Gays Reading

Host Jason Blitman is joined by debut novelist Haili Blassingame to hear about what she's been reading and learn about her book, They All Fall in Love at the End.

Haili Blassingame is a producer for the NPR program 1A. She has written for publications like The New Republic and The New York Times, in which she published the viral “My Choice Isn’t Marriage or Loneliness” for “Modern Love”. She was one of twelve essayists selected to write a follow-up piece for the column’s 20th anniversary in October 2024. She’s also been a guest on the Modern Love ...

Host Jason Blitman talks to author Matt Haig (The Midnight Library) about his latest novel, The Midnight Train. This conversation was recorded live at University of San Diego presented by Warwick's. 

Matt Haig was born in Sheffield, England. His novels include The Humans, How to Stop Time, and The Midnight Library, which has been a number one New York Times bestseller and sold more than fourteen million copies world-wide. His non-fiction works include his award-winning mental illness memoir Reasons to Stay Alive and The Comfort Book. His most recent fiction, The Life Impossible, was a New York Times bes...

Host Jason Blitman is joined by prolific author Melissa Albert to talk about her debut adult novel, The Children, named June 2026's Read with Jenna Book Club pick. 

Melissa Albert is the New York Times and indie bestselling author of The Bad Ones, Our Crooked Hearts, and the Hazel Wood series. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages and included in the New York Times list of Notable Children’s Books. The Children is her first adult novel. 

Sign up for the Gays Reading Book Club HERE

SUBSTACK!

MERCH!

Host Jason Blitman welcomes Ann Patchett back to the podcast—last heard discussing her annotated Bel Canto in fall 2024—for a conversation about her newest novel, Whistler.

Conversation highlights include:

⏱️ Changes made to the book moments before it went to print

😔 The relationship between missing something and grief 

🎭 Whether Ann might ever write for the stage

Ann Patchett is the author of novels, most recently the #1 New York Times bestselling Tom Lake, works of nonfiction, and children's books. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the PEN/Faulkner, the Wome...

Host Jason Blitman is joined by the most frequent Gays Reading guest, Rasheed Newson, to discuss his latest book, There's Only One Sin in Hollywood.

Conversation highlights include:

📖 Stories that don't get their due in the history books

🎥 Rumors in Hollywood and how they continue today

🪞How the understanding of ourselves change as we get older

Rasheed Newson is the author of the national bestseller My Government Means to Kill Me, which was selected as a Lambda Literary finalist for Gay Fiction and was named one of the “100 Notable...

Host Jason Blitman talks to debut novelist Sonia Feldman about her book Girl's Girl, this month's The Nod™️ by Gays Reading with Aardvark Book Club. 

Conversation highlights include:

👯‍♀️ What it means to be a good friend

💧 Why Sonia describes the book as "dewey" 

🌎 The universality of specific stories and what it means to love

Sonia Feldman lives in Cleveland, Ohio. She won the PEN America PEN/Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers, and her poetry and fiction have appeared in The Missouri Review, The Southern Review, and Waxwing. She also runs So...

On this episode of What Are You Reading?, host Jason Blitman is joined by New York Times bestselling author Steven Rowley for a conversation about what he's been reading, what goes into writing a great blurb, and his latest novel, Take Me With You, an instant USA Today bestseller.

Steven Rowley is the New York Times bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus, a Washington Post Notable Book; The Editor, an NPR Best Book of the Year; The Guncle, winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor and Goodreads Choice Awards finalist for Novel of the Year; The Celebrants, ...

Host Jason Blitman finally sits down with author Rachel Howzell Hall now that he's survived a full year of agony waiting for the follow-up to her cliffhanger-ending crime novel, Fog and Fury. Today, they're celebrating the arrival of Mist and Malice, the long-awaited sequel. New to the series? No problem. This spoiler-free conversation is the perfect entry point into the world of Haven.

Conversation highlights:

🌽 Rachel's favorite foods at the county fair

🎵 The song from Hamilton as a character's theme song

👵 Which Golden Girl Rachel identifies with

Rachel Howz...

Host Jason Blitman talks to Ayelet Waldman about what she's been reading (spoiler alert: a lot of audiobooks while quilting!) and about her new book, A Perfect Hand. Come for the book recs, stay for the Heated Rivalry conversation. 

Ayelet Waldman is the author of A Really Good Day, Love and Treasure, Red Hook Road, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, Daughter’s Keeper, Bad Mother and the Mommy-Track Mystery series. She co-developed and was an Executive Producer on the Netflix series Unbelievable, which received a Peabody Award and Best Limited Series nominations at the Critics’ Choice Awards, the Golden...

Host Jason Blitman is joined by debut novelist Paige Lewis to talk about their book, Canon. 

Conversation highlights include:

⚠️ Perseverance in the face of danger

🐀 Animal fun facts

🦸 What makes a hero

Paige Lewis is the author of the poetry collection Space Struck and coeditor of Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction and Deliverance. Lewis teaches at the University of Iowa; Canon is their first novel.

Sign up for the Gays Reading Book Club HERE

SUBSTACK!

MERCH!

WATCH!

CONTACT! hello@gaysreadi...

Host Jason Blitman talks to author Davin Malasarn about what he's been reading and the books that influenced his debut novel, The Outer Country. 

Davin Malasarn was born and raised in Southern California. After completing his PhD in biology at the California Institute of Technology, he earned his MFA in creative writing from Bennington College and completed the Queens University of Charlotte Book Development Program. He was a PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow, a Plympton Writing Downtown Fellow, and a Bennington Alumni Fellow. He co-founded The Granum Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to supporting writers, and hosts The Arti...

Host Jason Blitman is joined by debut author Portia Elan to talk about her book, Homebound, named May 2026's Good Morning America Book Club selection.

Highlights from this spoiler-free conversation:

💾 evolution of technology

🏳️‍🌈 history of the queer community

👍 how people experience different truths 

Portia Elan studied history at Stanford University and earned an MFA from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, before returning to California, where she has worked as a teacher and public librarian. A former Lambda Literary Fellow, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her wife...

Host Jason Blitman talks to Pulitzer Prize-winner Elizabeth Strout about her latest novel, The Things We Never Say. 

Conversation highlights include:

🧠 Thoughts on free will

🧐 Things we find interesting

✨ What it means to become a grown-up

Elizabeth Strout is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lucy by the Sea; Oh William!, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Olive, Again; Anything Is Possible, winner of the Story Prize; My Name Is Lucy Barton; The Burgess Boys; Olive Kitteridge, winner of the Pulitzer Prize; Abide with Me; and Amy and Isabelle...

In the 200th episode of Gays Reading, host Jason Blitman talks to Booker Prize-winning novelist, Douglas Stuart (Shuggie Bain, Young Mungo) about his latest book, John of John.

Conversation highlights include:

🎶 The Spice Girls

🧑‍🧑‍🧒 Filial duty in the queer community

⏳ What happens to gay people as we age?

Douglas Stuart is a Scottish-American author. His New York Times-bestselling debut novel Shuggie Bain won prizes including the 2020 Booker Prize and the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, was a finalist for the National Book Award and the PEN...

In this episode of What Are You Reading? debut novelist Stephanie Sy-Quia shares what she's been reading and talks about her new book, A Private Man. 

Stephanie Sy-Quia was born in California in 1995 and is based in London. Her writing and criticism have been published in The Guardian, The White Review, The Boston Review, Granta, and elsewhere. Her debut poetry collection Amnion, published in the UK by Granta Poetry in 2021, received a Somerset Maugham Award and was a Poetry Book Society Winter Recommendation; was longlisted for the Rathbones Folio and RSL Ondaatje Prizes; and won the Forward Priz...

Host Jason Blitman talks to acclaimed author Xochitl Gonzalez (Olga Dies Dreaming) about her lates book, Last Night in Brooklyn.

Conversation highlights include:

🎉 Parties in the aughts 

🌃 The magic of New York

🏘️ Urban planning and future extrapolation 

Xochitl Gonzalez is a contributor to The Atlantic, where she was recognized as a 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist in Commentary. She is also the New York Times bestselling author of the award-winning novel Olga Dies Dreaming, the Reese’s Book Club Pick Anita de Monte Laughs Last, and her latest novel Last...

In this episode of What Are You Reading?, Jason sits down with Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jayne Anne Phillips to discuss books she's been reading and her highly anticipated memoir-in-essays, Small Town Girls, which Oprah named her #1 most anticipated read of the year.

Jayne Anne Phillips is the author of Black Tickets, Machine Dreams, Fast Lanes, Shelter, MotherKind, Lark and Termite, Quiet Dell, and Night Watch, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2024. Her work has been a finalist once for the National Book Award and twice for the National Book Critics Circle Award. The recipient of Guggenhe...

Host Jason Blitman talks to debut novelist Abigail Savitch-Lew about Livonia Chow Mein.

Conversation highlights include:

🪧 Local activism

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Family legacy

Abigail Savitch-Lew is a writer of fiction and nonfiction and an American of Jewish and Chinese (Ashkenazi and Toisanese) descent. She 🪧has a BA in literary arts from Brown University and an MFA in fiction from Rutgers University-Newark. She is the author of the novel Livonia Chow Mein, and her short stories have been published in The Round, Post Road, The Best Teen Writing of 2010, and The Apprentice Writer. Previou...

In this episode of What Are You Reading? Jason talks to author Jessica Geroge (Maame) about what she's been reading and about her latest novel, Love by the Book. 

Jessica George is the New York Times bestselling author of Maame. She was born and raised in London to Ghanaian parents and studied English Literature at the University of Sheffield.

Sign up for the Gays Reading Book Club HERE

SUBSTACK!

MERCH!

WATCH!

CONTACT! hello@gaysreading.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Jason Blitman talks to acclaimed journalist Patrick Radden Keefe about his latest book, London Falling. London Falling is the April 2026 Late Show with Stephen Colbert Book Club pick.

Conversation highlights include:

🤫 How we all tell lies in one way or another

🐱 Cats, the musical

⚽️ The various sports Keefe has played

PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of The New York Times bestsellers Rogues, Empire of Pain (winner of the 2021 Baillie Gifford Prize) and Say Nothing, which received the National Book Critics...

In this episode of What Are You Reading?, Jason is joined by author Emma Brodie to discuss the books she's been recommending lately and to celebrate her new novel, Into the Blue, this month's Reese's Book Club pick.

Emma Brodie has worked in book publishing for fifteen years, currently as an Executive Editor at Clarkson Potter. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University’s Writing Seminars program, and her debut novel, Songs in Ursa Major, received the American Book Award. She lives on Martha’s Vineyard with her husband and their very good dog, Freddie Mercury.

Sign...

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.

Sign up for the Gays Reading Book Club HERE

SUBSTACK!

MER...

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.

Sign up for the Gays Reading Book Club HERE

SUBSTACK!

MERCH!

WATCH...

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.

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 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.

Sign up for the Gays Reading Book Club HERE

SU...

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...