future of science with current patient care and the excitement that comes with scientific discovery.
Marjorie Liu talks with us about her latest graphic novel, The Night Eaters: She Eats the Night, the first volume in a new series, along with her love of comics and graphic novels, how the story evolved, the importance of play, sibling relationships, Dungeons & Dragons, creepy dolls and much more.
Journalist and political analyst, Anand Giridharadas, joins us on the show to talk about his urgent new book, The Persuaders, psychological transitions and cognitive dissonance, not giving up and bringing people into community and doing the work that works for you.
Rabia Chaudry is an attorney, podcaster, and author with an emotional and often humorous memoir on food and her relationship to it. She talked with us about food and family, body image, changing behaviors and a solution that works for her and finding universal truths in a story’s details.
Debut novelist Oindrila Mukherjee talked with us about the looming influence of American pop culture in India, building a fictional city from scratch, tossing out her entire first draft and starting over, her unconventional path to publication, her writing advice and her love of literature in translation.
Matthew Salesses combines the seemingly unlikely pair of Korean Dramas and basketball in his novel The Sense of Wonder. He talked with us on the effect of Jeremy Lin, the structure of a novel vs. a K-drama, his teaching career and more.
After the success of How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell returns to the big questions, taking on time and the way we structure our societies around it in, Saving Time. She joined us to talk about commodifying time and leisure, the language we use to describe time, the authors and artists that are important to her and more.
Elaine Hsieh Chou’s debut novel Disorientation is an academic satire that will resonate with those that have navigated the world of post-graduate education. She joined us to talk about Asian American identity, how she changed while writing the book, what she’s working on next and more.
The vivid landscape of Singapore comes to life in Rachel Heng’s The Great Reclamation. She talked with us about the legacy of colonialism, rewriting (with an assist from post-it notes and index cards), Elizabeth McCracken and the Michener Center, the histories that get told (and the ones that don’t), Crazy Rich Asians.
Memoirist and author of All You Can Ever Know and A Living Remedy, Nicole Chung, joins in conversation on the inequality in the American healthcare system, privilege and class, how writing this memoir changed her and more.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Disgraced, Ayad Akhtar is also a sharp and witty novelist. Ayad joined us on the show to talk about the inspiration for the outrageous and wildly funny Homeland Elegies unreliable narrators, the 1980s, money and Shakespeare.
Clark and Division is a different kind of thriller for Edgar Award-winner mystery Naomi Hirahara. Here she is on sisterhood and coming-of-age, Japanese-American Internment and the 100-442nd Infantry Battalion, and the writers who’ve influenced her work.
When do we start calling immigrant stories American stories? Kat Chow, author of Seeing Ghosts has an answer. Kat joins us on the show to talk about death and grief, ghosts and survival and debt, what it was like to report her own family’s story, taxidermy as metaphor, the American Dream, and more.
Love it or hate it (and there really seems to be no middle ground), The Great Gatsby still speaks volumes about us, our society, and the American Dream. Min Jin Lee, the acclaimed author of Pachinko and Free Food for Millionaires, has a written an introduction for this classic novel, and she joins us on the show to talk about Fitzgerald’s characters, what the novel means to her, and more.
We’ve loved Ruth Ozeki’s work since her very first novel, My Year of Meats. She talks about the connection between The Book of Form and Emptiness and A Tale for the Time Being, keeping space for serendipity and a sense of play in her novels, and more.
Ever wondered how a Desi kid from New Jersey ended up working at the White House (after a stint in Hollywood)? Kal Penn tells all in his memoir, You Cannot Be Serious—and riffs on Aunties, Mira Nair’s film The Namesake and more.
Jung Yung follows her intense, unforgettable debut, Shelter, with a O Beautiful. Here she is on shame and vulnerability and power and telling the truth.
If we sound a little giddy in this episode, we are. We were taping the morning that Michelle Zauner got the news about Japanese Breakfast’s Grammy nominations. Crying in H-Mart has spent more than 40 weeks on the bestseller list and here’s Michelle on “struggling to be good and excelling at being bold” and so much more.
Lam Samantha Chang’s novel The Family Chao had us laughing and crying. She joins us on the show to talk about her post-immigrant novel, on turning The Brothers Karamazov into a Chinese American family in Wisconsin, and more.
Left-handed, lactose intolerant, wisecracking Wajahat Ali joins us on the show to talk about Go Back to Where You Came From, growing up brown and Muslim in the Bay Area, his parents’ time in jail, trading his law degree for the writer’s life, what Toni Morrison said to him after Ishmael Reed introduced them, and more.
“…But, you know, I’m not going to write Succession.” Weike Wang follows up her acclaimed debut novel, Chemistry, with the deadpan, darkly comic Joan is Okay. Weike joins us on the show to talk about how (and why) work becomes home for Joan, family and grief and William Faulkner, the horror of Mickey Rooney’s yellowface performance in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and much more.
Hanya Yanagihara follows up her massive hit A Little Life with To Paradise, a story of love and ambition, loneliness and freedom, that cuts across time and reimagined Americas. Hanya joins us on the show to talk about Hawaii and New York, her admiration for the novels of Kazuo Ishiguro, what paradise means for her characters, the helix of history, and more.
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka is 159-pages of perfect. Julie joins us on the show to talk about her elegant, witty and elegiac new book and its “soft beating heart,” the joy (and comedy) she found writing about this community, writing in pencil (and more of her creative process), silence and memory, and more.
“…A big part of this book is to have a more whole picture of our history here. It is the last 30 years, 90s to now, but we do devote a big chunk of the before as well because we want to plant those roots and say This began a long time ago. Let’s at least start this conversation where we acknowledge and have a more deep understanding of our history. It doesn’t all end with this book either.” Jeff Yang, Phil Yu, and Philip Wang join us on the show to talk about their fabulous, beautifully illustrated new book, Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the 90s to Now, which covers all things Asian American. Jeff, Phil and Philip riff on where we’re really from, things we love, what the words Asian American and representation really mean, Vincent Chin, Fresh Off the Boat and Crazy Rich Asians, Jeff and Phil’s podcast They Call Us Bruce, and more.
Actor John Cho steps into a new role, author, with the publication of Troublemaker, his first book for middle grade readers. John joins us on the show to talk about why he needed to write this book now, his fondness for the Little House books, the elasticity of the English language (and not using italics to call out Korean words).
“…Cynical as he is of the world that he encounters, he’s also pretty cynical and critical of himself. And that manifests itself in that sense of humor that you’re talking about not a light-hearted sense of humor, but a very cynical and dark sense of humor, a sense of the absurd.” Viet Thanh Nguyen, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer and The Committed (now out in paperback), among other books, joins us on the show to riff on the return of his unnamed narrator and more.
Grace D. Li loves a caper flick, and now she’s written Portrait of a Thief, a caper novel with a very fun Chinese American cast. Grace joins us on the show to talk about the true story that inspired her debut, the Chinese diaspora, calling Texas home, the movies that inspired her fiction, being a medical student who writes fiction on the side, and more.
Easy Beauty is Chloé Cooper Jones’s first book, and it’s an incredibly smart and provocative combination of memoir, travel essay and philosophical treatise on beauty and our experience of beauty. Chloé joins us on the show to talk about what beauty looks and feels like to her, how it feels to live in a body that people stare at (and touch without invitation), how we talk and think about disability, vulnerability and self-acceptance, and more.
Nghi Vo won the Hugo Award for Debut Novella with The Empress of Salt and Fortune, the first volume of her Singing Hills Cycle. Nghi’s remixed and remastered The Great Gatsby for her new paperback, The Chosen and the Beautiful. She joins us on the show to talk about re-imagining an American classic with a layer of magic, taking Gatsby out of the male gaze and putting Jordan Baker in the center of everything, the art of Vietnamese paper cutting, and more.
“I grew up hearing The Ramayana over lunch. My grandma would tell me little bits and pieces to me and my younger sister, she would tell us little bits and pieces every day. And we would ask to hear the same stories over and over again.” On May 3rd, we’re kicking off AAPI Heritage Month with Vaishnavi Patel digging deep into a South Asian classic for her debut novel, Kaikeyi.