Big Table
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Episode 56: Evelyn McDonnell on Joan Didion
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Evelyn McDonnellâs The World According to Joan Didion, readers will find an intimate exploration of the life, craft, and legacy of the revered a...
Episode 55: Adaptation with Cord Jefferson & Percival Everett
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We have a special edition of The Big Table Podcast on todayâs episode. Presenting Adaptation, the inaugural event of a new literary salon series a...
Episode 54: Prudence Peiffer
08 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Prudence Peifferâs first book, The Slip, is the never-before-told story of an obscure little street at the lower tip of Manhattan and the remarkable...
Episode 53: Two Poets in Conversation
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As we prime our book club model for post-COVID growth, we are programming a couple of longer late-summer episodes about our own books via Hat & Beard ...
Episode 52: A Chapter about Slime
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
File Under: Slime by Christopher Michlig â a cultural history of Slime â was recently published by Hat & Beard Editions. What is slime? We are we...
Episode 51: Lost Objects: 50 Stories About the Things We Miss & Why They Matter
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For Big Table episode 51, editors Joshua Glenn & Rob Walker discuss their latest book, Lost Objects: 50 Stories About the Things We Miss and Why They...
Episode 50: dublab: Live from NeueHouse
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We are on episode 50! Thank you all for listening along over the last couple of years. This one is special as it features a book published by Hat & Be...
Episode 49: Tim Carpenter
27 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
To Photograph Is To Learn How To Die: An Essay with Digressions by Tim Carpenter is a book-length essay about photographyâs unique ability to ease ...
Episode 48: Steven Heller
24 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
THE INTERVIEW:After 100 books on design, Steven Heller has given us a coming-of-age memoir. The award-winning designer, writer, and former senior art ...
Episode 47: Bruce Adams
03 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It is fitting that Bruce Adamsâs new book, the sardonically-titled Youâre with Stupid: kranky, Chicago and the Reinvention of Indie Music, begins ...
Episode 46: Darryl Pinckney's Literary Education
09 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Darryl Pinckney arrived at Columbia University in New York City in the early 1970s and had the opportunity to enroll in Elizabeth Hardwickâs creativ...
Episode 45: Nicole Rudick on Niki de Saint Phalle
09 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Known best for her exuberant, often large-scale sculptural works celebrating the abundance and complexity of female desire, imagination, and creativit...
Episode 44: Ingrid Rojas Contreras
11 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For Ingrid Rojas Contreras, magic runs in the family. Raised amid the political turmoil and violence of 1980s and â90s Colombia, in a house bustling...
Episode 43: Hua Hsu
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:In the eyes of 18-year-old Hua Hsu, the problem with Kenâhis passion for Dave Matthews, Abercrombie & Fitch, and his fraternityâis t...
Episode 42: Nick Drnaso
23 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nick Drnaso, acclaimed author of Sabrina, is back with Acting Class, his third book on Drawn & Quarterly. A tapestry of disconnect, distrust, and man...
Episode 41: Ada Calhoun and Frank O'Hara, Her Father and the New York School of Poets and Painters
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In her latest book, Also a Poet: Frank OâHara, My Father, and Me (Grove Atlantic, 2022), Ada Calhoun traces her fraught relationship with her father...
Episode 40: Alexandra Lange on Americaâs Malls
15 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In The Design of Childhood, acclaimed writer, architecture critic, and historian Alexandra Lange uncovered the histories of toys, classrooms, and play...
Episode 39: Ben Shattuck on Thoreau
01 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A 170-plus years ago, Henry David Thoreau began his legendary hermit walks in New England. Many of these walks were published later as some of his mos...
Episode 38: Paul Morley on Tony Wilson
19 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
To write about Tony Wilson, aka Anthony H. Wilson, is to write about a number of public and private characters and personalities, a clique of unreliab...
Episode 37: Mark Rozzo on Dennis Hopper and Brooke Hayward in 1960s L.A.
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Rozzoâs astute and engaging new book Everybody Thought We Were Crazy: Dennis Hopper, Brooke Hayward, and 1906s Los Angeles, published by Ecco P...
Episode 36: Dan Charnas on J Dilla
15 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The EpisodeJ Dillaâaka James Dewitt Yancey or Jaydee as he was previously knownâwas a musical genius who was hardly known to mainstream audiences ...
Episode 35: Daniel Efram on Steve Keene
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The InterviewItâs not hyperbole to say that Steve Keene has produced more original artwork than most (if not all) American artists, having painted m...
Episode 34: Adam Clair on the Elephant 6 Collective
16 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Clair was barely out of undergrad when he began the manuscript for Endless Endless: A Lo-Fi History of the Elephant 6 Mystery (Hachette Books, 20...
Episode 33: José Vadi on California
30 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
JosĂ© Vadi grew up in Californiaâs Inland Empire, but his roots go back to Puerto Rico and Mexico. His abuelo, or grandfather, was an Okie who hoppe...
Episode 32: Carole Angier on W.G. Sebald
15 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:Although he did experience some fanfare in his lifetime, German writer, academic, and novelist W.G. SebaldâMax to his friends and coll...
Episode 31: Robert Gottlieb on Greta Garbo
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Interview:Â As one of the most influential book editors of his generationâfirst at Simon & Shuster and then, for many years, at Knopf and Random Hou...
Episode 30: Emily Rapp Black Discusses Frida Kahlo
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
After seeing Frida Kahloâs painting âThe Two Fridas,â writer and professor Emily Rapp Black felt an intense connection with the famous Mexican a...
Episode 29: Jason Jules
22 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jason Jules is a writer, blogger, stylist, brand consultant, and devotee of the Ivy look, albeit in a quite subverted form. The face of Drakes of Lon...
Episode 28: Rosecrans Baldwin on Los Angles as City-State
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:Â Los Angeles is a hundred suburbs in search of a city, or so itâs been said.In his new book about Los Angeles, novelist and nonfictio...
Episode 27: Daniel Oppenheimer on Dave Hickey
24 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:Dave Hickey was an inspirational characterâa writer of essays and songs, an astute art and literary critic, a one-time gallerist and, ...
Episode 26: Norman Ohler
07 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:Â Â Like many readers in the States, I first became aware of Norman Ohlerâs work after reading Blitzed (2015), his epic history of dru...
Episode 25: Warren Ellis On His First Book Nina Simoneâs Gum
13 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:Musician Warren Ellisâ first book, Nina Simoneâs Gum (Faber & Faber, 2021), is a magical journal mixing memoir, cultural history, re...
Episode 24: Joan Didion in the 1970s, 1980s & 1990s
08 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:For over 50 years, Joan Didion, a daughter of California, has been in a league all her own, as a writer and novelist. Unlike many critic...
Episode 23: Matthew Specktor
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:Matthew Specktor grew up in Los Angeles, the son of a talent agent and screenwriter. One of his childhood heroes was the doomed writer ...
Episode 22: Kyle Beachy
14 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:Â Kyle Beachy has been skateboarding for as long as heâs been creating stories. For him, the two have always been intertwined. After r...
Episode 21: Nathaniel Rich
05 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:With the world leaders of the G20 having met about climate change last week and the upcoming United Nations climate summit happening in...
Episode 20: Peter Mendelsund
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview: Peter Mendelsund began his career as a concert pianist, and reinvented himself as a graphic designer, now creative director, almost ...
Episode 19: Jona Frank
15 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:On this episode of Big Table, artist and photographer Jona Frank talks with J.C. Gabel about her visual memoir, Cherry Hill: A Childhoo...
Episode 18: The Future of the Internet with Damian Bradfield and Joanne McNeil
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:On this episode of Big Table, J.C. Gabel talks with We Transfer co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Damian Bradfield about his first b...
Episode 17: William Sites on Sun Ra
24 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview: In Sun Raâs Chicago: Afrofuturism and the City (The University of Chicago Press), William Sites brings the cosmic musician back to ...
Episode 16: Lucy Sante
04 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Episode 16: Lucy SanteTHE INTERVIEWSince her debut book, Lowlife: Lures and Snares of Old New York, Lucy Sante has charted her own path, not only as a...
Episode 14: Brigitte Benkemoun on Dora Maar
13 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:Â Brigitte Benkemoun, an investigative reporter in France, buys a vintage address book online for her partner, and soon discovers that i...
Episode 13: Yuval Taylor on Zora Neale Hurston & Langston Hughes
30 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:Â Yuval Taylorâs dual biography Zora & Langston (Norton), documents the lives, times, and work of novelist and folklorist Zora Neale H...
Episode 12: Cey Adams & Janette Beckman
09 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
THE INTERVIEWPhotographer Janette Beckman and artist/art director Cey Adams (who helmed the art department at the legendary hip-hop label Def Jam Reco...
Big Table Episode 11: Mariella Guzzoni on Vincent Van Gogh
25 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:In Vincentâs Books: Van Gogh and the Writers Who Inspired Him (University of Chicago Press), Italian curator Mariella Guzzoni unpac...
Big Table Episode 10: William Deresiewicz
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The InterviewWilliam Deresiewicz documents âhow creators are struggling to survive in the age of billionaires and big tech,â which is the subtitl...
Big Table Episode 9: Geoff Dyer
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:Geoff Dyer discusses âBroadsword Calling Danny Boyâ: Watching âWhere Eagles Dareâ, published by Pantheon, his study of the 1969 ...
Big Table Episode 8: George Orwell
04 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:Two distinguished Orwell scholars, John Rodden and D.J. Taylor, unpack the Orwell enigma: fact, fiction, myth and the most enduring le...
Big Table Episode 7: Ninth Street Women
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
THE INTERVIEWJournalist, author and biographer and Mary Gabriel discusses Ninth Street Women, published by Little, Brown, a five part biography of pa...
Big Table Episode 6: Nelson Algren
21 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Interview:Â Biographer Colin Asher, discusses the legacy of one of the greatest unknown American writers, Nelson Algren, a pre-Beat Generation rea...
Big Table Episode 5: Eve Babitz
15 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Lili Anolik, whose Vanity Fair profile of the reclusive writer, re-started the Eve Babitz revival, discusses her Eve biography, Hollywood Eve (publish...
Big Table Episode 4: Carson McCullers
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
EPISODE : 4THE INTERVIEWJenn Shapland discusses her National BookAward-nominated memoir My Autobiography ofCarson McCullers (Tin House), a brilliantly...
Big Table Episode 3: Nick Ebeling
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
EPISODE : 3THE INTERVIEWAlong for the Ride director Nick Ebeling unpacks the enigma of Dennis Hopper and his blacklisted years as seen through the eye...
Big Table Episode 2: Eddie Glaude, Jr
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
EPISODE: 2THE INTERVIEWProfessor and critic Eddie Glaude, Jr.discusses his latest book Begin Again (Crown),an intellectual look at James Baldwinâs m...
Big Table Episode 1: Tosh Berman
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
EPISODE: 1 Â THE INTERVIEWTosh Bermanâpoet, publisher, bookstorebuyer, record store clerk, son of artistsWallace and Shirley Bermanâdiscusses hism...