MATTHEWCWINNER

Beth Kephart, author of This is the Story of You, stops by the podcast to talk about the choreography of sentences, the willingness to wait within the complex, and the unconquerable urge to write.

Hannah V. Sawyerr, author of Truth Is: A Novel in Verse (Amulet Books), joins Matthew to talk about making a decision that belongs to you.

David Lubar, author most recently of Character, Driven, stops by the podcast to talk about his metafictional experiment, pulling from many of the most demeaning times of his life, and turning to his main character whenever he ran into a problem with writing his story.

Diana Rodriguez Wallach, author of The Silenced (Delacorte Press), joins Matthew to talk about reading through a different cultural lens.

Tony Cliff, cartoonist behind Delilah Dirk and the King’s Shilling, the newest book in the Delilah Dirk graphic novel series, stops by the podcast to talk about controlling the flow of the story, starting small, and comics being a good solution to a problem that film couldn’t accomplish.

Angie Manfredi (@misskubelik) is the editor of THE (OTHER) F WORD: A CELEBRATION OF THE FAT & FIERCE.

Hannah Barnaby, author of Some of the Parts and Wonder Show, stops by the podcast to talk about having a good sense of humor, trusting the author, and the realization that sometimes what you think you needed is what you needed at all.

Adib Khorram shares DARIUS THE GREAT IS NOT OKAY. In Adib’s debut novel we meet Darius, a nerdy, overweight, Iranian-American boy who you will love deeply from the outset.

Gilly Segal shares I’M NOT DYING WITH YOU TONIGHT. This episode was recorded live at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland as part of the Baltimore Book Festival.

Jas Hammonds, author of Thirsty (Roaring Brook Press), joins Matthew to talk about coming to terms with dependence and their experience of everything being fine until it wasn’t.

Sigmund Brouwer, author most recently of Unleashed, published by Orca Book publishers and one of three books in the Retribution trilogy, stops by the podcast to talk about great stories connecting like great songs, lettering the story dictate the characters, and how a book is just a delivery system for stories.

Today’s episode features the 2020 Sydney Taylor Book Award Chair along with a handful of the award winners named by the Association of Jewish Libraries, an affiliate of the ALA. I’ve linked to the full list of winners and honors in the show notes and I encourage you to check out this exceptional list of books recognized by the committee.

Nikki Grimes shares ORDINARY HAZARDS, a memoir in verse that has not only garnered six starred reviews on top of being named a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, and a Robert F. Sibert Informational Honor Book, but it is also without question one of the most beautiful, heart-breaking and heart-mending audiobooks I have ever heard. For those familiar with Grimes’ body of work, you will find through lines throughout pointing back to childhood trauma, family separation, and yearning

Rob Costello, author of An Ugly World for Beautiful Boys (Lethe Press), joins Matthew to talk about the burden of secrets and a character who believes he deserves to suffer.