We speak with Julie Schumacher, author of The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls. Julie's first novel, The Body Is Water, was an ALA Notable Book of the Year and a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Minnesota Book Award. Her other books include a short story collection, An Explanation for Chaos, and four other books for younger readers: Black Box, The Book of One Hundred Truths, The Chain Letter, and Grass Angel.

In the second half of the show, we speak with England-born Janet Graber, who now lives in the Twin Cities and writes historical fiction for young readers, ranging from picture books to young adult novels. The White Witch, a middle level book, is a historical novel about young Gwen, who has a way with animals and of drawing unwanted gossip. But when plague ravages her village, her neighbor's scorn turns murderous.

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We speak with Jim Robbins about his fascinating new book The Man Who Planted Trees, which tells the story of David Milarch, who has undertaken preserving the world's biggest and oldest trees. This book provides so much vital information about the importance of trees and how little we know about them. Jim has also written for Smithsonian, Vanity Fair, Scientific American, The New York Times Magazine and many other publications.

In the second half of the show, we speak with Tim Brady about his new book Twelve Desperate Miles, which tells the story of a rusty old banana boat from New Orleans and its crew, drafted into service prior to General Patton's invasion of Northwestern Africa. The Wall Street Journal, Kirkus Reviews and Booklist all gave it high praise.

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We begin the show with Lebanese writer Elias Khoury who talks about his recently reissued novel As Though She Were Sleeping, a hypnotic, account of a woman who slips in and out of consciousness and dreams, whose inner reality hides from but cannot help but absorb the chaotic world outside of her.

In the second half, poet Todd Boss joins us to talk about his second full-length poetry collection, Pitch. In addition, installation artist is also in the studio to talk about her upcoming collaboration with Todd Boss. Todd Boss's poems have appeared in Poetry, The London Times, The New Yorker, NPR, and Best American Poetry. His first collection, Yellowrocket, was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award and was named a Midwest Booksellers’ Honor Book for Poetry. He is also a co-founding co-director of Motionpoems, a new poetry film initiative currently collaborating with Milkweed, Graywolf, Copper Canyon and Ecco Press, among other outstanding literary publishers.

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We speak with Jonah Lehrer his book Imagine: How Creativity Works. He is a Contributing Editor at Wired and the author of How We Decide and Proust Was a Neuroscientist. He has written for The New Yorker, Nature, Seed, and is a Contributing Editor at Scientific American Mind and National Public Radio's Radio Lab.

We also talk with novelist Roma Calatayud-Stocks about her book A Song in My Heart. It's a work of historical fiction about a young woman born into a privileged bicultural family in Minneapolis of 1902 who finds music is the perfect expression of her own artistic inclinations, emotions, and ambitions. As a young pianist and budding composer, she is affected by legendary composers and Minnesota's musical pioneers and resolves to become an orchestral conductor despite the obstacles.

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Poet Richard Broderick joins us to talk about a new theater endeavor at Celtic Junction in St. Paul April 27-28 with the Celtic Players, a new non-profit theatre group exploring Celtic heritage across the world. A wee bit about their playlist: it is "not confined only to the Celtic Fringe countries and regions (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany etc.), but also sounds its magical enchantments in the works of Shakespeare (particularly, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet), and the Arthurian lyrics of Alfred Lord Tennyson."

We also talk with Alethea Black about her debut collection of short stories, I Knew You'd Be Lovely. It was chosen as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick and was an Oprah.com Book of the Week. More information is available at AletheaBlack.com.

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