Gays Reading

Jason Blitman sits down with Caro Claire Burke to discuss her debut novel Yesteryear, April 2026's Good Morning America Book Club pick.

Conversation highlights include:

🩰 Ballerina Farms

🐳 Why all millennials wanted to be marine biologists 

📱 TikTok, culture at large, and fitting in

CARO CLAIRE BURKE received her Master’s in Fine Arts from the Bennington Writing Seminars. She is the co-host of Diabolical Lies, a politics and culture podcast. Yesteryear is her first novel.

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In this episode of What Are You Reading?, host Jason Blitman sits down with Lisa Lee to talk about the books that shaped and sustained her through the decade-long journey to her debut novel, American Han.

Lisa Lee is the recipient of the Marianne Russo Emerging Writer Award from the Key West Literary Seminar, an Emerging Writer Fellowship from the Center for Fiction, and a Pushcart Prize. She has received other fellowships and awards from Kundiman, Millay Arts, Hedgebrook, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, Tin House, Jentel Artist Residency, and the Korea Foundation. Her work has appeared in Plo...

Host Jason Blitman talks to prolific author Yann Martel (Life of Pi) about his latest novel, Son of Nobody. They talk about religion versus art, dreams versus reality, Greek gods like Hades, and Martel’s enthusiasm for CrossFit burpees.

Yann Martel is the author of Life of Pi, the international bestseller that won the 2002 Booker Prize and was adapted to the screen in the Oscar–winning film by Ang Lee. He lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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On this episode of What Are You Reading?, host Jason Blitman sits down with actor, writer, and all-around fandom icon Felicia Day to talk favorite books, current reads, and her brand-new graphic novel, The Last Daughter of Sparta.

Felicia Day has appeared as an actress in numerous television shows and films, including Supernatural, The Magicians, and Mystery Science Theater 3000. However, Felicia is best known for her work in the web video world, behind and in front of the camera. She costarred in Joss Whedon’s award-winning internet musical Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and created and starred in the...

Host Jason Blitman talks to Lauren Groff about her new story collection, Brawler. This conversation was recorded live at Warwick's in San Diego.

Conversation highlights include:

📓 A therapy session about story collections

💡 How Lauren knows an idea is a story and not a novel

🇫🇷 Expectations of Paris

Lauren Groff is a three-time National Book Award finalist and the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Monsters of Templeton, Arcadia, Fates and Furies, Matrix, and The Vaster Wilds, and the celebrated short story collections Delicate Edible Birds and Florida. She...

Jason Blitman talks with novelist Saleem Haddad about what he's been reading, his new novel Floodlines, and the story behind its stunning cover.

Saleem Haddad was born in Kuwait City to a Palestinian-Lebanese father and an Iraqi-German mother, and educated in Jordan, Canada, and the United Kingdom. He has worked as an aid worker with Doctors Without Borders in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq, and has advised on humanitarian and peacebuilding issues throughout West Asia and North Africa. He is the author of the acclaimed debut Guapa, a 2017 Stonewall Honor Book and the winner of the 2017 Polari Prize...

Announcing the April Gays Reading Book Club pick with Allstora 

ALMOST LIFE by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Two young women meet in Paris one sultry summer in a decades-spanning tour de force about the enduring power of young love and the poignant heartbreak of missed chances—perfect for fans of One Day and Normal People.

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Host Jason Blitman is joined by debut novelist Tara Menon to talk about her new book, Under Water. 

Conversation highlights include:

🍦 The food textures that Tara hates

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Chosen family

🐦‍⬛ Venery nouns

Tara Menon was born in India, grew up in Singapore, spent a decade in New York, and now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she is an assistant professor of English at Harvard University. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, the Nation and the Paris Review.

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Host Jason Blitman is joined by Kate Schatz who lives out her Reading Rainbow fantasy by sharing some of her favorite books. Kate then shares the personal story behind writing her debut novel, Where the Girls Were.

Kate Schatz is a feminist author from California. She’s the New York Times bestselling author of Do the Work: An Anti-Racist Activity Book, with W. Kamau Bell, and the “Rad Women” book series (including Rad American Women A-Z, Rad Women Worldwide, and Rad American History A-Z). Her book of fiction, Rid of Me: A Story, was published as part of the cu...

Host Jason Blitman is joined by T Kira Madden, author of the acclaimed memoir Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, to discuss her debut novel, Whidbey.

Conversation highlights include:

⛴️ T Kira's trip to Whidbey Island

☀️ The trauma of growing up in Florida

📺 Favorite reality TV

T Kira Māhealani Madden is a diasporic Kanaka 'Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) writer and author of the acclaimed memoir Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, which was named a New York Times Editors' Choice, as well as a finalist for the National Book C...

Jason Blitman talks with singer-songwriter and queer icon Ani DiFranco about her reading life and the story behind her new book, The Spirit of Ani.

ANI DiFRANCO is a Grammy Award–winning singer-songwriter and musician who has released twenty-three albums, traversing genres and addressing a range of autobiographical, political, and social issues. She is widely considered a feminist icon, and created her own record label, Righteous Babe Records, in 1990. She regularly releases new music, and continues her decades-long career as a major touring artist. DiFranco released a collection of poems and paintings titled Verses in 2007. Her mem...

Host Jason Blitman sits down with author Amy Jo Burns — who returns to Gays Reading after co-interviewing Abraham Verghese with Jason in summer 2024 — to discuss her latest novel, Wait for Me, the March pick for Read with Jenna's book club.

Conversation highlights include: 

🎶 Amy Jo's relationship to (and the power of) music

🫂 Embracing your authentic self

🖼️ Commercialization of art

Amy Jo Burns is the author of the memoir Cinderland and the novel Shiner, which was a Barnes & Noble Discover pick and an NPR Best Book of the Year. Her novel Mercu...

Host Jason Blitman talks to RuPaul's Drag Race runner-up and Miss Congeniality, Sapphira Cristál about what she's been reading as well as about what folks can expect from her new comedy tour, One Slue Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Sapphira Cristál (runner-up and Miss Congeniality of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16) is a classically trained opera singer, composer, and drag queen known for her theatrical lip syncs and six-octave range. She is renowned as a charismatic host who forges a special connection with her audiences. Sapphira holds 16 pageant crowns and has performed globally. In 2024, she was th...

Host Jason Blitman talks to Oprah's Book Club pick Tayari Jones about Kin, her long-awaited new novel, nearly a decade in the making.

Conversation highlights include:

🔎 A Google-tangent about the etymology of the word "kin"

🌈 On writing an overtly queer book

🍰 The best kind of red velvet cake

Per the conversation, here is the link to Motherhood Beyond Bars:

https://www.motherhoodbeyond.org/

Tayari Jones is the author of four novels, most recently An American Marriage, which was an Oprah’s Book Club selection...

Host Jason Blitman talks to everyone's favorite influencer and bestie, Misha Brown aka @yourbestiemisha, about what he's been reading as well as his new book Be Your Own Bestie: A No-Nonsense Guide to Changing the Way You Treat Yourself

Misha Brown is an undeniable entertainment powerhouse who excels as an influencer, podcast host, and performer. With a knack for captivating audiences, he shot to notoriety on TikTok in 2021 with the viral Lessons in Not Crossing a Gay Man series, amassing over 6 million followers. Named Motivational Creator of the Year and honored by the Webby Awards for s...

Host Jason Blitman is joined by prolific author Kate Quinn to talk about her latest novel, The Astral Library. 

Conversation highlights include:

📖 The book Kate would (and wouldn't) want to live in

✨ Sacred spaces

📚 Reading habits and the best books to reread

The Astral Library is out now wherever you get your books. 

Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of Southern California, she attended Boston University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classic...

Announcing the March Gays Reading Book Club pick with Allstora 

SO OLD, SO YOUNG by Grant Ginder

Five parties over the course of twenty years bring six college friends together, exploring the ways we run from and cling to our friends in love, life, and death.

New to the club? Get your first book for just $1!

When you join the Gays Reading Book Club with Allstora, here’s what you get:

Host Jason Blitman is joined by debut author Patmeena Sabit to talk about her book, this month's Barnes & Noble Book Club Selection, Good People. 

Conversation highlights include:

♥️ What it means to be a good person

✨ Karma and how we choose to live our lives

🫆 Paying a price to be your authentic self

Good People is out now wherever you get your books. 

Patmeena Sabit was born in Kabul a few years after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. When she was a month old, her family fled t...

Host Jason Blitman talks with author April Reynolds (The Shape of Dreams) about what she’s been reading lately and the joyful surprise of discovering just how many LGBTQIA+ authors have quietly shaped her reading life.

April Reynolds is the author of the novel Knee-Deep in Wonder, which won the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation Award and the PEN American Center: Beyond Margins Award. She co-wrote The Red Rooster Cookbook with Marcus Samuelson and is co-editor, with Henry Louis Gates Jr., of The Toni Morrison Reader and The Zora Neale Hurston Reader. Reynolds has taught creative...

Host Jason Blitman talks to author Nikesha Elise Williams about her new novel, The Seven Daughters of Dupree. 

Conversation highlights include:

🎶 Janet Jackson choreography

💜 What it means to be "enough"

🙏 The sacred, intimate rituals of hair

Nikesha Elise Williams is a two-time Emmy Award–winning producer, an award-winning author, and producer and host of the Black and Published podcast. A narrative strategist by day and journalist always, her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Essence, and Vox. Nikesha is a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and a DeGroot Foundation Writer o...

Host Jason Blitman sits down with bookish-multihyphenate Brian Larson aka @brian.reads who shares what he's been reading and talks about his new podcast, The Shelf Care Society.

Brian Larson is the author of The Afterparty (publishing June 2027) a memoir that reframes sobriety not as loss but as liberation. Known as @brian.reads on social media, he is the founder of Shelf Care Society, a book club with RuPaul’s Allstora, and the host of Shelf Care Society: The Podcast, where he sits down with authors, activists, and cultural voices for candid, curious conversations. Brian blends hu...

Host Jason Blitman is joined by acclaimed author George Saunders who talks about his new novel, Vigil. 

Conversation highlights include:

🎭 Comparisons to Shakespeare

🕯️ Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol

🍔 George's Last Meal

George Saunders is the author of nine books, including the novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the Man Booker Prize, and the story collections Pastoralia and Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. He has received fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Guggenheim Foundation. In 2006...

Host Jason Blitman sits down with author Nina McConigley (How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder) to talk about what she’s been reading lately—beyond Eric Carle’s The Very Lonely Firefly.

Plus: head to the Gays Reading Substack to hear Nina talk about adapting Cowboys and East Indians for the stage, now playing at the Denver Center through March 1, 2026.

NINA McCONIGLEY is the author of the story collection Cowboys and East Indians, which was the winner of the PEN/Open Book Award and the High Plains Book Award. She has received grants and fellowships from t...

Host Jason Blitman talks to author Gabriel Tallent about his new book, Crux. 

Conversation highlights include:

💈 The surprising number of hot gay barbers in Salt Lake

🧗🏼‍♂️ What drawing a climb looks like

⭐️ Ambition and legacy

Gabriel Tallent is the author of the New York Times-bestselling novel My Absolute Darling. He was born in New Mexico and raised on the Mendocino coast by two mothers. He received his B.A. from Willamette University in 2010, and after graduation spent two seasons leading youth trail crews in the backcountry of the Pacific Northwest. T...

Host Jason Blitman talks to author Annie Summerlee about what she's been reading as she awaited the publication of her book: The Book of Blood and Roses.

Annie Summerlee lives in Spain with her partner, two cats, and a rescue dog. Her short stories have been featured in 404 Ink, Litro, and So To Speak, as well as other magazines and anthologies. She also writes in Catalan and Spanish.

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Announcing the February Gays Reading Book Club Pick...

⭐️ MISSING SAM by Thrity Umrigar, the bestselling author of HONOR

At first glance, MISSING SAM looks like a classic thriller: a woman goes missing after a morning run and her wife is left behind to search for answers. But very quickly, this book becomes something much deeper. The book is about what happens when grief collides with prejudice. About how quickly suspicion attaches itself to certain bodies. About love, marriage, and what it means to feel unsafe not just in the world, but inside your own communi...

Host Jason Blitman chats with author Emily Austin about her latest novel, Is This a Cry for Help?

Conversation highlights include:

Emily Austin is the author of We Could Be Rats, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, Interesting Facts About Space, and the poetry collection Gay Girl Prayers. She was born in Ontario, Canada, and received two writing grants from th...

Host Jason Blitman sits down with Sarah Dickinson, creator and host of popular podcast Sarah’s Bookshelves Live, to talk about the books she’s most excited to read in 2026.

Conversation highlights include:

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Host Jason Blitman kicks off 2026 by revisiting some of the quiet yet impactful moments from Gays Reading episodes in 2025.

Featured in this episode are conversations with:

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In the final episode of 2025, host Jason Blitman sits down with author and critic Marion Winik for a wide-ranging, bookish conversation. Winik shares her top ten favorite fiction reads of the year and reflects on her memoir First Comes Love as it celebrates its 30th anniversary—plus the release of its new audiobook. Even more from this conversation, including top ten nonfiction books and exclusive critic talk, is available on the Gays Reading Substack. https://gaysreading.substack.com/

Marion Winik is the author of nine books, including The Big Book of the Dead (Counterpoint, 2019) and First Comes Love (Panth...

Host Jason Blitman sits down with literary icon John Irving to discuss his latest novel, Queen Esther. Their wide-ranging conversation touches on the story behind Irving’s first tattoo, what it truly means to be an ally, where he finds optimism in uncertain times, and the deeply personal experiences that continue to shape his writing—plus plenty more along the way.

John Irving was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1942. His first novel, Setting Free the Bears, was published in 1968, when he was twenty-six. He competed as a wrestler for twenty years, and coached wrestling until he was...

In this episode, host Jason Blitman sits down with Alex Snodgrass (aka The Defined Dish) to talk all things book club menus—how to plan them, why they matter, and how food can deepen the reading experience. Using Alex’s recent book club gathering for Conform as a case study, the conversation expands to include Conform author Ariel Sullivan, who joins to unpack the creative collaboration behind the menu and the meal. As part of our celebration of people doing interesting things with books, Ariel also shares a peek into her ambitious storytelling vision—including how her series isn’t just a...

Host Jason Blitman sits down with Reginald Dwayne Betts—poet, lawyer, and founder of Freedom Reads—for an intimate conversation about transforming America's prison system one library at a time. 

In an extraordinary turn of events, Dwayne receives a live call from Jermaine, a friend currently incarcerated at Lawrenceville Correctional Facility. Jermaine joins the conversation to share how not having a Freedom Reads library has impacted his own journey, offering rare, unfiltered insight into what literature means inside the prison system. 

Reginald Dwayne Betts is a poet and lawyer. A 2021 MacArthur Fellow, he is the...

In this re-release special episode, host Jason Blitman dives into the world of Wicked. Joined by legendary author Gregory Maguire, Guest Gay Reader is comedian and host of That’s a Gay Ass Podcast, Eric Williams, and Gays Reading’s first Guest Gay Icon, Broadway powerhouse Eden Espinosa. 

Highlights include:

📖 The legacy of this iconic story

🎭 Insider behind-the-scenes

🎤 Unforgettable riffs, obvs

💚 Identify, friendship, and self-acceptance

This episode is perfect for fans of the musical, lovers of literature, and anyone who has ever felt like an outsider finding their pl...

In this Thanksgiving week episode, host Jason Blitman talks to brand-new-dad Justinian Huang about his paper baby, Lucky Seed.

Conversation highlights:
👻 hungry ghosts and superstitions
🤳🏼 social media and millennials
🦃 tips for navigating family during Thanksgiving

Guest Gay Reader™️ this week is White Lotus and Overcompensating favorite--and avid reader--Lukas Gage.

Justinian Huang’s debut novel, The Emperor and the Endless Palace, was an Indie Next Pick and a 2025 Stonewall Honor Book. It was hailed by Booklist as “a sweeping triumph,” and as “page-turning and deeply...

Host Jason Blitman sits down with author Olivia Laing (The Lonely City) to talk about their new book, The Silver Book.

In this conversation, they dive into:
🎥 making art and Italian cinema
🏳️‍🌈 the role queerness plays throughout Laing’s work
🗣️ how identity becomes a negotiation with—and around—fakeness

Plus, this week’s Guest Gay Reader™️ is Michael Galyean (aka Dancing Blue Shirt Guy), who shares what he’s been reading and talks about his multifaceted career as a choreographer, private chef, and children's book author (The Dancing Blue Shirt Boy).

In this *spoiler free* conversation, host Jason Blitman talks to author Erin O. White about her book LIKE FAMILY, the December Gays Reading Book Club pick with Allstora.

LIKE FAMILY — a warm, big-hearted debut about the beautiful, messy, complicated ways we love one another. Set in a picturesque town in upstate New York, the novel follows three interconnected couples navigating friendship, parenthood, queer identity, jealousy, grief, and the quiet bravery of choosing each other again and again.

At its core, LIKE FAMILY is a love letter to queer families and small-town li...

Host Jason Blitman talks to award-winning Irish writer Gráinne O'Hare about her debut novel, Thirst Trap. 

Conversation highlights include:
❤️‍🔥 icks on dates
🙃 drunk alter egos 
🧡 Taylor Swift
👯‍♀️ long friendships

Next up is Guest Gay Reader™️ Brian Schaefer who talks about what he's been reading (hint: it's NOT books!), the book club he has with his mom, and shares the inspo behind his debut novel, Town & Country.

Gráinne O’Hare is a writer from Belfast based in Newcastle upon Tyne. She received a Northern Debut Awar...

Host Jason Blitman is joined by Aja Gabel to talk about her first novel in nearly a decade, Lightbreakers. 

Conversation highlights include:
✍🏻 the death of handwriting 
🧪 science vs art 
💭 what memory means to us

Jason's then joined by Guest Gay Reader™️ Anthony Delaney who shares a giant stack of books he's reading as well as shares about his new book, Queer Enlightenments. 

Aja Gabel is the author of the novel The Ensemble. Her prose can be found in The Cut, the Los Angeles Times, Opra...

Host Jason Blitman sits down with returning Gays Reading guest Catherine Newman (Sandwich) to talk about her new book, Wreck.

Conversation highlights include:
🤧 Ailments, of course.
😵‍💫 Anxiety, of course.
💻 The Portal, you understand.
🥳 But also a lot of fun stuff, too.

Jason is then joined by Guest Gay Reader™️ Rachel Runya Katz to hear about what she's been reading (get ready for some fab romance recs!) and learn about her new book, Isn't It Obvious? -- the perfect book for those of us who love A Cinderella Story and You've Got...