Reading Writers

Charlotte and Jo revisit Rebecca Novack’s Murder Bimbo before taking a quick tour of the Russian Civil War and comrade crushes through Nikolai Ostrovsky’s How The Steel Was Tempered. They’re then joined by the scintillating Brittany Newell, who meditates on contemporary fiction, cities at night, and Samuel R. Delany's indelible Times Square Red, Times Square Blue. Also discussed in this episode: Emma Cline’s The Guest and Vincenzo Latronico’s Perfection.

Brittany Newell is a writer and performer living in San Francisco. Her debut novel Oola was published in 2017 at the age of 21 in the US, UK, and Germany. You can find her written work in Granta, n+1, McSweeney's, The New York Times, and others. Her second novel Soft Core was published by FSG in February 2025 in the US, UK, and France. She is at work on a third novel about love addiction, emotional vampires, and cannibalism.

Please consider supporting our work on Patreon, where you can access additional materials and send us your guest (and book!) coverage requests. Questions and kind comments can be directed to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com.

Charlotte Shane’s most recent book is An Honest Woman. Her essay newsletter, Meant For You, can be subscribed to or read online for free. Her social media handle is @charoshane.

Jo Livingstone is a writer who teaches at Pratt Institute.

To support the show, navigate to https://www.patreon.com/ReadingWriters
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At last, the audio from December's Bookforum x Reading Writers live holiday event! The justly celebrated novelist Stephanie Wambugu joins Charlotte and Jo to talk about the controversial and inescapable Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico.

Stephanie Wambugu is the author of the novel Lonely Crowds. Her work has appeared in The Drift, The Nation, Granta, Frieze, Bookforum. She lives and works in New York.

Please consider supporting our work on Patreon, where you can access additional materials and send us your guest (and book!) coverage requests. Questions and kind comments can be directed to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com.

Charlotte Shane’s most recent book is An Honest Woman. Her essay newsletter, Meant For You, can be subscribed to or read online for free. Her social media handle is @charoshane.

Jo Livingstone is a writer who teaches at Pratt Institute.
To support the show, navigate to https://www.patreon.com/ReadingWriters
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The hosts discuss Stephanie Wambugu’s justly-hyped novel Lonely Crowds before they’re joined by Noah Kulwin, an avowed Macdonaldhead who details the pleasures of private eye fiction through 1966’s Black Money.

Noah Kulwin is a writer based in New York City. He is also the co-host of the podcast Blowback, a history program about American empire. He has written for a wide variety of publications, but more recently can be found in The Baffler, The Intercept, Screen Slate and Protean.

Please consider supporting our work on Patreon, where you can access additional materials and send us your guest (and book!) coverage requests. Questions and kind comments can be directed to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com.

Charlotte Shane’s most recent book is An Honest Woman. Her essay newsletter, Meant For You, can be subscribed to or read online for free. Her social media handle is @charoshane.

Jo Livingstone is a writer who teaches at Pratt Institute.
To support the show, navigate to https://www.patreon.com/ReadingWriters
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Charlotte and Jo spring into the new year with a conversation about ancient poetry: Beowulf, The Iliad, and Dante’s Inferno as translated by Mark Musa, Mary Jo Bang, and Danny Lavery. They’re then joined by the wise and wonderful Hanif Abdurraqib who—after sharing a scoop about what series of book he reads every year (!)—reflects on the formative impacts of his encounter with Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster Place. Other titles discussed: Toni Morrison’s Jazz, Bebe Moore Campbells’ Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine, Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain.

Hanif Abdurraqib is a writer from the east side of Columbus, Ohio.

Danny Lavery’s translations of The Inferno can be found here.

Please consider supporting our work on Patreon, where you can access additional materials and send us your guest (and book!) coverage requests. Questions and kind comments can be directed to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com.

Charlotte Shane’s most recent book is An Honest Woman. Her essay newsletter, Meant For You, can be subscribed to or read online for free. Her social media handle is @charoshane.

Jo Livingstone is a writer who teaches at Pratt Institute.
To support the show, navigate to https://www.patreon.com/ReadingWriters
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this host-only bonus episode, Charlotte and Jo discuss some of their most memorable reads of 2025. Authors discussed include Arthur C. Clarke, Shon Faye, Sarah Schulman, Ai Yazawa, Marjane Satrapi, Ariana Reines, Kyung-Ran Jo, and more.

Please consider supporting us on Patreon, where you can access additional materials and send us your guest (and book!) coverage requests. Questions and kind comments can be directed to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com.

Charlotte Shane’s most recent book is An Honest Woman. Her essay newsletter, Meant For You, can be subscribed to or read online for free. Her social media handle is @charoshane.

Jo Livingstone is a writer who teaches at Pratt Institute.

To support the show, navigate to https://www.patreon.com/ReadingWriters
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.