The Los Angeles Review of Books Radio Hour is a weekly show featuring interviews, readings and discussions about all things literary. Hosted by LARB Editors-at-Large Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman.
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Nov 13, 2026 · 57:11
Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher are joined by writer and editor Eve Sneider to discuss her new book, The Absent Woman: The Genius of Janet Malcolm , the first biography of the…
Nov 7, 2026 · 57:35
Eric Newman and Kate Wolf speak with Soyica Diggs Colbert about her latest book, Freedom's Gate: Maya Angelou, Lorraine Hansberry, Abbey Lincoln, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone…
Oct 30, 2026 · 32:52
Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher speak with filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun, the writer and director behind Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and I Saw the TV Glow . Schoenbrun…
Oct 23, 2026 · 59:10
After watching Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's new documentary You Can See Everything , we're revisiting our chat show, "On Honesty," this week. In this special episode,…
Oct 16, 2026 · 51:44
Kate Wolf and Eric Newman are joined by the director and cinematographer, David Greaves, and his daughter, producer Liani Greaves, to speak about their new documentary, Once Upon…
Oct 9, 2026 · 52:57
Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher are joined by Palestinian American poet, translator and physician Fady Joudah to discuss his latest book, Exhibit G. The collection, a nominee for…
Oct 2, 2026 · 47:45
In this special chat episode, Medaya Ocher, Eric Newman, and Kate Wolf use Catherine Liu's new book Traumatized to dive into the political uses and pitfalls of trauma. Liu argues…
Sep 25, 2026 · 1:03:13
The writer and housing policy advocate Samuel Stein joins Kate Wolf to speak about his new book, A Right to Housing? It lays out how housing could indeed become a human right,…
Sep 18, 2026 · 1:01:51
Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher speak to Astra Taylor and Naomi Klein about their new book, End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World . A remarkably up to date analysis of…
Sep 17, 2026 · 1:02:34
Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher are joined by writer Izabella Scott. Scott is the author of the new book The Bed Trick: Sex and Deception on Trial . Her work has appeared in the…
Sep 4, 2026 · 1:07:17
Eric Newman speaks with Marlon James about his latest novel, The Disappearers . Returning to Jamaica as an historical setting for the first time since his Booker-prize winning A…
Aug 28, 2026 · 1:09:39
Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman speak with Susan Stryker about her new book Changing Gender . Part cultural history, part grammar lesson, and part memoir, Changing Gender confronts…
Aug 21, 2026 · 54:01
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…
Aug 14, 2026 · 57:45
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…
Aug 7, 2026 · 55:07
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…
Jul 31, 2026 · 47:31
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…
Jul 24, 2026 · 43:38
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…
Jul 17, 2026 · 44:46
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…
Jul 10, 2026 · 50:14
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…
Jul 3, 2026 · 45:28
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…
Jun 26, 2026 · 51:21
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…
Jun 19, 2026 · 47:14
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…
Jun 12, 2026 · 49:59
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,…
Jun 5, 2026 · 1:17:53
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…
May 29, 2026 · 52:30
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…
May 22, 2026 · 1:12:09
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…
May 15, 2026 · 48:43
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…
May 8, 2026 · 55:28
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…
May 1, 2026 · 37:02
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…
Apr 24, 2026 · 59:28
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…
Apr 17, 2026 · 52:45
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…
Apr 10, 2026 · 52:32
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…
Apr 3, 2026 · 48:56
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…
Mar 27, 2026 · 52:11
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.…
Mar 20, 2026 · 50:38
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…
Mar 13, 2026 · 1:03:04
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…
Mar 6, 2026 · 47:09
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…
Feb 27, 2026 · 48:00
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…
Feb 20, 2026 · 52:37
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,…
Feb 13, 2026 · 41:42
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…
Feb 6, 2026 · 43:51
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…
Jan 30, 2026 · 1:02:38
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…
Jan 23, 2026 · 37:35
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…
Jan 16, 2026 · 57:35
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…
Jan 9, 2026 · 54:44
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…
Jan 2, 2026 · 47:43
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…
Dec 26, 2025 · 36:43
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…
Dec 19, 2025 · 1:15:35
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…
Dec 12, 2025 · 54:42
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…
Dec 5, 2025 · 55:57
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…
Nov 29, 2025 · 45:15
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…
Nov 21, 2025 · 1:12:54
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…
Nov 14, 2025 · 50:59
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…
Nov 7, 2025 · 1:00:22
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…
Oct 31, 2025 · 1:02:16
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…
Oct 24, 2025 · 41:55
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…
Oct 17, 2025 · 55:30
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…
Oct 10, 2025 · 1:00:37
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…
Oct 3, 2025 · 1:07:04
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…
Sep 26, 2025 · 54:45
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…
Sep 19, 2025 · 46:58
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…
Sep 12, 2025 · 1:05:01
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…
Sep 5, 2025 · 1:06:41
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…
Aug 29, 2025 · 52:15
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…
Aug 22, 2025 · 52:53
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…
Aug 15, 2025 · 41:09
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…
Aug 8, 2025 · 38:59
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…
Aug 1, 2025 · 54:22
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…
Jul 25, 2025 · 51:56
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…
Jul 18, 2025 · 50:10
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 .…
Jul 11, 2025 · 53:41
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…
Jul 4, 2025 · 59:01
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,…
Jun 27, 2025 · 57:29
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…
Jun 20, 2025 · 54:35
I n 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…
Jun 13, 2025 · 50:11
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…
Jun 6, 2025 · 50:57
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…
May 30, 2025 · 54:04
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…
May 23, 2025 · 50:52
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…
May 16, 2025 · 52:02
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…
May 9, 2025 · 44:45
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…
May 2, 2025 · 50:40
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…
Apr 25, 2025 · 52:41
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…
Apr 18, 2025 · 44:36
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…
Apr 11, 2025 · 52:34
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…
Apr 4, 2025 · 39:49
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…
Mar 28, 2025 · 48:45
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…
Mar 21, 2025 · 52:32
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…
Mar 14, 2025 · 49:32
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…
Mar 7, 2025 · 49:23
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…
Feb 28, 2025 · 46:06
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…
Feb 21, 2025 · 48:56
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…
Feb 14, 2025 · 45:10
Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher are joined by Deborah Treisman, the fiction editor at The New Yorker and host of The New Yorker 's Fiction podcast. Deborah is the editor of a new…
Feb 7, 2025 · 39:51
Eric Newman speaks with Colette Shade about her book "Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything." Revisiting the strange hallmarks of that era–remember inflatable furniture and phones…
Jan 31, 2025 · 41:54
Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher are joined by writer and poet Aria Aber to discuss her first novel, Good Girl. Aber is the author of the poetry collection Hard Damage, which won the…
Jan 24, 2025 · 56:10
In this week's episode, Medaya Ocher, Kate Wolf, and Eric Newman are joined by LARB contributor Gideon Jacobs for a discussion about the power of images in the era of Trump.…
Jan 17, 2025 · 51:54
In this week's episode, we are talking about the wildfires that have ravaged L.A. Medaya Ocher and Kate Wolf speak to author David L. Ulin about Los Angeles as a place forged in…
Jan 11, 2025 · 1:03:06
In light of the recent fires in Los Angeles, we're re-airing an episode featuring a panel discussion titled "Writing Climate Futures" with David Wallace-Wells, Jenny Offill,…
Jan 3, 2025 · 50:51
In this encore special episode, hosts Medaya Ocher, Kate Wolf, and Eric Newman discuss the case for and against giving up—on life, vices, dreams, creative pursuits, jobs,…
Dec 27, 2024 · 50:31
In our last episode of the year, Kate Wolf speaks with the poet, playwright, and performance artist Ariana Reines about her latest book, Wave of Blood. A hybrid text that…
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