The Watchung Booksellers Podcast

In this week's episode of The Watchung Booksellers Podcast, we replay an event we hosted in January with authors Ian Frazier (The Snakes That Ate Florida) and Jamaica Kincaid (Putting Myself Together), who discuss their latest collections of writing and 50+ years of friendship.
Ian Frazier's books, all published by FSG, include Paradise Bronx, Great Plains, Travels in Siberia, Dating Your Mom, and many other classic works of nonfiction and humor. His newest book, a gathering of his writing from his first New Yorker piece to present, is the book we're celebrating tonight, THE SNAKES THAT ATE FLORIDA: Reporting, Essays, and Criticism. A frequent contributor to The New Yorker, he lives in Montclair, New Jersey.
Jamaica Kincaid was born in St. John’s, Antigua. Her books include At the Bottom of the River, Annie John, Lucy, The Autobiography of My Mother, My Brother, Mr. Potter, and See Now Then. Her most recent book is Putting Myself Together: Writing 1974–  with an Introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. She teaches at Harvard University and lives in Vermont.
Books:
A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here.
Register for Upcoming Events.

The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup and is recorded at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ.
The show is edited by Kathryn Counsell.
Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff.
Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids’ Room!
If you liked our episode please like, follow, and share!
Stay in touch!
Email: [email protected]
Social: @watchungbooksellers

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In this week's episode, authors Kim Coleman Foote and Toni Ann Johnson talk about fictionalizing their families' difficult and messy history to create dark, heartfelt, and sometimes funny novels.
Kim Coleman Foote is the author of the acclaimed novel, Coleman Hill, which blends fact and fiction about her family’s Great Migration journey to suburban New Jersey, where Kim grew up. The novel was a finalist for the Carol Shields Prize and NAACP Image Award, among others, and was long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Additional honors include literature fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and Kimbilio; residencies at Hedgebrook, Yaddo, and MacDowell; and a Fulbright Fellowship to Ghana, where Kim conducted fieldwork for her second novel, Salt Water Sister. Forthcoming from SJP Lit in 2027, the novel explores women’s resistance to enslavement in the 1700s and a fight for reparations in the present day.
Toni Ann Johnson is the winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for short fiction for Light Skin Gone to Waste, which was selected for the prize and edited by Roxane Gay. The book, a work of autobiographical fiction based on Johnson's family, was also shortlisted for the Saroyan Prize and nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. Johnson's novella Homegoing (about the same family) won Accents Publishing's inaugural novella contest. Her novel Remedy for a Broken Angel earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Literary Work by a Debut Author. Her newest book, But Where's Home? is Johnson's third installment of the "Arrington Family" saga, and won the Screen Door Press Prize for fiction. 

Books:
A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here.
Register for Upcoming Events.

The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup and is recorded at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ.
The show is edited by Kathryn Counsell.
Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff.
Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids’ Room!
If you liked our episode please like, follow, and share!
Stay in touch!
Email: [email protected]
Social: @watchungbooksellers

Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!

In this episode of The Watchung Booksellers Podcast, author Cleyvis Natera and author/photographer/translator Erika Morillo discuss writing in English and Spanish and the process of translation from one to the other. 
Cleyvis Natera is the author of Neruda on the Park and The Grand Paloma Resort. She was born in the Dominican Republic, migrated to the United States at ten years old, and grew up in New York City. She holds a BA from Skidmore College and a MFA from New York University. Her writing has won awards and fellowships from the International Latino Book Awards, PEN America, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, The Kenyon Review’s Writers Workshops, the Vermont Studio Center, the Hermitage Artist Retreat, Rowland Writers Retreat, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She is currently a Fulbright Specialist. She lives with her husband and two young children in Montclair, NJ.
Erika Morillo is a writer, photographer, and translator born and raised in the Dominican Republic and based in Jersey City. Her work focuses on family narratives, identity, and the possibilities of image-text publications. Her photographs have been published and exhibited nationally and internationally, and her books are in the collections at the Whitney Museum of American Art Library, MoMA Archives and Library, The Met Library, and The International Center of Photography Library, among others. She has taught workshops at the Center for Book Arts, International Center of Photography, Columbia University, CHAVÓN School of Design, and Dominican Writers Association. She holds an MA in sociology from The New School for Social Research and an MFA from Image Text Ithaca (now Image Text M.F.A. at Cornell University). 

Books:
A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here.
Register for Upcoming Events.

The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup and is recorded at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ.
The show is edited by Kathryn Counsell.
Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff.
Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids’ Room!
If you liked our episode please like, follow, and share!
Stay in touch!
Email: [email protected]
Social: @watchungbooksellers

Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!

Welcome back to the Watchung Booksellers Podcast! We're starting Season 4 next week, but listen here for a quick preview of what's new. We'll see you next week!
Books:
A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here.
Register for Upcoming Events.

The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup and is recorded at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ.
The show is edited by Kathryn Counsell.
Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff.
Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids’ Room!
If you liked our episode please like, follow, and share!
Stay in touch!
Email: [email protected]
Social: @watchungbooksellers

Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!

In this episode of The Watchung Booksellers podcast, our customers tell us what their favorite reads of 2025 were. Memoir, fiction, manga, YA and more ... these rave reviews will help you find a perfect book for someone on your list. 
Resources:
Libby (Audiobooks through your library)
Libro.fm ( Audio books through your indie bookstore) 
Books:
A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here.
Register for Upcoming Events.

The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup and is recorded at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ.
The show is edited by Kathryn Counsell.
Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff.
Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids’ Room!
If you liked our episode please like, follow, and share!
Stay in touch!
Email: [email protected]
Social: @watchungbooksellers

Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!