Introducing Book Exploder!
This August, on the Song Exploder podcast, I’m introducing a new mini-series: Book Exploder, where authors break down a passage from their work to show us how they write. Just like Song Exploder, it’s about the choices and decisions that go into creating something, as told by the author.
I think an important part of Song Exploder’s DNA is the fact I draw on my own experiences as a musician, songwriter, and producer when I interview the artists on the show. So I asked Susan Orlean, the brilliant, best-selling author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book (among others) to conduct the interviews on Book Exploder.
Susan and me, March 2020. Photo by Jake Michaels.
Book Exploder is an idea that’s been brewing for many years, and I’m so excited that it’s finally going to be out in the world. Instead of taking a big picture view of an entire book, the show goes a little deeper on just one small section. In conversation with Susan, our guests talk about what they were aiming for in those passages, the research they did, their specific language choices, and more. We reached out to some of our favorite authors to discuss their work in this way, and the lineup is incredible:
Min Jin Lee - Pachinko
Carmen Maria Machado - In the Dream House
Michael Cunningham - The Hours
Tayari Jones - An American Marriage
George Saunders - “Victory Lap,” a short story from Tenth of December
Celeste Ng - Little Fires Everywhere
James McBride - Deacon King Kong
And to kick the mini-series off, I interview Susan about a passage from her own book, The Library Book.
So there’s your reading list for the rest of the year! The eight-episode run begins on August 3. Every other Wednesday, a new episode will come out in between installments of Song Exploder (which also comes out every other Wednesday).
Susan was the first person to come on board, but since then, I’ve been lucky to work with some other great collaborators. The show will be part of Radiotopia (my podcast home since 2015); Audible is the presenting sponsor; Julia Botero and Theo Balcomb helped produce the show; Nick Song is the production assistant; and the podcast’s logo was made by Reina Takahashi. Please take a look at the logo, and appreciate that it’s a photo of an actual 3-dimensional object that Reina created. It’s made entirely out of paper!
If you don’t already, please subscribe to Song Exploder on whichever podcast app you like, and get ready for Book Exploder to debut on August 3.
Thanks!
Hrishikesh
ps - Did you know: we here at Accept Cookies have a lot of merch options available for the discerning subscriber. If you want to let people know that you’re a Very Cool Person because you read this newsletter, or if you just want to announce your philosophy on treats, you can get an Accept Cookies t-shirt or sweatshirt here. And if you’re very hardcore about your snacks (the only way to be), you can get the official Snack Club deluxe tote bag. There’s also a Hrishikesh Hirway shirt and a Song Exploder shirt, and more.