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© Riot New Media Group, Inc. 2023
Description
BookRiot.com co-founder Jeff O'Neal explores the wide bookish world. Interviews, lists, rankings, retrospectives, recommendations, and much more, featuring people who know and love books.
67 Episodes
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First Edition returns after a summer hiatus. Amanda Bullock of Portland's Literary Arts talks about how to make a literary festival, Literary Arts growth over the past several years, and advice for book festival attendees. Then, The Atlantic Books editor Boris Kachka joins to talk about The Atlantic's new The Writer's Way series and creating modern book coverage.
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Discussed in this episode:
The 2025 Portland Book Festival
Literary Arts
The Writer's Way Series at The Atlantic
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Jeff talks to Adam Aleksic about his new book, Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language. Not sure if you will better or worse about how algorithms, censorship, and influencer culture are shaping language, but you will at least understand it better.
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Looking to elevate your reading life? Tailored Book Recommendations delivers reading recommendations hand-picked just for you by real human book nerds. Plans start at just $18!
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Discussed in this episode:
Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language by Adam Aleksic
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Jeff talks about Hot Girls with Balls with author Benedict Nguyen.
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The Book Riot Podcast Live at Powell’s on July 9th, 2025
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Jeff talks to rare-bookseller turned fantasy author Oliver Darkshire about his debut work of fantasy, Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil. Darkshire's breakout memoir of being an accidental rare bookseller is Once Upon a Tome.
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The Book Riot Podcast Live at Powell’s on July 9th, 2025
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Peter Mendelsund is a writer, book designer, musician, novelist, and painter. And he has two books coming out within just a couple of weeks of each other: Exhibitionist and Weepers. We talk about both in deep, wide-ranging conversation. This is a good one.
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The Book Riot Podcast Live at Powell’s on July 9th, 2025
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Kate McKean joins Jeff to talk about her new book, Write Through It: An Insider's Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life. Kate is a literary agent at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency and writes the extremely interesting and popular Agents + Books newsletter.
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Discussed in this episode:
The Two Kinds of Book Auctions
The Book Riot Podcast Live at Powell’s on July 9th, 2025
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I am working on a permanent title for this episode format, where I just run through a bunch of books I am interested in that are coming out in the current month. You get the idea.
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Tailored Book Recommendations has the chops to find the right read for your loved one this Father’s Day. Gift TBR today starting at just $18!
Discussed in this episode:
The Book Riot Podcast
The Book Riot Podcast Live at Powell’s on July 9th, 2025
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June new releases are hopping. Jeff talks to Susan Choi about her new novel, Flashlight. Then, Damon Young comes on to talk about his new anthology, That's How They Get You: An Unruly Anthology of Black Humor.
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Tailored Book Recommendations has the chops to find the right read for your loved one this Father’s Day. Gift TBR today starting at just $18!
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Discussed in this episode:
The Book Riot Podcast
The Book Riot Podcast Live at Powell's on July 9th, 2025
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Gretchen Rubin returns to the show to talk about wisdom, aphorisms, and her new book, The Secrets of Adulthood. PLUS: a silent reading challenge coming in June that anyone can do.
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Email jeff at firstedition (at) bookriot (dot).com.
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Discussed in this episode:
The Secrets of Adulthood by Gretchen Rubin
Read 25 Day
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Jeff goes over a couple dozen May new releases that he definitely might consider thinking about reading. Then, Book.io co-founder and CEO Joshua Stone comes on to talk about what the blockchain could offer the world of books and reading.
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Email jeff at firstedition (at) bookriot (dot).com
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Jeff talks to Jane Friedman about the new edition of her book, The Business of Being a Writer. She has been writing about the publishing industry for years (and Jeff has been reading her work for years as well), and this book is a guide for writers who don't just want to write, they want to try to make a living. It's a tremendous resource for early-career writers especially, but also has application and relevance for later-stage writers, creatives of all kinds, and people who are interested in how publishing works. The Business of Being a Writer (Second Edition) is out now.
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Links and Resources:
The Spring 2025 First Edition Giveaway
The Business of Being a Writer by Jane Friedman
Jane's website
And please do email me with feedback here: firstedition (at) bookriot (dot)com
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Jeff is joined by one of his favorite writers, Marie-Helene Bertino, and the talk about all five of her books in order, including her new short story collection, Exit Zero.
Marie-Helene Bertino's Beautyland was named a best book of 2024 by Times, Esquire, Lit Hub and many others. Jeff included it on his list of the most recommendable books of the century so far. Her new book, Exit Zero, is available now.
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Jeff talks to Gabe Henry about his new book, Enough is Enuf: Our Failed Attempts to Make English Easier to Spell. For centuries, a series of thinkers, writers, politicians, and bankers have been advocating to make English easier to spell. It hasn't really worked. But the effort is fascinating.
Enough is Enuf is available now wherever books are sold.
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Jeff talks to Jon Hickey about his debut novel, Big Chief.
Jon Hickey earned his MFA at Cornell University and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. He has received scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference and the Sewanee Writers Conference, and he is an enrolled member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. His short fiction has appeared in Massachusetts Review, Gulf Coast Online, Virginia Quarterly Review, Meridian, and The Madison Review. Jon lives in San Francisco with his wife and two sons.
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Jeff talks to the great Katie Kitamura about her new novel, Audition (it is very, very good).
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Jeff talks about 21 books coming out this month that caught his eye.
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Discussed in this episode:
I Have a Capital Suggestion for a New Pronoun by John McWhorter
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Jeff talks to Emma Pattee about her debut novel, Tilt. They talk earthquakes, IKEA, the consequences of writing place precisely, and much more. This book is a winner, folks.
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Jeff is joined by Jack Lohmann, author of the new book White Light: The Elemental Role of Phosphorus-in Our Cells, in Our Food, and in Our World. Plus, his editor at Pantheon, Todd Portnowitz joins the conversation to talk about positioning, crafting, and otherwise publishing non-fiction like this.
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Jeff talks to Stephen Graham Jones about his reading life. Stephen Graham Jones is the NYT bestselling author of thirty-five or so novels and collections, and there are some novellas and comic books in there as well. Most recent are Earthdivers and I Was a Teenage Slasher.
His new book, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, is out now.
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Alissa Wilkinson joins Jeff to talk about her new book, We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine.
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Discussed in this episode:
We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine by Alissa Wilkinson
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