LARB Radio Hour
The LARB Radio Hour is a weekly literary program from the Los Angeles Review of Books. It features interviews with authors, readings, and discussions on a wide range of literary topics. The show is hosted by LARB editors-at-large Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman.
Episodes
Chang-Rae Lee's "A Tender Age"
Eric Newman speaks with Chang-Rae Lee about his latest novel, A Tender Age, a coming-of-age novel centered on Jeon-Gi, the troubled son of hardworking Korean immigrants, who must navigate the meaning of masculinity, desire, and identity as he begins the journey into adulthood. After a violent outburst that lands him in reform school, Jeon-Gi has the opportunity for a reset at a church sleepaway ca
Claudia Rankine's "Triage"
Claudia Rankine joins Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher to speak about her new book, Triage. It follows the lifelong friendship between its narrator and someone she refers to as the "theorist." The two meet in college and begin to play a game called "collapse" — they simply fall to the floor whenever they see each other. In this game, Rankine finds an apt metaphor for the ongoing political struggles that
Eleni Sikelianos' "Memory Rehearsal"
The writer and poet Eleni Sikelianos joins Kate Wolf to discuss Memory Rehearsal, a hybrid-memoir that tracks the history of her great-grandparents, the Greek poet Angelos Sikelianos and the American actress, writer, and artist Eva Palmer. The book probes ancestry, legacy, ancient history, and queer life at the turn of last century. Using a variety of narrative methods, Sikelianos enacts the long
Erin Maglaque's "Presence"
Medaya Ocher and Kate Wolf speak to historian Erin Maglaque about Presence: A Hidden History of the Female Body, which interrogates contemporary notions of how women's bodies work. The book is both a personal account as well as an excavation of the rituals, beliefs, and experiences of women from pre-modernity. It covers everything from pregnancy and child-birth to abortion, sexual desire, work, an
Kim Phillips-Fein on the Anti-Egalitarian Strain in American Culture and Politics
Host Eric Newman and LARB Editor-in-Chief Medaya Ocher speak with Columbia history professor Kim Phillips-Fein about her new book Country of Lords: Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long Fight Against Equality in America. Phillips-Fein examines a powerful countertradition that has challenged our well-mythologized national ideal of equality from the United States's founding
Rachel Aviv's "Strangers to Ourselves"
This week we are listening back to Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher speak with New Yorker staff writer Rachel Aviv as she discuss her first book, Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us. The book collects the stories of people whose mental health crises subvert our usual understanding of diagnosis, treatment, and healing. It begins with Aviv herself, who was hospitalized at
Pemi Aguda's "One Leg on Earth"
Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman speak with the Nigerian writer Pemi Aguda about her debut novel, One Leg on Earth. Set in Lagos, a young woman is at the start of a promising new architecture career working on an ultra-luxury development when she becomes pregnant after a one night stand. As she's coming to grips with what it will mean to be a mother, a rash of pregnant Lagosians suddenly are drowning
Forever Young
Medaya Ocher, Kate Wolf, and Eric Newman come together for a special episode about aging. In the past decade, medical miracles and technological innovations have given us the chance to cheat or at least elude death longer. But what social and cultural changes are necessary to sustain a world in which many of us are living to be older than before? What is the difference between growing older and ag
Harriet Clark's "The Hill"
Harriet Clark joins Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher to speak about her debut novel, The Hill, which mirrors Clark's own life story. It follows a young girl named Suzanna whose mother is a political radical and was incarcerated for a bank robbery gone wrong when her daughter was only a year old. Suzanna is eight as the novel opens and is being raised by her grandparents. But after the death of her grand
Carlos Barragán's "The Yahoo Boys"
Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher are joined by journalist Carlos Barragán, whose new book is called The Yahoo Boys: Love, Deception, and the Real Lives of Nigeria's Romance Scammers. After his own mother is targeted by a scammer pretending to be an American soldier, reporter and researcher Barragán made his way down to Lagos, Nigeria to investigate the so-called "Yahoo Boys," young men who catfish mil
Barry Walters' "Mighty Real"
Eric Newman and Kate Wolf speak to journalist and music critic Barry Walters about Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music 1969-2000. Spanning three decades of pop, disco, rock, funk, folk, and much more, Mighty Real looks at the power of popular music to challenge sexual norms and gender categories in ways both coded and overt. Covering headliners such as David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, Motown
Kimberlé Crenshaw's "Backtalker: an American Memoir"
Eric Newman interviews Kimberlé Crenshaw about her memoir Backtalker: An American Memoir. One of the most influential legal scholars of the past half century, Crenshaw is widely known for developing the analytical framework of intersectionality and pioneering the field of critical race theory. In Backtalker, she reflects on the personal experiences, intellectual influences, and era-defining cultur
Andrew Durbin's "The Wonderful World that Almost Was"
Kate Wolf and Eric Newman speak with Andrew Durbin about his new biography, The Wonderful World that Almost Was: A Life of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek. A joint portrait of two influential yet under-sung American artists, the book follows Thek and Hujar's romance and deep friendship as it parallels their artistic formation. Both New York natives, the two men met in the 1950s, became lovers in the ea
Nose Jobs and Reality TV
A double header show on beauty, class, surgical intervention, media manipulation, and assimilation American style. First Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher speak with debut novelist Sarah Wang about her book, New Skin, a mother-daughter story rendered in the hallucinatory glare of Los Angeles and its unrepentant standard for perfection. It follows Linli Feng, who returns home to the San Gabriel Valley to
On Honesty
In this special episode, Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman discuss the "honesty crisis" facing contemporary culture. Using a recent book by the philosopher Christian Miller for reference, the hosts examine the internet as an engine for dishonesty, fueling everything from deepfakes to infidelity, AI cheating, political manipulation, and influencer peddling. Is dishonesty just part of the hum
Suzy Hansen's "From Life Itself"
Kate Wolf speaks to the Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Suzy Hansen about her new book, From Life Itself: Turkey, Istanbul, and a Neighborhood in the Age of Erdogan. It centers on Istanbul's neighborhood of Karagümrük, which Hansen first began reporting on in 2015. She writes about the influx of Syrian immigrants, the constant new construction, the conflicts between residents, and local muhtar
Lucrecia Martel "Nuestra Tierra"
Acclaimed filmmaker Lucrecia Martel joins Kate Wolf to discuss her documentary Nuestra Tierra, which follows a 2018 trial in Argentina over a crime in the remote northwestern region of Tucaman. In a showdown between a local landowner and the indigenous people of the area, a man named Javier Chacobar was shot and killed and two other community members were severely wounded; the crime footage was ca
A Return to the Queer 90's
Medaya Ocher and Kate Wolf are joined by French writer Ann Scott, whose cult novel, Superstars, was just translated into English. Superstars depicts Paris' queer techno scene—the music, the fashion, the drugs, as well as the passionate love affairs. Scott talks about that era and how she turned heartbreak into art. In the second half of our show, Eric Newman speaks with queer historian Hugh Ryan a
Patrick Radden Keefe's "London Falling"
Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher are joined by investigative journalist and New Yorker staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe, to discuss his new book, London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth. The book begins with the 2019 death of 19-year-old Zac Brettler in London, a tragedy that soon reveals a web of deception, wealth, and hidden influence. Keefe traces Zac's
Karan Mahajan's "The Complex"
Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman speak with Karan Mahajan about his latest novel, The Complex. Taking its name from the collection of buildings that patriarch SP Chopra built for his family in Delhi amid the fallout of the 1947 partition crisis, the novel explores how Chopra's descendants struggle to escape the pull of an overbearing family and the long shadow cast by their storied ancestor. As they s
Reynaldo Rivera's "Propiedad Privada"
Kate Wolf and Eric Newman are joined by photographer Reynaldo Rivera, whose work is featured on the cover of the LARB's spring issue, which celebrates 15 years of the Los Angeles Review of Books. Rivera discusses his latest photobook, Propiedad Privada, edited by Lauren Mackler and Hedi El Kholti. Along with essays and stories by writers such as Constance Debre, Brontez Purnell, Colm Tóibín, and J
Hyperpolitics
In this special episode, Medaya Ocher, Kate Wolf, and Eric Newman discuss the current political quagmire we find ourselves in through the frame of Anton Jäger's Hyperpolitics. Moving from the 1990s to the present, Jäger's new book charts how the US has moved away from the mass political movements that defined the early- and mid-twentieth century. Though voter turnout reached a record in 2020, w
The War in Iran and the Limits of American Journalism
Kate Wolf is joined by veteran journalist Jonathan Shainin, who has worked at The Guardian, The New Yorker, and The Caravan, among other publications. Most recently, he is one of the founding editors of Equator, a new magazine covering politics, culture and art, launched as a response to what the editors see as the dominant mode of Western media: "boilerplate journalism," "facile binaries" and an
LARB Radio Hour x Film Comment 2026 Oscars Preview
In this special episode, host Eric Newman is joined by LARB Film Editors Annie Berke and Elizabeth Alsop and Film Comment co-editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute for a look back at the year in film and the current crop of Oscar nominees ahead of this year's awards.
Vigdis Hjorth's "Repetition"
Kate Wolf speaks to Vigdis Hjorth about her latest novel, Repetition. In the book, the narrator, a novelist in her 60s, returns with an almost trancelike intensity to an episode from her youth in which she had her first sexual experience. Leading up to her encounter with the young man she loses her virginity to, she is subjected to extreme scrutiny by her mother, who questions her daughter's every
Lauren Groff's "Brawler"
Eric Newman speaks with Lauren Groff about her latest story collection, "Brawler," an intimate and tender exploration of the all-too-human struggle to balance a life between compassion and hatred, love and vengeance. Groff shares her approach to writing stories, from the inception of a gossamer idea or mood through to the editorial grunt work of arranging and sharpening characters and sentences, a
Namwali Serpell's "On Morrison"
Kate Wolf and Eric Newman are joined by the novelist and critic Namwali Serpell to discuss her latest book, On Morrison. Through close readings of Toni Morrison's many novels, as well as her plays, short stories, and early work as a book editor, Serpell's book appraises how critics, scholars, and the public received Morrison across her career and beyond. The book rigorously examines Morrison's wri
Richard Hell's "Godlike"
Richard Hell joins Kate Wolf to speak about the reissue of his novel, Godlike. Originally published in 2005, Godlike transposes the relationship of the 19th century poets Arthur Rimabaud and Paul Verlaine to 1970s New York. Told from the hospital room of poet Paul Vaughn, the story centers on his meeting of a wily and charismatic 16-year-old punk named R.T. Wode decades earlier. Their attraction i
Kristin Ross's "The Politics and Poetics of Everyday Life"
In this week's episode from the archives, Eric Newman and Kate Wolf speak to the author Kristin Ross about her book, The Politics and Poetics of Everyday Life, a collection of essays that examine how everyday life emerges as a vantage point for understanding and transforming our social world. The book represents three decades of Ross's writing about the everyday in French political, social, and cu
Hamza Walker's Monuments and Senga Nengudi's Populated Air
A double header show on sculpture, public art, communal space, and gaps and omissions in American history. First, Kate Wolf speaks to Hamza Walker, co-curator of "Monuments," an exhibition currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles and The Brick. The show presents a series of decommissioned Confederate monuments from cities across the US alongside contemporary pieces by Karon
Lauren Rothery's "Television"
Medaya Ocher is joined by writer Lauren Rothery to discuss her novel Television, which follows an aging movie star named Verity, his on and off lover Helen, and Phoebe a screenwriter and filmmaker. One day, on a whim, Verity decides to hold a lottery, giving away his earnings from a massive superhero movie to one lucky filmgoer. Rothery discusses the relationship between failure and success, the c
Caroline Fraser's "Murderland"
Kate Wolf and Eric Newman speak with Caroline Fraser about her new book, Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers. Taking an ecological approach to true crime, the book explores how decades of industrial pollution from large smelting plants in the Pacific Northwest may have shaped the social and environmental conditions that coincided with an unusually high number of serial ki
Susan Orlean's "Joyride: A Memoir"
Medaya Ocher is joined by writer and author Susan Orlean, whose latest book is Joyride: A Memoir. In Joyride, Orlean recounts how she became a writer: the strokes of luck, as well as the ambition and talent that led her from alt-weeklies to Esquire, Vogue and The New Yorker, where she has been a staff writer since 1992. Orlean has written essays and books that have since become classics of contemp
Sally Mann's "Art Work: On the Creative Life"
This week, we are revisiting our episode with photographer and writer Sally Mann about her book, Art Work: On the Creative Life. Medaya Ocher and Kate Wolf speak with Mann, whose book describes her path to becoming an artist and provides prospective artists with insights on how to weather everything from rejection and poverty, to failure, fallow periods, and the millions of things that can come be
Special Show: Jenny Slate and Sarah Manguso
Today's episode features a live recording from a LARB Luminary Dinner honoring writer, performer and actor Jenny Slate. Author Sarah Manguso sits down with Slate for an intimate conversation exploring the complexities of balancing artistic practice with the demands of parenthood and the ways personal transformation shapes creative expression.
Tales from Two Critics: A.S. Hamrah and Melissa Anderson on the Year in Film
Kate Wolf is joined by two of today's finest film critics to discuss the current state of Hollywood—including the sale of Warner Brothers Discovery—the art of writing about movies, and some of the year's best films. Up first is critic A.S. Hamrah, author of two new books: Last Week In End Times Cinema, which compiles the relentless follies of the film industry from March of 2024 to 2025 in an anna
Best of 2025
It's that time of the year again! Hosts Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman look back on some of the bright lights from a pretty dark year with a rundown of their favorite books, movies, TV shows, music, and scandals from 2025. For a full list of this year's picks, visit lareviewofbooks.org/podcasts/larb-radio-hour/
Julia Loktev "My Undesirable Friends"
Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman speak with director Julia Loktev about her new documentary My Undesirable Friends. Filmed in 2021, just before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the five-hour epic follows independent journalists at TV Rain as they navigate escalating government repression and the "foreign agent" laws designed to silence dissent. The film is a moving, unsettling portrait of resilience and
Robin Coste Lewis's "Archive of Desire"
Kate Wolf and Eric Newman speak with Robin Coste Lewis about her new poetry collection, Archive of Desire. The four part collection emerged out of a collaboration with other artists commissioned by the Onassis Foundation to celebrate the 160th birthday of poet Constantin Cavafy, exploring Lewis's encounters with Cavafy's life, work, and sexual history. Lewis discusses her experience poring over th
Brandon Taylor's "Minor Black Figures"
Eric Newman speaks to Brandon Taylor about his latest novel, Minor Black Figures. It centers on Wyeth, a Black artist in his thirties wrestling with creative stagnation and the pressures of sudden fame after some of his paintings unexpectedly go viral. As he resists the temptation to produce the sort of identity-based art the market seems to want, Wyeth engages in recovering the life and career of
Sarah Schulman's "The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity"
This week we are listening back to an episode from earlier this year. Eric Newman and Kate Wolf speak with Sarah Schulman about her latest book, The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity. With a focus on practical politics, Schulman explores both how we imagine solidarity and what the work of solidarity requires. Rather than a horizontal movement, the book focuses on the ways achieving today's most
Angela Flournoy's "The Wilderness"
Kate Wolf and Eric Newman speak with Angela Flournoy about her novel, The Wilderness. Moving back and forth from the early 2000s to the present, the novel looks at the stories of five women living in New York and Los Angeles, capturing the mess and power of their deep, complicated friendships as they navigate love, motherhood, careers, and everything in between. Angela discusses how she developed
The Shit Show
In this special episode, hosts Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman discuss how Big Tech dreams – from iPhones to social media to AI – have become nightmares. How did these decade-defining innovations end up making modern life feel sadder, lonelier, and scarier? And what, if anything, can we do about it? Using two recent books — Cory Doctorow's Ensh*ttification and Paul Kingsnorth's Against t
Kelly Reichardt's "The Mastermind"
Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher speak with the filmmaker Kelly Reichardt about her new movie, The Mastermind, out in theaters now. Josh O'Connor stars as an unemployed carpenter named JB, who hatches a plan to rob the museum in his small Massachusetts town of its collection of Arthur Dove paintings. JB soon he finds himself on the run, leaving his young family behind for a Greyhound tour of 1970s Ameri
Grace Byron's "Herculine"
Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman speak with writer Grace Byron about her debut novel, Herculine. Set between the freelance rat race of New York and an equally cutthroat commune for trans women in rural Indiana, Herculine follows a narrator trying to put her life together. Featuring demons, conversion therapy, and blood rites, the novel is part horror part coming-of-age tale. Byron discusses how the
Chris Kraus's "The Four Spent the Day Together"
Chris Kraus joins Kate Wolf to talk about her new novel, The Four Spent the Day Together. Organized into three linked sections, the book begins with a portrait of Kraus's avatar, Catt Greene, and her family, as they struggle to overcome the isolation of the suburbs after moving into their first home in Milford, Connecticut, in the late 1950s. The book's second part takes place many decades later:
J. Hoberman's "Everything is Now: Primal Happenings, Radical Music, Underground Movies, and the 1960s New York Avant-Garde"
Kate Wolf speaks to J. Hoberman about his latest book, Everything is Now: Primal Happenings, Radical Music, Underground Movies, and the 1960s New York Avant-Garde. It recaptures the frenetic, creative simultaneity of New York in the 60s, rendering the era's cultural explosion in real time. The events of a single decade, let alone a single year, or month, or even day, can be staggering. Hoberman co
Alejandro Varela's "Middle Spoon"
Eric Newman speaks to Alejandro Varela about his latest novel, Middle Spoon. Told in epistolary form through the narrator's unsent emails, the novel opens in the immediate aftermath of a devastating breakup. The breakup, like the relationship, was complicated. It was the narrator's first experience with polyamory, and his now ex-boyfriend ended things because the narrator refused to leave his husb
Sally Mann's "Art Work: On the Creative Life"
Medaya Ocher and Kate Wolf speak to the photographer and writer Sally Mann about her new book, Art Work: On the Creative Life. In describing her path to becoming an artist, Mann provides prospective artists with insights on how to weather everything from rejection and poverty, to failure, fallow periods, and the millions of things that can come between you and your work. The book includes selectio
Where Have All the Cowboys Gone: Are Literary Men in Crisis?
In this special episode, hosts Medaya Ocher, Kate Wolf, and Eric Newman discuss the "crisis" du jour in American publishing: the erosion of male literary stars and their readers across the landscape of contemporary fiction. Is this even happening—and if so, why? Tackling cultural anxieties about the waning centrality of the straight, white male author alongside spurious statistics and questions ab
Where Have All the Cowboys Gone: Are Literary Men in Crisis?
In this special episode, hosts Medaya Ocher, Kate Wolf, and Eric Newman discuss the "crisis" du jour in American publishing: the erosion of male literary stars and their readers across the landscape of contemporary fiction. Is this even happening—and if so, why? Tackling cultural anxieties about the waning centrality of the straight, white male author alongside spurious statistics and questions ab
Fara Dabhoiwala's "What is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea"
Kate Wolf speaks with historian Fara Dabhoiwala about his new book, What is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea. A foundational aspect of the U.S. Constitution, free speech is a relatively recent invention and one rooted less in democratic ideals than first may be clear. Tracking its evolution from the pre-modern age through the Enlightenment to our present day, Dabhoiwala explores how fr
Mosab Abu Toha's "Forest of Noise"
This week we're listening back to Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher's interview with the Palestinian poet, short-story writer, and essayist Mosab Abu Toha. Abu Toha is the author of the award-winning collection of poetry, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, as well as the founder of the Edward Said Library in Gaza, which he hopes to one day rebuild. In 2025, Toha was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his
Nicholas Boggs's "James Baldwin: A Love Story"
Eric Newman speaks with Nicholas Boggs about his monumental new biography, James Baldwin: A Love Story. Drawing on fresh archival research and interviews, Boggs offers an intimate portrait of the literary legend anchored by the romances that shaped his life, writing, and political vision. Spanning Baldwin's formative mentorship under artist Beauford Delaney, his romance with Lucien Happersberger,
Nathan Kernan's "Day Like Any Other: The Life of James Schuyler"
Kate Wolf speaks with Nathan Kernan about his new biography, A Day Like Any Other: The Life of James Schuyler. It's an intimate look at the great poet who was born in 1923 and would become one of the original members of the so-called New York School along with John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, Kenneth Koch and Barbra Guest. With the restraint, precision and wry humor of one of Schuyler's own poems, Kern
Talking 'Heightened Scrutiny' with Sam Feder and Amy Scholder
Eric Newman speaks with director Sam Feder and producer Amy Scholder about their new documentary Heightened Scrutiny. The film follows ACLU attorney Chase Strangio's journey to the Supreme Court in United States v. Skrmetti, which sought to overturn Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth. Alongside Strangio's work on the case, interviews with journalists, activists, and others re
Michael Clune's "Pan"
Writer and scholar Michael Clune joins Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher to discuss his debut novel, Pan. It captures the frenetic mind of a 15-year old boy named Nicholas as he undergoes his first panic attacks. Trapped in suburban Illinois in a time before the internet, Nicholas has little basis to understand what is happening to him. His search to understand his panic leads him to the condition's name
LARB Book Club: Sebastian Castillo
Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher are joined by writer and professor Sebastian Castillo whose new novel Fresh, Green Life is the LARB Book Club pick for the summer. Fresh, Green Life follows a narrator, also named Sebastian Castillo, who has resolved to spend a year alone, exercising, watching self-improvement videos and thinking about how he has arrived at this particular point in his life: a lapsed a
Catherine Lacey's "The Möbius Book"
Medaya Ocher and Kate Wolf speak with writer Catherine Lacey, author of the novels Biography of X, Pew, The Answers, and a short story collection, Certain American States. Her most recent work is The Möbius Book, which is split in two — one half is fiction and the other memoir. The novel tells the story of two friends, catching up on a grim Christmas Eve. The memoir is about Catherine herself, set
LARB x The Stacks Podcast: Books on the Internet
Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman speak with Traci Thomas, host of the "The Stacks" podcast. They discuss the impact of social media on publishing, the content creator life, and the way readers discover books today. At the end of the episode, Medaya, Eric, and Traci offer readers a rundown of recommendations for the books getting us through 2025.
Ruth Wilson Gilmore's "Abolition Geography: Essays Toward Liberation"
For Independence Day, we dive into the archives to bring you an episode that still feels timely. Ruth Wilson Gilmore joins Kate Wolf and Eric Newman to talk about her collection, Abolition Geography: Essays Toward Liberation, which covers three decades of her thinking about abolition, activism, scholarship, the carceral system, the political economy of racism, and much more. For Gilmore, these are
Susan Choi's "Flashlight"
Susan Choi joins Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher to speak about her new novel, Flashlight. An epic story that spans multiple generations of a single family, the book is an astute exploration of identity, migration, memory, kinship and the irrepressibility of the past. It begins in the wake of the mysterious disappearance of a young academic named Serk. An ethnic Korean, who was raised in Japan and deci
PRIDE SHOW: Featuring Milo Todd and Vince Aletti
In this double episode celebrating pride month, Kate Wolf speaks with the critic Vince Aletti about his new book, Physique, an assortment of hundreds of physique photos from Aletti's own personal collection. The images in the book represent a time when homosexual life in the US was illegal, existed mostly underground, and was by necessity furtive and coded. Yet throughout the country there were ph
Alison Bechdel's "Spent"
Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher speak with Alison Bechdel about her new graphic novel, Spent. Bechdel is the author of "Essential Dykes to Watch Out For," "Fun Home," and "Are You My Mother?" Spent fictionalizes Bechdel's life with her wife Holly on their pygmy goat sanctuary in Vermont. The comic chronicles political and local dramas, generational shifts, experiments with polyamory, and navigating
What To Do About Shame?
In this special episode, hosts Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman wrestle with the question: What are we to do about shame? Using Frédéric Gros's recent book, A Philosophy of Shame, as a guidepost, they discuss shame's place in culture, politics, and our personal lives. Are there social benefits to feeling shame? And what are the repercussions of trying to avoid it? The hosts debate the poss
Dan Nadel's "Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life"
Dan Nadel joins Kate Wolf and Eric Newman to speak about his new biography, Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life. The book traces the life and art of Robert Crumb, arguably the most influential cartoonist of the last half century. Crumb emerged from the world of underground comics that he helped create in the late 1960s to both mainstream fame and commercial success. But he was a reticent celebrity who ofte
Vauhini Vara's "Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age"
Eric Newman speaks with journalist and author Vauhini Vara about her new book Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age. The book hybrid blend of memoir and modern tech history explore how the internet, AI, and the corporate tech giants behind them have shaped the way we see ourselves and connect with others. Through Vara's personal anecdotes and digital history deep dives—including a nostalgic look a
Jon Hickey's "Big Chief"
Eric Newman speaks with Jon Hickey about his debut novel Big Chief. The book is a gripping political thriller about the struggle for power, belonging, and destiny set against a tribal election campaign on a fictional reservation. It follows the story of Mitch Caddo and his childhood friend Max Beck, who is seeking reelection as the tribal president of the Passage Rouge Nation. As Max's reelection
Sarah LaBrie's "No One Gets to Fall Apart"
Medaya Ocher is joined by TV writer, memoirist and librettist Sarah Labrie, author of the book No One Gets to Fall Apart. The book is a memoir of LaBrie's fraught relationship with her mother, who suffers a psychotic break in 2017 and is found on the side of a freeway, convinced that she is being followed by FBI agents. LaBrie is then forced to confront the difficulties and mysteries of her childh
Sarah Schulman's "The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity"
Eric Newman and Kate Wolf speak with Sarah Schulman about her latest book, The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity. With a focus on practical politics, Schulman explores both how we imagine solidarity and what the work of solidarity requires. Rather than a horizontal movement, the book focuses on the ways achieving today's most pressing political goals—from Palestine's self-determination to immigr
Maggie Nelson's "Pathemata, Or, The Story of My Mouth"
Maggie Nelson joins Kate Wolf to discuss her new book Pathemata, Or, The Story of My Mouth. It is at once a compressed record of her long struggle with chronic pain and a document of the boundless blur of the pandemic era. It combines vignettes of daily life and doctor's visits with dreams and memories, pushing at the partition between interior and exterior, symptom and experience, containment and
Katie Kitamura's "Audition"
Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher speak with writer Katie Kitamura about her recent novel, "Audition," which explores a tense, complex relationship between a middle-aged actress and a young man who may or may not be her son. The book raises questions about the roles we play, the stories we inhabit, and the many choices we make. "Audition" is LARB's Book Club pick this month. Join in on the conversatio
Andrea Long Chu's "Authority"
Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher speak with Andrea Long Chu about Authority a collection of previously published and new essays and criticism. Authority interrogates what it means to be a critic today, analyzing the work that the critic does in interpreting a book, film, or TV show for us as well as how the status of the critic has developed from antiquity to the present. Andrea, Medaya, and Eric talk
Lynne Tillman's "Thrilled to Death"
Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher speak to Lynne Tillman about her latest book, Thrilled to Death, a collection of short stories selected from over four decades of her work. The stories in Thrilled to Death attest to Tillman's range as a writer and stylist, showcasing her frenetic humor, deep psychological insight, and her innovation of the form. Ever playful and perverse, these stories cover terrains of
Pankaj Mishra's "The World After Gaza: A History"
The writer Pankaj Mishra joins Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher to discuss his new book, The World After Gaza: A History. It probes how the legacy of the Holocaust has shaped the contemporary world order, including how it has shaped the government of Israel, and the current war in Gaza. The book grapples with how, within the relentless violence of the 20th century, trauma can lead to nationalism, and al
Bruce Robbins's "Atrocity: A Literary History"
Eric Newman speaks with Bruce Robbins about his latest book, Atrocity: A Literary History, which explores how literary accounts of mass killing came to shape our collective moral indignation against such violence. Moving from the pre-modern era to the twentieth century, Robbins's book wrestles with how texts from the Bible to Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse-Five" reckon–or fail to reckon–with atro
Torrey Peters' "Stag Dance"
Eric Newman speaks with Torrey Peters about her new story collection, Stag Dance, which spans genre, time, and place to explore the shifting sands of gender, sex, desire, and identity. From a post-apocalyptic world in which everyone is trans to a pirate logging camp in the early 1900s where desire and gender explode in surprising ways, the stories in Stag Dance plumb the murky and often ugly feeli
Haley Mlotek's "No Fault: A Memoir of Divorce and Romance"
Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher speak to writer Haley Mlotek about No Fault: A Memoir of Divorce and Romance. The book blends the history of divorce law and custom in North America over the last century with cultural criticism on the way divorce has been portrayed in literature, film, and online. Mlotek also records her own experience of ending a marriage, and the front row seat she had growing up to t
LARB Radio Hour x Film Comment 2025 Oscars Preview
In this special episode, host Eric Newman joins LARB senior editor Paul Thompson and Film Comment co-editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute for a look at this year's Oscar nominees ahead of this weekend's award ceremony. Surveying this rather strange year in film, the gang discusses the gory camp of The Substance, the omnipresence of Wicked, the multi-genre madness of Emilia Pérez, and much more.
Hal Foster's "Fail Better: Reckonings with Artists and Critics"
Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher are joined by the art critic and historian Hal Foster to speak about his latest book, Fail Better: Reckonings with Artists and Critics. A collection of essays that brings together over three decades of Foster's work, the book exhibits a rigorous philosophical and political engagement with a celebrated group of critics and artists who span the 1960s to the present. Foster
