Tagged: Book Smart Tulsa

On this edition of ST, we speak with the widely celebrated young writer Nathaniel Rich (born 1980), whose essays and short stories have appeared in Harper's, McSweeney's, and elsewhere, and whose latest novel is called "Odds Against Tomorrow." Late last week, Rich did a Book Smart Tulsa reading and signing in connection with this book; while he was here in town, we spoke with him. Set in a New York City of the very near future, the novel tells the story of one Mitchell Zukor, a gifted young mathematician who works for a financial consulting firm called FutureWorld.

On this installment of ST, we're joined by our old friend and colleague, Jeff Martin, a local writer who's also the coordinator and creator of the popular Book Smart Tulsa reading series, the fiction editor at This Land, and an occasional commentator for this program. Jeff's newest book, just out, is an fun-to-read trade-paperback collection that brings together many works of short (make that "very short") fiction exploring "an Oklahoma of the mind," so to speak.

Okay, so you could probably handle going through life without any more plastic water bottles. And you'd be fine with using your own bags at the grocery store --- as opposed to those thin, cheaply-made plastic ones that they have at the check-out. But what about finding an alternative to plastic prescription bottles? Can you? And what else --- besides plastic --- does one keep shampoo in? On this edition of ST, we speak by phone with Beth Terry, who began writing a blog entitled "Fake Plastic Fish" in 2007.

Today on ST we speak by phone with Benjamin Lytal, who grew up in Tulsa and now resides in Chicago, and who has written for The Wall Street Journal, The London Review of Books, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Sun, The Believer, McSweeney's, and other publications. Lytal's first novel, "A Map of Tulsa," has just been published, and he'll be doing a free reading/signing in connection with this book tonight (Tuesday the 26th) at the Harwelden Mansion here in Tulsa at 7pm.

On today's show, we speak by phone with Davy Rothbart, a writer, editor, filmmaker, and contributor to public radio's "This American Life." He's also the founder/publisher of the popular "Found Magazine," which collects discarded notes, letters, photos, lists, and drawings that are both discovered and sent in by its readers.

On this edition of ST, a reappraisal of U.S. Grant; we are pleased to welcome back to our show the bestselling author and acclaimed historian H.W. Brands, who's also the Dickson Allen Anderson Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin. In an event co-presented by Book Smart Tulsa and the Gilcrease Museum, Prof. Brands will present a reading/signing/discussion of his newest book, "The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace," at Gilcrease on Thursday of this week (the 25th) at 7pm.

On this edition of our show, we speak with our old friend Jeff Martin, who occasionally contributes commentaries to ST, works as the Online Communities Manager at Philbrook Museum of Art, and is the founder/mastermind behind the ongoing (and non-profit) Book Smart Tulsa series of readings/signings. This always-active, ever-engaging literary series --- which has been popular with Tulsa book-lovers of all sorts since its inception three years ago (or so) --- will present its 100th event tonight, Tuesday the 12th, at 7pm at Dwelling Spaces in downtown Tulsa.