Librarian Natalie McCall chats with debut author Ryan Douglass. Ryan’s book, The Taking of Jake Livingston, is about a teenage boy who has to deal with ghosts and racism at his mostly white college prep school. It’s a horror coming-of-age story that offers both scares and the exploration of real-world issues. Natalie and Ryan talk about what it’s l…

Librarian Natalie McCall chats with New York Times bestselling author Aisha Saeed. Saeed has written books for both teens (Written In the Stars, Yes No Maybe So) and children (Amal Unbound, Bilal Cooks Daal). She has also contributed essays and short stories in various collections (Hope Nation, Our Stories, Our Voices, Once Upon An Eid). Natalie an…

Librarian Natalie McCall chats with Jasmine Warga. Warga is the author of the New York Times bestseller Other Words For Home. Other Words For Home earned multiple awards, including a John Newbery Honor. She is also the author of young adult books, My Heart and Other Black Holes and Here We Are Now, which have been translated into over twenty differ…

Librarian Natalie McCall chats with Justina Ireland, author of fantasy novels for young adults including the New York Times bestseller, Dread Nation (a genre-bending historical novel featuring finishing school zombie slayers). Justina also writes for the Star Wars franchise, including the books Lando’s Luck, Spark of the Resistance, and A Test of C…

Librarian Natalie McCall chats with Brandy Colbert, award-winning author of books for children and teens (The Voting Booth, Little & Lion, The Revolution of Birdie Randolph, Finding Yvonne, Pointe, The Only Black Girls In Town). Brandy was born and raised in the Ozarks (Springfield, Missouri!) and has a degree in journalism. She is on faculty at Ha…

Librarian Natalie McCall talks with Kim Johnson, author of This Is My America, a thrilling mystery that explores racial injustice and the American justice system (think The Hate U Give meets Just Mercy). Kim was active in social justice as a teen and college student and now mentors student activists and leaders in her role as a college administrato…

Librarian Natalie McCall talks with Christina Hammonds Reed, author of the New York Times best-seller, The Black Kids. This extraordinary coming-of-age novel explores race, class, and violence through the eyes of a wealthy, black teenage girl in Los Angeles during the 1992 Rodney King Riots. Beautifully written and thoughtful, the novel also sheds …

Librarian Natalie McCall talks with Nina LaCour, the bestselling and Michael L. Printz Award-winning author of four critically acclaimed young adult novels: We Are Okay, Hold Still, The Disenchantments, and Everything Leads to You. Born and raised in the East Bay, Nina received her undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University and an MFA…

Librarian Natalie McCall talks with Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month and co-founder of 100 Word Story. He has two books on writing: Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Prompts to Boost Your Creative Mojo and Brave the Page, a writing guide for teens. In November 2019, Faulkner gave a talk at the Mill Valley Publ…

Hey, sometimes you just gotta do a double album, and in this generous portion of 8 Books Remix, librarian Natalie McCall chats with Megan Whalen Turner, recipient of a Newbery Honor for The Thief, the first installment of a classic, still-continuing, book series with passionate (obsessive?!?) fans of all ages and backgrounds. The endorsements on he…

Librarian Natalie McCall chats with Misa Sugiura, author of award winning, contemporary young adult fiction. Her latest novel, This Time Will Be Different is a coming-of-age novel about a Japanese American teenager who struggles to understand the reverberating repercussions of her family being interned during World War II. Natalie and Misa bond ove…

Librarian Natalie McCall knew she wanted to chat with Randy Ribay after reading his novel After the Shot Drops, her favorite book about school and basketball since Hoop Dreams. His latest book, Patron Saints of Nothing, is a National Book Award finalist. It’s a gripping coming-of-age story about a teenager who travels to the Philippines to uncover …

Linda Michel-Cassidy talks to Alice Quinn, who recently retired as the Executive Director of the Poetry Society of America (PSA), during which time she established partnerships with prominent cultural organizations, organized hundreds of events across the US, and expanded the Poetry in Motion program. Quinn is the editor of a book of Elizabeth Bish…

In episode 3, Natalie McCall talked to the fabulous Lisa Ramee. Lisa’s debut novel, A Good Kind of Trouble, is one of the buzziest children’s books of the year. It’s about Shayla, a girl trying to understand and maybe even participate in the Black Lives Matter movement while also trying to sort out the drama of junior high (crushes, changing friend…

In 8 Books Remix episodes, librarian Natalie McCall talks with the most talented and innovative authors in Young Adult Literature about five books they fell in love with during formative periods of their lives and three books they wish both teens and adults would read. Anyone who loves books, whether they’ve read any contemporary Young Adult Litera…

Author Stacey Lee chats about the books that influenced her life and career, from the controversial children’s classic readers love (or hate) to the first book she ever read with a character who shared her Chinese-American background. Stacey and our host discuss some controversial questions, such as: will Disney ever make a fairy tale movie with a …

Journalist Clare Malone gives us the scoop on the books that have influenced her, from the quirky Bagthorpe Saga series of children's books to thrilling Tudor tale Wolf Hall. Clare and our host discuss works of journalism, Elena Ferrante, and everyone's favorite epic poem about Satan.

Sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild presents the books that inspired and informed her professional interest in crossing "empathy walls," from the work of C. Wright Mills, who connected personal troubles with public issues, to W. J. Cash's Mind of the South, a predecessor to her own work exploring Southern identity. Reflecting on George Orwell's in…

Poet and veteran Brian Turner musters his list of eight formative books, offering his unique take on classics like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and the war stories Cross of Iron and Slaughterhouse Five, and delights our host by introducing her to Ismail Kadare's lyric tale of oppressive bureaucracy, The Palace of Dreams.…

Psychology professor Stephen Hinshaw, author of Another Kind of Madness, a memoir of mental illness in his own family, discusses the books closest to his heart. Some deal directly with mental illness, like Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle and William Styron's account of his own depression, Darkness Visible. Some deal with wrenching moral dilemmas, …

Innovative educator Ramsey Musallam highlights the books that drive him - like On the Road (that pun is free of charge). He wanders Into the Wild with Jon Krakauer and considers The Perks of Being a Wallflower with Steven Chbosky. And unlike most of us, he has even made it all the way through David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest!…

Cultural critic Laura Kipnis recently found herself embroiled in a colleague's sexual harassment case. Presented with a trove of relevant documents, she dove in with the zeal of the detectives and adventurers who populate her list of formative books, from Nancy Drew to Fear of Flying - and even a little Freud.…

Photographer Arthur Drooker explored the quirky world of convention-goers in his book Conventional Wisdom, and now he explores the quirky world of his own literary upbringing. Discussion ranges from coming-of-age classics like On the Road and Catcher in the Rye to Dickens, E.L. Doctorow, and ... Keith Richards?…

Planetary scientist Pascal Lee's eight books include works by Jack London, Jules Verne, and Carl Sagan. Find out how these favorites inspired him to lead a life looking outward to the stars.