Live: J. Ryan Stradal Podcasts Kitchens of the Great Midwest

Stradal reads from and discusses his bestselling debut novel Kitchens of the Great Midwest, the story of a young woman with a once-in-a-generation palate who becomes the iconic chef behind the country’s most coveted dinner reservation. By turns quirky, hilarious, and vividly sensory, Kitchens of the Great Midwest is an unexpected mother-daughter story about the bittersweet nature of life, its missed opportunities, and its joyful surprises.

Live: Steve Knopper Podcasts MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson

Rolling Stone contributing editor Steve Knopper reads from and discusses MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson, his ultimate critical biography of the King of Pop: a panoramic, vivid, and incisive portrait of Michael Jackson that explores and celebrates his influence in music, dance, and popular culture, drawing on 400 interviews.

Live: Bonnie Jo Campbell Podcasts Mothers, Tell Your Daughters

Named by the Guardian as one of our top ten writers of rural noir, Campbell is a keen observer of life and trouble in rural America, and her working-class protagonists can be at once vulnerable, wise, cruel, and funny. The strong but flawed women of Mothers, Tell Your Daughters must negotiate a sexually charged atmosphere as they love, honor, and betray one another against the backdrop of all the men in their world.

Live: Kennedy Odede & Jessica Posner Podcast Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum

Kennedy Odede is one of Africa’s best-known community organizers and social entrepreneurs, and among the first from Kibera, a Kenyan slum, to get a degree from an elite American university, Wesleyan University. Jessica Posner is a nationally recognized, award-winning social entrepreneur and activist and is the cofounder, with Kennedy, and chief operating officer of Shining Hope for Communities, which provides a school for girls in Kibera, as well as clean water, health care, and more for over seventy-thousand people.