Open Book with Elena Passarello

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A mini-series from public radio's "Live Wire": Award-winning writer and Live Wire announcer Elena Passarello cracks the spine on writers' most intimate relationships: books. Each episode features a candid conversation with today's most compelling authors about their reading habits, literary dealbreakers, and controversial book opinions. Whether you're a voracious bibliophile or casual reader, "Open Book" invites you to eavesdrop on the kind of passionate book talk usually reserved for late nights and second glasses of wine.

Episodes

  1. Open Book: Melissa Febos

    07/30/2025

    Open Book: Melissa Febos

    Author Melissa Febos (The Dry Season) opens up about her first addiction: books. Then we hear why it's important to read "books of the people," which includes her favorite micro-genre of “airport romantasy." Plus, Melissa recommends some of her favorite sex writing.

    22 min
  2. Open Book: Sam Sanders

    07/23/2025

    Open Book: Sam Sanders

    Radio host and podcaster Sam Sanders (The Sam Sanders Show, Vibe Check) chats about promoting a book through wearable merch and imagines his “dream casting” for Percival Everett’s novel James. Plus, Sam and Elena attempt to “fix” publishing.

    28 min
  3. Open Book: Sloane Crosley

    07/16/2025

    Open Book: Sloane Crosley

    Author Sloane Crosley (Grief Is for People) confesses the origin of her aversion to audiobooks, plus tells us which adaptations are better than their literary source material and reveals the first adult book that made her bawl her eyes out.

    10 min
  4. Open Book: Omar El Akkad

    07/09/2025

    Open Book: Omar El Akkad

    Journalist and author Omar El Akkad (One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This) explains why book clubs don’t work for him and how growing up in media-censored Qatar led him to read anything he could gets his hands on — from Little Women to Dennis Rodman’s autobiography. Plus, Omar and Elena bond over the power of the perfect book title.

    23 min
  5. Open Book: Ann Powers

    07/02/2025

    Open Book: Ann Powers

    Music critic Ann Powers (Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell) dishes about her oddball reading journey, from staging puppet shows as a library-dwelling misfit kid to struggling to keep up with her favorite writers on Substack.

    18 min
  6. Open Book: Scaachi Koul

    06/25/2025

    Open Book: Scaachi Koul

    Slate writer Scaachi Koul (Sucker Punch) reveals her delinquent beginnings as a serious reader and which reading behavior she finds inexcusable. Plus, Elena unpacks “hysterical realism” as a literary genre and Scaachi explains why the Bible's biggest sin isn't its content.

    20 min
  7. Open Book: Aubrey Gordon

    06/18/2025

    Open Book: Aubrey Gordon

    Podcast star Aubrey Gordon (Maintenance Phase) discusses what a bookstore’s poetry section reveals about its true nature, the thrill of a literary “rug pull," and how sometimes the solution to “too much work reading” is… more reading? And Elena shares her go-to hack for getting your reading mojo back.

    22 min
  8. Open Book: Karen Russell

    06/11/2025

    Open Book: Karen Russell

    Award-winning author Karen Russell (Swamplandia!) chats about the joy of reading a book you love written by someone you love, how Stephen King led to sleepless nights as a child, and those “little black dress” books you always loan to a friend. Plus, Elena reveals her latest vacation read as a murder mystery starring "existential sheep."

    21 min
  9. Introducing "Open Book" with Elena Passarello

    06/04/2025

    Introducing "Open Book" with Elena Passarello

    Open Book is a literary limited series that “cracks the spine” on a writer’s most intimate relationship: the one they have with books. Each episode, award-winning writer and Live Wire announcer Elena Passarello hosts candid conversations with some of today’s acclaimed authors, like Karen Russell and Melissa Febos – covering all things bookish, from reading habits and book recommendations to controversial literary opinions. Eavesdrop on the kind of passionate book talk that’s typically reserved for late nights and second glasses of wine.

    2 min
  10. Coming soon...Open Book with Elena Passarello

    05/21/2025

    Coming soon...Open Book with Elena Passarello

    Coming soon...Open Book with Elena Passarello

    6 sec
  • 10 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

A mini-series from public radio's "Live Wire": Award-winning writer and Live Wire announcer Elena Passarello cracks the spine on writers' most intimate relationships: books. Each episode features a candid conversation with today's most compelling authors about their reading habits, literary dealbreakers, and controversial book opinions. Whether you're a voracious bibliophile or casual reader, "Open Book" invites you to eavesdrop on the kind of passionate book talk usually reserved for late nights and second glasses of wine.

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