Each week on The Book Show, host Joe Donahue interviews authors about their books, their lives and their craft. It is a celebration of both reading and writers. Joe holds interesting conversations with a variety of authors including Malcolm Gladwell, Lawrence Wright, and Emily St. John Mandel.
As the son of a librarian, Joe has been part of the book world since childhood. His first job was as a library assistant, during college he was a clerk at an independent book store and for the past 25 years he has been interviewing authors about their books on the radio.
He is also the host of The Roundtable on WAMC Northeast Public Radio, a 3-hour general interest talk show. Notable authors he has interviewed include: Kurt Vonnegut, John Irving, John Updike, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Arthur Miller, Stephen King, Amy Tan, Anne Rice, Philip Roth, E.L Doctorow, Richard Russo, David Sedaris and Maya Angelou.
Joe has won several awards for his interviews, including honors from the Associated Press, the Edward R. Murrow Awards, the New York State Association of Broadcasters, The Headliners, The National Press Club and the Scripps-Howard Foundation.
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Author Liz Moore transports readers into a thrilling drama richly set against summertime in the Adirondacks in “The God of the Woods.” The novel follows the mysteries of a dynastic American family, the secrets of the summer camp nestled in their estate, the tragic history of a blue-collar community, and the disappearance of a young girl at the center of it all. -
Roddy Doyle’s latest novel, The Women Behind the Door, is a powerful mother-daughter story. At sixty-six, Paula Spencer has finally started to live her life. That is until her eldest daughter turns up on the doorstep one day. She has left her family and come to stay. -
Lauren Groff is a three-time National Book Award finalist and New York Times bestselling author. Her new novel, “The Vaster Wilds,” is at once an adventure story and a penetrating fable about trying to find a new way of living in a world succumbing to the churn of colonialism. It tells the story of America in miniature, through one girl at a hinge point in history. -
Richard Powers’ bestselling novel, "The Overstory," won the Pulitzer Prize and has more than 1 million copies in print. His new novel, "Playground," captures the beauty and loss of the ocean, following four lives: a marine biologist, an artist, a schoolteacher, and an AI pioneer as they intersect on an island in French Polynesia. -
In her new novel, “The Mighty Red,” Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich tells a story of love, natural forces, spiritual yearnings, and the tragic impact of uncontrollable circumstances on ordinary people's lives. -
Amor Towles is the author of New York Times bestsellers “Rules of Civility,” “A Gentleman in Moscow,” and “The Lincoln Highway.” The three novels have collectively sold more than five million copies. His latest is a collection of stories: “Table for Two: Fictions.” He is also editor of this year’s “The Best Short Stories 2024: The O. Henry Prize Winners.” -
Pulitzer Prize–winning author Elizabeth Strout’s latest, Tell Me Everything, returns to the town of Crosby, Maine, and to her beloved cast of characters as they deal with a shocking crime in their midst, forge new friendships, make difficult decisions about love, and grapple with the question, as Lucy Barton puts it, “What does anyone’s life mean?” -
Peter Heller is the best-selling author of "Burn," a novel about two men - friends since boyhood - who emerge from the woods of rural Maine to a dystopian country racked by bewildering violence. -
In “Creation Lake” by Rachel Kushner, Sadie Smith, a 34 year old American undercover agent of ruthless tactics is sent by her mysterious but powerful employers to a remote corner of France. Her mission: to infiltrate a commune of radical eco-activists. -
Helen Phillips is one of the most interesting and original writers working today. In her latest novel, “Hum,” she turns her eye to marriage, motherhood, and selfhood in a world compromised by global warming and artificial intelligence.
