Longtime friend and editor of Bookworm, Alan Howard, returns to host this episode, the last of 10 shows to journey through Bookworm’s 33 years and offer a retrospective look at Michael’s accomplishments on behalf of writers and readers. For decades Michael has read almost all of a writer’s work, not just the book which has been most recently published. Howard has watched writers glow as they realize that they’ve been seriously witnessed by the ultimate Bookworm. All of the writers on today’s...

Close friend of Michael Silverblatt’s and Bookworm editor for 30 years, Alan Howard guest hosts this episode on grief and loss. When the two met more than 33 years ago, Michael’s first words were, “What are you reading?” It was a question that brought Howard back to literature. Over the years, Michael did the same for thousands of listeners. With Bookworm, he was determined to return literary fiction and poetry to the center of the zeitgeist. In the process, he faced the realities of loss and...

Los Angeles-based author Michelle Huneven joins Evan Kleiman to discuss her latest book, “ Search .” In this engaging and funny literary fiction novel, main character Dana Potowski writes a memoir that describes the steps of her Unitarian Universalist Church congregation’s year-long search for its new minister and the challenges they encounter.

Natalia Molina tells the story of Nayarit, her grandmother’s Mexican restaurant, a space that became a cherished hub for immigrants and the LGBTQ community in Echo Park.

Editor/poet Emily Skillings and poet/critic John Yau speak about an iconic poet of the 21st century, John Ashbery, and his posthumous book, “Parallel Movement of the Hands: Five Unfinished Longer Works.”

Rita Dove’s new book of poetry, “Playlist for the Apocalypse,” goes in many different historical and personal directions.

Jackie Kay’s “Bessie Smith: A Poet's Biography of a Blues Legend” is a terrific mixture of memoir and biography.

The debut novel of Robert Jones, Jr., “The Prophets,” is lyrical prose about the dimensionality and interiority of people.

Paul Tran says that poetry can live on a page. This show discusses the abundant life in their debut poetry book, “All the Flowers Kneeling.” Tran joins guest host Shawn Sullivan to explore the book’s four sections as well as its notes.

Writer Tobias Wolff speaks about a dark book that remains loving, Harry Crews 1978 classic “ A Childhood: The Biography of a Place .” Wolff wrote the foreword to its Penguin Classics re-release, which joins a number of Crews’ works in the series.

Acclaimed novelist, poet, and essayist Tao Lin (“Taipei,” “Shoplifting from American Apparel”) speaks about growing as a writer, and growing his idea of himself in a book, including his latest, “ Leave Society ,” about the blurred lines between life and fiction.

Author Zac Smith speaks about the extreme juxtaposition of the very short, dense, and clipped stories in his new book, “Everything is Totally Fine.” He says that by removing a lot of exposition, he was able to create intense emotions in a small space. His energetic and thoughtful stories of absurdity and minutiae are things that could not be said any other way, and usually don’t get said. Plus, special guest Tao Lin explains why “Everything is Totally Fine” inspired him to reopen his Muumuu...

Brit Bennett pushes questions of race and color to their extremes in her new novel, The Vanishing Half.

A distinguished writer of books in various forms — poetry, essay, memoir — Sarah Manguso embarks on her first novel with “Very Cold People,” a striking work about what it means to be human. She discusses how she came to be the person and writer she seems to be now, and why it was necessary to write fiction to make the kind of book about Massachusetts she wanted to make. This deeply moving novel portrays being overwhelmed by the small moments of life, and documents the experience of being a...

At the beginning of Sheila Heti’s new book, “Pure Colour,” God looks at a first-draft world he should get around to changing. The reader meets protagonist Mira, who bonds with a woman named Annie. Then Mira’s father dies, and his soul enters her; astonishingly, their combined selves become a leaf on a tree. Annie longs to bring Mira out of leaf form. Annie is what Mira calls a fixer. “Pure Colour” is a singular book that needs to be accepted rather than interpreted. Sheila Heti speaks about...

Journalist and author Tom Bissell’s new short fiction collection, “ Creative Types: and Other Stories ,” is about people trying to solve the problem of being themselves. Seven short stories describe the kinds of lives lived in Los Angeles with thoroughness, audacity, and complexity.