LARB Radio Hour

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 r…

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 coll…

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 lit…

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…

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 U…

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 at…

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, a…

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…

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 b…

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:…

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, …

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 col…

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 fic…

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 guidep…

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 t…

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, …

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 campai…

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 su…

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 solidarit…

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 bl…