Poured Over: The B&N Podcast Airs Its 100th Episode

Poured Over: The B&N Podcast Airs Its 100th Episode

Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast is airing its 100th episode on April 7th as Miwa Messer, the Executive Producer and host of Poured Over, sits down with Jennifer Egan to chat all about her new book, The Candy House.  In less than a year, in a crowded podcast space, Messer has launched and curated the show to its current success and is gaining daily active listeners. 

To celebrate Poured Over’s 100th episode, Barnes & Noble flipped the script and asked Messer a few questions about who she is as a bookseller, a reader and a podcaster and, of course, what books she is recommending right now: 

“True story: I left a fancy college with a fancy degree and instead of doing what was expected, went to work in a bookstore in Boston. Those Powers That Be sent me to Chicago, where I spent a couple of years learning everything I could about bookselling. Came back to NYC to be a publicist at Grove/Atlantic and, from there, landed at B&N, where I produced in-store events, rebuilt the Discover Great New Writers program and our social media strategy…and launched/produced/hosted (and even edited the audio for) our podcast, Poured Over. That’s all a long-winded way of saying I am, and always have been, a bookseller. 

Who am I as a reader? (Part One) I read for language and voice first, then story and character—and I don’t necessarily need to like the characters I’m reading about. My superpower? I read insanely fast and retain what I read, and I’m not sure we could pull off 2-3 episodes per week without it. I’m always reading for the show, which includes reading coverage of books and authors and publishing in traditional media—I subscribe to the NYT, LAT and WaPo—and on social media. I also spend tons of time talking to other readers inside and outside of the industry about books and authors, what they’re watching, what they’re worried about day-to-day, and more. Equally important: I’m curious and I like to listen to writers riff on their work and the world. My show scripts/research average around 75 pages, single spaced, and I probably use one tenth to one third of that in my interviews for Poured Over. 

Me, as a reader. (Part Two) Loads of people have asked me how many books I’ve read overall/in a week/in a month and honestly, I have no idea. I’ve never kept a notebook of the books I’ve read, don’t force myself to finish books I’m not grooving on, I still gravitate towards emerging talent (that doesn’t always mean debuts, BTW) and yeah, I have a pretty significant TBR, mostly made up of NYRB classics and books I’m not covering on the show.  

What made me think we could launch a new show in 2021’s crowded podcast market? I made a show that I wanted to listen to, and I knew other readers would come to it because it’s a show where writers own the floor. I’ll set things up and ask a ton of questions—and then get out of the way. I’ve always said it’s my job as a bookseller to hold the door open while others walk through, and listeners can see that writ large in the lineup of authors we’ve hosted since our 6/1/21 launch. Individual episodes of Poured Over run 35-38 minutes on average. We also have an occasional, and very fun, segment called TBR Topoff that comes from booksellers at our Northville, Michigan store that ties three backlist book recommendations to the current show’s interview.  Our booksellers across the country LOVE the show; they’re building store displays and featuring the show on their local social media channels and talking it up in their communities. Some of the comments I hear most often from listeners are “I love the intimacy of these conversations” and “I learn so much about writing” and “I just bought the book!” (Feel free to drop your comments and questions to me at PouredOverPod at bn dot com). 

Asking me to pick a favorite episode of Poured Over is like asking me to pick a favorite book, which is something I don’t like to do, because there’s always something new for me to fall utterly, impossibly in love with. But if you’re looking for a cheat sheet, here are a few episodes that listeners have told me are their favorites: 

• Eddie S. Glaude on Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own 

• Clint Smith on How the Word is Passed 
• Min Jin Lee on The Great Gatsby  
• Kiese Laymon on Long Division 
• Colson Whitehead on Harlem Shuffle 
• Alix Harrow on Once and Future Witches 

• Michele Zauner on Crying in H-Mart 
• Marlon James on Moon Witch, Spider King 
• Beth Macy on Dopesick 
• Andrea Elliott on Invisible Child 
• David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon on creativity, Matrix 4 and more 

• Bernardine Evaristo on Manifesto 
• Tara Westover on Educated 
• Julie Otsuka on The Swimmers 
• Debbie Millman on Why Design Matters 
• Jeff Yang, Phil Yu and Philip Wang on Rise 

OK, so I’ve told you who I am as a reader, and if you’re wondering who I am as a podcast listener, well, I listen to a lot of shows as one-off while I prep for an episode, or because a pal is featured. My list of regular rotation must-listens is pretty short, and each episode leaves me smarter. 

Marlon and Jake Read Dead People Marlon James and his editor Jake Morrissey are clearly having a ball as they talk about dead writers they love (and the ones they really, really don’t). 

Danielle Henderson’s and Millie De Chirico’s I Saw What You Did is an absolute scream. I don’t know a ton about movies, but I will listen to these women riff on anything.  

It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders: Sam’s new culture podcast for Vulture hasn’t launched yet, but I’m sure it’s going to be a wonder in all the best ways. In the meantime, I’m catching up on back episodes of his NPR show. 

If you’ve heard Jeff Yang and Phil Yu’s episode of Poured Over (with their co-author, Philip Wu) then you have an idea of what their podcast, They Call Us Bruce, is about—and the mix of humor and seriousness they bring to conversations about all things Asian American. 

And oh, oh, how I miss Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris on Still Processing. (I think they’re both working on new books, so I’m just going to sit here, quietly, in the corner while they work.) 

What am I recommending right now? 

• Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel  
• The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang 
• The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka 

• Moon Witch, Spider King by Marlon James 
• Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra (on sale on July 19th) 
• Easy Beauty by Chloé Cooper Jones 
• Dirtbag, Massachusetts by Isaac Fitzgerald (on sale on July 19th)” 

New episodes of Poured Over land every Tuesday and Thursday, with the occasional Saturday show, and can be listened to on BN.com, or on your favorite podcast app, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.