Poets & Writers Theater

Politics and Prose Bookstore owner Lissa Muscatine and head book buyer Mark Laframboise talk about their favorite fiction books of 2016, beginning with Imagine Me Gone (Little, Brown, 2016) by Adam Haslett, who was featured in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

"A few years ago, God gave me a birthday present. Joey McIntyre was coming to Madison, Wisconsin, four days before my twenty-seventh birthday." Listen to Emma Straub read her essay "Teenage Dream" for the Franklin Park Reading Series. Her new novel, Modern Lovers (Riverhead Books, 2016), is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Rita Dove reads her poem "American Smooth" at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in 2010. Her new book, Collected Poems: 1974–2004 (Norton, 2016), which is longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award, is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

"I am, in a sense, a human watch: chronos, time incarnate." Listen to author Geoff Dyer's sermon "On Punctuality," which was filmed for the School of Life's Sunday Sermons series. His new book, White Sands: Experiences From the Outside World (Pantheon Books, 2016), is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

"Whole years will be spent, underneath these impossible stars / when dirt's the only animal who will sleep with you..." Aracelis Girmay reads her poem, "Kingdom Animalia," for the Page Meets Stage reading series in 2013. Her new poetry collection, The Black Maria (BOA Editions, 2016), is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

South African novelist Masande Ntshanga talks about his debut novel, The Reactive (Two Dollar Radio, 2016), for an interview on the SABC News. The novel is featured in Page One in the May/June issue and Ntshanga is a featured author in "First Fiction 2016" in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

"How the real blues claims every inch of the hungry mouth." Tyehimba Jess reads his poem "The Harmonica Lesson" and plays harmonica for the Page Meets Stage reading series in 2010. Jess is featured in Ampersand: The Poets & Writers Podcast, and his new poetry collection, Olio (Wave Books, 2016), is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

"The days started getting dark earlier...the air had cooled noticeably, with the first carved pumpkins appearing in windows." Listen to novelist Charles Bock speak about and read from his first novel, Beautiful Children (Random House, 2008), for the Authors@Google series. Bock's latest novel, Alice & Oliver (Random House, 2016), is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

"For each night is a long drink in a short glass." Listen to a reading by poet Brenda Shaughnessy at the Chicago Humanities Festival in 2013. Shaughnessy is featured in Ampersand: The Poets & Writers Podcast and her fourth poetry collection, So Much Synth (Copper Canyon Press, 2016), is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.