Books Connect Us - Penguin Random House
Books Connect Us is a Penguin Random House podcast that connects readers with the authors and stories that inspire you!
Alyssa Adler and Carolina Meurkens host conversations with diverse authors, as they discuss how identity impacts writing, the inspiration behind their books, and how storytelling can change the world. Books Connect Us brings you the inside scoop on “the story behind the story”, as we talk to your favorite authors to learn about the process of writing and publishing their books and the why behind their stories.
Books Connect Us first launched in the spring of 2020 as a way to contend with the challenges of social distancing. These twenty- to thirty-minute remote conversations delved into an author’s latest book, offered unique perspectives on the challenges of prolonged isolation, and explored how books acted as important connective tissue during a difficult time. Since then, Books Connect Us has produced 110 episodes, featuring notable guests such as Taylor Jenkins Reid, Emma Straub, Brit Bennett, Jodi Picoult, and Isabel Allende.
Staying true to the podcast’s original goal of sharing the stories of authors who inspire us, the revamp of Books Connect Us also looks at the journey that a story takes from concept to hardcover. You can listen in on creative deep dives and inquiries like: Where does inspiration come from? How do authors incorporate themselves into their work—or keep themselves at arm’s length? What forces surround a book and how do authors maintain and navigate their identities throughout the process?
Happy Pride from Books Connect Us! In honor of Pride, today’s guest is Haley Jakobson, author of the astute and funny bisexual debut Old Enough. Carolina chats with Haley about all things identity: finding ourselves while we’re still “hurtling towards the person we’re becoming,” utilizing language and harnessing stories to explore our many-faceted, intersectional selves, writing and using art and words to explore the stickier parts of reality.
On today’s episode, we talk to National Book Award finalist Sarah Thankam Mathews about her debut novel, ALL THIS COULD BE DIFFERENT, a warm, dazzling, and profound saga of queer love, friendship, work, and precarity in twenty-first century America. Carolina talks to Sarah about the political engine that drives the book, the shared nuances of the brown queer experience, and the craft elements that bring multi-dimensional stories to life.
In today’s episode, we talk to Eleanor Shearer, author of the gripping and beautiful RIVER SING ME HOME, which was a GMA Book Club Pick. Carolina chats with Eleanor about finding time for creative writing (especially within the confines of a day job), traveling to the Caribbean for her novel and unraveling the complicated tapestries of our identities, homes and families.
Today on the podcast, Carolina and Alyssa interview Chrissy King, author of THE BODY LIBERATION PROJECT, about the way our intersecting identities impact our body image, how and why body and beauty standards are rooted in racism and how we can overcome it all to liberate ourselves and bodies. Chrissy also tells us how she landed a book deal and how she cultivates her brand and platform.
On a very exciting episode of BOOKS CONNECT US, Carolina and Alyssa host a Roundtable. Joined by Amanda Elliot (author of Sadie on a Plate and Best Served Hot) and Kosoko Jackson (author of I’m So Not Over You and Dash of Salt and Pepper), this roundtable’s theme is romance! We discuss: what it takes to craft romance -- from chemistry to characters, how the industry has grown to be more inclusive, and how author identity often plays out on the page.