The Watchung Booksellers Podcast

• Episode 42: Featured Event: Benjamin Wallace

  In this episode of the Watchung Booksellers Podcast, we feature a recent book launch discussion with Benjamin Wallace, author of The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto: A Fifteen-Year Quest to Unmask the Secret Genius Behind Crypto, and author Jason Tanz.Benjamin Wallace is The New York Times bestselling author of The Billionaire’s Vinegar and The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto. He has been a features writer at New York magazine and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.Jason Tanz is currently a writer at Salesforce and formerly the editor-in-chief at Lyft. Before that he worked at Wired for many years. He is the author of Other People's Property: A Shadow History of Hip Hop in White America.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. Art & design and social media by Evelyn Moulton. 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]: @watchungbooksellersSign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!

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• Episode 41: Meet the Regulars

  In this week's episode of The Watchung Booksellers Podcast, booksellers Asia and Caroline chat with longtime favorite customer, Edward. Asia Jannah was born and raised in Montclair, and has worked at Watchung Booksellers for a total of 9 years. She is currently the gift buyer for the flagship location. Her favorite genres include dark fiction, short stories, essays and memoirs. When she’s not at the bookstore arranging displays or inquiring about customer’s current reads, she enjoys knitting, crafting, and of course, reading.Caroline Shurtleff is the school event coordinator and a bookseller in The Kids’ Room at Watchung Booksellers. She graduated from Baylor University with a degree in English Literature. Caroline is a poetry editor at MAYDAY online magazine. Additionally, she writes and researches the show notes for the Watchung Bookseller Podcast and is a co-host of the Watchung Booksellers Poetry series. Caroline grew up in the Dallas-Forth Worth metroplex in Texas, and now lives in New Jersey. Edward is a longtime denizen/aficionado/camp follower of Watchung Booksellers whose primary claim to fame is fixing the toilet.Resources:Watchung Writers 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. Art & design and social media by Evelyn Moulton. 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]: @watchungbooksellersSign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!

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• Episode 40: Children's Book Illustration

  In this episode of the Watchung Booksellers Podcast, children's book author/illustrators Kristine Lombardi and Cat Min talk about their process and love of kids' literature.Kristine A. Lombardi has written and illustrated several books for children, including Lovey Bunny, Mr. Biddles, My Wish for the World and The Grumpy Pets, which garnered an International Literacy Association Children’s Choice Selection. She loves quirky characters and tender stories written with lots of heart. Her next book "Crouton" is coming from Random House in 2026! She lives and works in Montclair, New Jersey. Cat Min is a Korean American author-illustrator, animator, and twin mom. Cat grew up in Hong Kong, where she spent most of her childhood drawing and making comic books out of printer paper and staples with her best friend. She studied animation and film at NYU Tisch and went on to complete the Illustration & Visual Storytelling Summer Residency Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She is also a member of SCBWI, Women Who Draw, and the Society of Illustrators in New York. Her debut picture book, Shy Willow, was featured in the NYT twice and translated to many different languages. Her other picture books include The Little Toymaker and The Shadow & the Ghost.Resources: ProcreateBooks: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. Art & design and social media by Evelyn Moulton. 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]: @watchungbooksellersSign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!

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• Episode 39: Journalism for Justice

  In this week's episode of The Watchung Booksellers Podcast, journalists Candy J. Cooper and Dale Russakoff share their excitement in the triumphs of journalistic writing.Candy J. Cooper is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting. She is the author, most recently, of Shackled: A Tale of Wronged Kids, Rogue Judges, and A Town that Looked Away, which was recently named a 2025 honoree by the American Library Association’s YALSA award for young adult nonfiction. She also wrote Poisoned Water: How the Citizens of Flint Michigan Fought for Their Lies and Warned the Nation, named a 2020 top 10 young adult book by the New York Public Library. She has been a staff writer for four newspapers, including The Detroit Free Press and the San Francisco Examiner. Dale Russakoff spent twenty-eight years as a reporter for the Washington Post, covering politics, education, social policy, and other topics. From 1994 to 2008, she served in the Post’s New York Bureau, where she covered the NYC metropolitan area, including Newark, New Jersey. Dale Russakoff grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and began her career as a reporter for The Alabama Journal and later The Atlanta Journal. In 2015 she published THE PRIZE:  Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools, a New York Times bestseller, and a finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize for a work of nonfiction. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with her husband Matthew Purdy, an editor at The New York Times. Resources:Waiting for Superman 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. Art & design and social media by Evelyn Moulton. 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]: @watchungbooksellersSign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!

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• Episode 38: Historical Fiction

  In this episode of The Watchung Booksellers Podcast, authors Laurie Lico Albanese and Anastasia Rubis discuss reading and writing historical fiction.Laurie Lico Albanese is a historical novelist, most recently of the acclaimed novel Hester,  which gives voice to Hester Prynne in a retelling of The Scarlet Letter. Hester was a Book of the Month club selection and an Audible and Goodreads Best Books of 2022. Laurie’s previous historical novels include Stolen Beauty, about the famed Gustav Klimt portrait known as The Lady in Gold. She lives in Montclair with her husband, where they raised their two grown children. She writes for New Jersey Monthly, teaches writing, and is at work on a new novel.Anastasia Rubis’ writing has appeared in the New York Times, Huffington Post, New York Observer, and literary journals. One of her stories, “Girl Falling,” was named a Notable Essay in Best American Essays of 2014. Another, “Blue Pools,” was included in the anthology Oh, Baby published by Creative Nonfiction. She co-wrote and co-directed a 13-minute documentary titled Breakfast Lunch Dinner: The Greek Diner Story. Her latest work, Oriana, is a novel based on the life of journalist Oriana Fallaci. Rubis earned a BA magna cum laude from Brown University and an MA from Montclair State University. She teaches memoir writing and is working on a second novel. She and her husband live in Montclair, where they raised their daughter, and spend summers in Greece, where their parents were born.Resources:Woman in Gold Neue GalerieThe CrownOppenheimerLeeBooks: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. Art & design and social media by Evelyn Moulton. 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]: @watchungbooksellersSign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!

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