Hopeton Hay Podcasts

Hopeton Hay
  • 5.0 (9)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Weekly

Hopeton Hay Podcasts is the founder, producer, and host of Diverse Voices Book Review (formerly known as KAZI Book Review) which features interviews with a wide range of culturally diverse authors of recently published fiction and nonfiction, and Economic Perspectives, an audio interview show featuring discussions on finance, economic,  and small businesses and policies.

  1. 2d ago

    Literary Agents and Authors' Success in American Literature

    Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Laura B. McGrath, author of MIDDLEMEN: Literary Agents and the Making of American Fiction, a revealing study of how literary agents have shaped American fiction, publishing markets, and the literary canon from the 1950s to today.  In the conversation, McGrath explains why agents are far more than behind-the-scenes dealmakers. Drawing on archival research, data analysis, and interviews with more than 75 agents and publishing professionals, she describes agents as advocates, matchmakers, negotiators, tastemakers, and career strategists who help determine which books reach readers—and how writers build sustainable literary lives.   McGrath is an assistant professor of English at Temple University. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Nation, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Before joining Temple, she was associate director of the Literary Lab at Stanford University. Follow Laura B. McGrath on Social Media:Instagram - @laurabmcgrathBluesky - @lbmcgrath

    Literary Agents and Authors' Success in American Literature

  2. Aug 8

    Friendship and Motherhood Explored in Naima Coster's Novel

    "I wanted to write about friendships that are really, really close, and so they are more complicated, say, than friendships that are less close... And so I wanted to talk about a friendship that isn't always sunshine and roses," shared Naima Coster about her new novel, TAKE WHAT YOU CAN. TAKE WHAT YOU CAN, as Coster explained in the interview, "is a story of two best friends, Millie and Val, who decide to move near one another when they're both pregnant with their girls so they can raise their daughters together. They're both motherless mothers who want to be family to each other, but once they're living in the same Brooklyn neighborhood, things don't go the way they planned, and the ways that their lives have taken different directions becomes really apparent."Naima Coster is a New York Times bestselling author and a recipient of the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 honor. Her novel, What’s Mine and Yours, was a Read with Jenna pick, a statewide read for One Maryland One Book, longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, and named a best book of the year by Kirkus Reviews, Esquire, Marie Claire, Ms. Magazine, and more. Her first novel, Halsey Street, was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and named a must-read by People, Essence, Well-Read Black Girl, The Skimm, and the Brooklyn Public Library. Naima’s work has appeared in The New York.Follow Naima Coster on Instagram - @naimacoster  Follow Diverse Voices Book Review on Social Media:  Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview  Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review  Bluesky - @diversevoicesbooks.bsky.social

    Friendship and Motherhood Explored in Naima Coster's Novel

  3. Aug 6

    ire'ne lara silva dreams, history, spirituality and erotic longing

    ire'ne lara silva's latest book, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, is a collection of lyrical and rhapsodic stories wrought from dreams, history, spirituality and erotic longing. In the interview with Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay, ire'ne discussed the way she connects with readers emotionally, the inspiration for her stories, and engaging mortality and pain with her characters..ire’ne lara silva, 2023 Texas State Poet Laureate, is the author of five poetry collections, furia, Blood Sugar Canto, CUICACALLI/House of Song, FirstPoems, andthe eaters of flowers, which won Gold for the 2025 Juan Felipe Herrera Best Poetry Book (ILBA), a comic book, VENDAVAL, and two short story collections, flesh to bone, which won the Premio Aztlán, and the light of your body.   Follow Diverse Voices Book Review on Social Media:  Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview  Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review  Bluesky - @diversevoicesbooks.bsky.social

    ire'ne lara silva dreams, history, spirituality and erotic longing

  4. Aug 1

    Novel Explores Heist of Tech Billionaire's Bunker and Its Aftermath in Los Angeles

    "It's a heist novel... and invariably in the aftermath, something goes wrong, something goes sideways, something that...O'Connor, the mastermind, didn't see coming, because he's quite the plotter and planner. But, for once, even he is caught flat-footed..." remarks Gary Phillips, author of the novel THE HAUL, in his interview with Hopeton Hay, host of Diverse Voices Book Review.O'Connor, is a middle-aged Black man living a quiet life, semi-retired from his thieving days, when an old contact provides an opportunity of a lifetime: to rob a tech billionaire's secret bunker. Set in the Los Angeles area, Phillips reveals through flashbacks with O'Connor as a preadolescent "what is it that made the boy the man."Gary Phillips has published novels, comics, novellas, short stories and edited or co-edited several anthologies, including the Anthony-winning The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir. Violent Spring, his debut effort more than a quarter-century ago, was named in 2020 one of the essential crime novels of Los Angeles. He is also a story editor on Snowfall, an FX show about crack and the CIA in 1980s South Central, where he grew up.Follow Gary Phillips on Facebook Follow Diverse Voices Book Review on Social Media: Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review  Bluesky - @diversevoicesbooks.bsky.social

    Novel Explores Heist of Tech Billionaire's Bunker and Its Aftermath in Los Angeles

  5. Jul 16

    May Cobb’s East Texas Noir

    In this episode of Diverse Voices Book Review, host Hopeton Hay welcomes contributor Amanda Moore for a lively conversation with bestselling author May Cobb about her novel All the Little Houses. Cobb discusses how the book blends Southern suspense, family drama, and small-town secrets in a 1980s Longview, Texas setting, where social status, jealousy, and hidden resentments collide. The conversation also explores Cobb’s inspiration from Little House on the Prairie, her return to East Texas as a literary landscape, and the ways her characters reveal what can lurk beneath polished surfaces.May Cobb grew up in the piney woods of East Texas where her thrillers A LIKEABLE WOMAN, MY SUMMER DARLINGS, THE HUNTING WIVES and BIG WOODS are set.Follow May Cobb on Social Media:Instagram: @may_cobb Follow Diverse Voices Book Review on Social Media: Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review  Bluesky - @diversevoicesbooks.bsky.social

    May Cobb’s East Texas Noir

  6. Jul 11

    Man Overboard Novel Explores Young Manhood

    Diverse Voices Book Review contributor Amran Gowani interviewed Kathleen Rooney, bestselling author of the contemporary novel MAN OVERBOARD!. They discussed what's ailing modern men, the “death cult” of capitalism, her unfashionable fascination with clowns, the nourishing power of literature, and why men should read more fiction.  Kathleen Rooney is the nationally bestselling author of LILLIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK, as well as CHER AMI AND MAJOR WHITTLESEY and FROM DUST TO STARDUST. She has won the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from Poetry magazine and the Adam Morgan Literary Citizen Award from the Chicago Review of Books. Kathleen’s criticism can be found in The New York Times, Chicago Magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and beyond. She lives in Chicago and teaches English and creative writing at DePaul University. Follow Kathlen Rooney on Social Media Instagram: @poemswhileyouwaitBluesky: @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social  Folllow Amran Gowani  on Social Media:Instagram: @amrangowaniLinkedIn: @amrangowaniBluesky: @amrangowani.com Follow Diverse Voices Book Review on Social Media: Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review  Bluesky - @diversevoicesbooks

    Man Overboard Novel Explores Young Manhood

  7. Jul 10

    American Actor Ensnared in Murder Intrigue in India

    Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Abir Mukherjee, author of the thriller THE PINNACLE. In the novel, a washed-up American actor living in India wakes up from a drunken stupor one morning to the discovery of his murdered Bollywood star wife. In the interview, Abir discusses how his experiences working with the super-rich in India helped inspire the novel.Abir Mukherjee is the Times bestselling author of the Sam Wyndham series of crime novels set in British colonialist India. Follow Abir on Social Media:X - @radiomukhersInstagram - @radiomukhersBluesky - @radiomukhers Follow Diverse Voices Book Review on Social Media: Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review  Bluesky - @diversevoicesbooks.bsky.social

    American Actor Ensnared in Murder Intrigue in India

  8. Jul 4

    Best Of: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality

    On June 28, 2014, Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Danielle Allen about her newly published book, OUR DECLARATION: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality for Austin radio station KAZI 88.7 FM. Featured on the front page of the New York Times, her book publisher writes in its description of the book, "Challenging conventional wisdom, she boldly makes the case that the Declaration is a document as much about political equality as about individual liberty." The interview was originally published as a podcast episode on July 4, 2024. Danielle Allen is James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard University. She is a professor of political philosophy, ethics, and public policy and director of the Democratic Knowledge Project and of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation. Daniell Allen's latest book is RADICAL DUKE: How One Aristocrat-and the American Revolution-Transformed Britain. Follow Danielle Allen on Social Media:Bluesky - @dsallentessTwitter - @dsallentessFollow Diverse Voices Book Review on Social Media: Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review  Bluesky - @diversevoicesbooks.bsky.social

    Best Of: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality
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About

Hopeton Hay Podcasts is the founder, producer, and host of Diverse Voices Book Review (formerly known as KAZI Book Review) which features interviews with a wide range of culturally diverse authors of recently published fiction and nonfiction, and Economic Perspectives, an audio interview show featuring discussions on finance, economic,  and small businesses and policies.

Information

  • Creator
    Hopeton Hay
  • Years Active
    2012 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Hopeton Hay
  • Show Website
    Hopeton Hay Podcasts