LA Review of Books

About LA Review of Books

The Los Angeles Review of Books is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and disseminating rigorous, incisive, and engaging writing on every aspect of literature, culture, and the arts. The Los Angeles Review of Books magazine was created in part as a response to the disappearance of the traditional newspaper book review supplement, and, with it, the art of lively, intelligent long-form writing on recent publications in every genre, ranging from fiction to politics. The Los Angeles Review of Books seeks to revive and reinvent the book review for the internet age, and remains committed to covering and representing today’s diverse literary and cultural landscape.

Publisher

LA Review of Books

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

8 Jan 2012

Latest episode

13 Feb 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 600 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   13 Feb 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Richard Hell's "Godlike"

   Richard Hell joins Kate Wolf to speak about the reissue of his novel, "Godlike." Originally published in 2005, "Godlike" transposes the relationship of the 19th century poets Arthur Rimabaud and Paul Verlaine to 1970s New York. Told from the hospital room of poet Paul Vaughn, the story centers on his meeting of a wily and charismatic 16-year-old punk named R.T. Wode decades earlier. Their attraction is instant, and it becomes a kind obsession for Paul that is as clarifying and creatively fruitful as it is deluding. The novel is steeped in the poetry of the New York School and captures the scene around St. Mark's Church that Hell came to know when he was just a teenager himself. An anti-nostalgic remembrance, the book reflects on aging, death, belief, and the power of the word to transform the detritus of the everyday into something holy and lasting.

2. 

   6 Feb 2026

   Kristin Ross's "The Politics and Poetics of Everyday Life"

   In this week's episode from the archives, Eric Newman and Kate Wolf speak to the author Kristin Ross about her book, "The Politics and Poetics of Everyday Life," a collection of essays that examine how everyday life emerges as a vantage point for understanding and transforming our social world. The book represents three decades of Ross’s writing about the everyday in French political, social, and cultural theory and history, including the commune form and current autonomous zones in France, the romance and memory of the May 1968 protests, and the present predicaments both faced and created by the Macron government. Featuring a long interview with the pioneering philosopher Henri Lefebvre, the book also invokes the work of Fredric Jameson, Jacques Ranciere, Emile Zola, and many others, to explore the intersections of political transformation and cultural representation as resources for thinking opposition and liberation in the present.

3. 

   30 Jan 2026

   Hamza Walker’s Monuments and Senga Nengudi’s Populated Air

   A double header show on sculpture, public art, communal space, and gaps and omissions in American history. First, Kate Wolf speaks to Hamza Walker, co-curator of “Monuments,” an exhibition currently on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles and The Brick. The show presents a series of decommissioned Confederate monuments from cities across the US alongside contemporary pieces by Karon Davis, Stan Douglas, Kara Walker, Julie Dash and more. Next, Kate is joined by legendary artist Senga Nengudi to discuss a new career-spanning book of her work, “Populated Air.” Published in conjunction with Nengudi’s exhibition at Dia Beacon, the book charts the many forms of her practice, including performance, sculpture, dance, and poetry. Nengudi talks about collaboration and her role in the Studio Z collective; being someone who relishes in “thinking” things rather than “making” them; organizing a performance under an LA freeway; and following her own intuition. She is joined by the curator of the Dia exhibition, Matilde Guidelli-Guidi.

Inside a recent episode

Richard Hell's "Godlike"

Published 13 Feb 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] And so that's why I didn't want to mention it, because I did not want people coming to the book as some kind of stunt presentation of Rimbaud and Verlaine. It was really convenient for me and also really fun to hit on the idea of using them, because it did provide a series of events I could do my versions of. But I in no way was trying to really capture who they were. I had no way of knowing who they were, though I read a whole shelf worth of books about them. But I just allowed myself to use my imagination conceiving of them uh as a as a basis for the um characters i was describing right um so i was i was really glad that publisher allowed me not to mention that uh i'd done that and really nobody picked up on it i think one person did um uh the the original reviews did not mention that they just treated it as a novel about street poets in New York in the 70s, which is what I intended. […]

Who has been a guest on LA Review of Books

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Susan Choi
• Vince Aletti
• Milo Todd
• Alison Bechdel
• Dan Nadel

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

2,203,733

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.3 / 5

76 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 63 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

72

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

50

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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