Books

LOOKING

Mike Albo on Cock Cages, Cult Workouts, and the End of Youth Culture

December 4, 2025

The writer and comedian joined us to talk about his new audiobook, “Hologram Boyfriends,” and desire in the digital age.

IN CONVERSATION

Frauds, Frenemies, and Flat Earthers: Inside Anika Jade Levy’s Debut Novel

November 5, 2025

In her debut novel “Flat Earth,” the author sends up the downtown arts scene. Before its release, she joined fellow millennial satirist Halle Butler to go further down the rabbit hole.

PILLS

P.E. Moskowitz on Hangovers, Hysteria, and America’s Chemical Romance

September 9, 2025

“It’s not that the drugs are bad,” says the author and critic, “but we’re asking the wrong thing of them. There’s no way to cure people into a sick society.”

IN CONVERSATION

Amie Barrodale and Ottessa Moshfegh on Craft, Critics, and the Blurb Economy

September 3, 2025

To mark the release of her first novel, “Trip,” the author reunited with her longtime friend Ottessa Moshfegh for a candid conversation about endings, memory, and not reading their reviews.

IN CONVERSATION

Olivia Kan-Sperling on Alt-Lit, E-Girls, and the Joys of Cultural Appropriation

August 28, 2025

Shortly after the release of her second novel, “Little Pink Book,” the author joined Alexi Alario of Nymphet Alumni to discuss the book’s wide-ranging inspirations over bubble tea.

MEMOIR

“Giving Up Is a Great Source of Happiness”: 30 Minutes With Author Geoff Dyer

June 19, 2025

After the release of his charming new memoir, “Homework,” the 67-year-old writer joined us to talk about conjuring his childhood on the page and giving up on tennis once and for all.

IN CONVERSATION

Sophie Gilbert and Amanda Hess on MLMs, Motherhood, and Menstrual Tracking Apps

May 1, 2025

“I wanted people to google porn and find feminist criticism instead,” says the author, who joined The New York Times critic Amanda Hess to discuss her new book, “Girl on Girl.”

GAY

How Marwan Kaabour Wrote the Definitive Guide to Queer Arab Slang

October 11, 2024

The London-based graphic designer and linguist paid us a visit on his North American book tour to talk about “The Queer Arab Glossary.”

WEATHER REPORT

Emerson Whitney Wants to Get Fucked by a Storm

July 11, 2023

“I want the killer whales to come. I want them here, at my doorstep.”

OPEN BOOK

Memoirist Emily Wells Shares Her Guide to the Bookstores of Eastside L.A.

June 16, 2023

“Because it was a matter of time before whatever book I was reading would be confiscated, I learned to read as quickly as possible.”

CINEMA

Writer Ian Penman on Foucault, Freelancing, and the Films of Fassbinder

June 15, 2023

“There’s a tension there in the book between that young me in the ‘80s who thought Fassbinder was great, who thought that his fatalism was the truth, and the older me who thinks that he had a quite adolescent male view of the world.”