Kazi 88.7 Fm Book Review

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Ivy Pochoda, author of the new novel SING HER DOWN.  As described on her web site, "SING HER DOWN is a spellbinding thriller setting two indelible women on a path to certain destruction and an epic, stunning showdown."Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/ 

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Joe Ide, author of FIXIT, his latest crime novel featuring private investigator Isaiah Qunitabe, better known as IQ.  In the interview, Ide discussed the arc of his IQ character over six books, and how the character has changed because of the trauma he has experienced through his PI exploits.  FIXIT also looks deeply at the story behind the antagonist, assassin Skip Hanson.  Ide also explained why he introduced the character homicide detective Winnie Hando in FIXIT.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/ 

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Silvia Rodriguez Vega, author of DRAWING DEPORTATION: Art and Resistance Among Immigrant Children. In the interview Vega discussed her experiences working with immigrant children in Arizona and California, how detention and deportation were recurrent themes in the art of the children in Arizona, and the dark history of separation policies in the U.S.  Vega is an Assistant Professor at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in the Department of Chicana/o Studies. Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/ 

Diverse Voices Book Review contributor Amanda Moore interviewed Cheryl Head, author of the novel TIMES UNDOING. TIMES UNDOING is "a searing and tender novel about a young Black journalist’s search for answers in the unsolved murder of her great-grandfather in segregated Birmingham, Alabama, decades ago—inspired by the author’s own family history." Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/ 

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Farah Jasmine Griffin, author of IN SEARCH OF BEAUTIFUL FREEDOM: New and Selected Essays.  IN SEARCH OF BEAUTIFUL FREEDOM brings together the best work from Farah Jasmine Griffin’s rich forays on music, Black feminism, literature, the crises of Hurricane Katrina and COVID-19, and the Black artists she esteems.  Griffin is a professor of African American and African diaspora studies and English and comparative literature at Columbia University. Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Jamie Kreiner, author of THE WANDERING MIND: What Medieval Monks Tell Us About Distraction."The digital era is beset by distraction, and it feels like things are only getting worse. At times like these, the distant past beckons as a golden age of attention. We fantasize about escaping our screens. We dream of recapturing the quiet of a world with less noise. We imagine retreating into solitude and singlemindedness, almost like latter-day monks..." from the book description for THE WANDERING MIND.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

Host Hopeton Hay speaks with Joe Lansdale about his latest novel THE DONUT LEGION.  In the interview, Joe discusses his deep dive into conspiracy theories and UFO cults in the book. In particular he discussed how normal people may get caught up in cults. Hopeton and Joe also discussed the unique characteristics of the main villain including his chimpanzee sidekick.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/ 

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Jesse Q. Sutanto, author of the novel VERA WONG'S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS.  In the novel, Vera Wong, an elderly but energetic widow, opens her tea shop in San Francisco's Chinatown one morning and discovers a dead body on the floor.  Rather than leave the investigation to the police, she embarks in amateur sleuthing, luring the suspects one by one to her shop.  In the wide-ranging interview, among the things Jesse discussed were the inspiration for the novel, how her mother was the model for the protagonist, and her journey as a writer.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/ 

Teen's Choice Book Show (TCBS) host Maya Hay interviewed Jumata Emill, author of The Black Queen. In the return of TCBS the topics of black identity, representation in the YA Mystery genre, white allyship, and The Real Housewives are explored!Insta: @teenschoicebookshowEmail: teenschoicebookshow@gmail.com

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Anastasia Curwood, author of SHIRLEY CHISHOLM: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics."Shaking up New York and national politics by becoming the first African American congresswoman and, later, the first Black major-party presidential candidate, Shirley Chisholm left an indelible mark as an "unbought and unbossed" firebrand and a leader in politics for meaningful change," from the publisher's web site, University of North Carolina Press.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/  

Diverse Voices Book Review contributor Amanda Moore interviewed Wanda Morris, author of the crime novel ANYWHERE YOU RUN.  The plot as described on her web site: "...twenty-one year old Violet Richards finds herself in more trouble than she’s ever been in her life. Suffering a brutal attack of her own, she kills the man responsible. But with the color of Violet’s skin, there is no way she can escape Jim Crow justice in Jackson, Mississippi. Before anyone can find the body or finger her as the killer, she decides to run..." Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/ 

In their first podcast of 2023 Commissioner Travillion and host Hopeton Hay discussed some of the main issues he is focused on in 2023.  These issues include medical care for the underinsured, job training and job creation, and developing affordable housing.  Click the following links for more information on resources to assist Travis County, TX residents: Central Health Medical Access Program Workforce Solutions Capital Area Commissioner Jeff Travillion, Precinct One 

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Walter Mosley about his latest novel EVERY MAN A KING, the second featuring Black private detective Joe King Oliver. His first in the series, DOWN THE RIVER UNTO THE SEA, won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2019.  On Mosley's web site it says: "In this highly anticipated sequel from Edgar Award-winning “master of craft and narrative,” Walter Mosley, Joe King Oliver is entangled in a dangerous case when he’s asked to investigate whether a white nationalist is being unjustly set up. (National Book Foundation)." Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/ 

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Chaitali Sen, author of the story collection A NEW RACE OF MEN.  Sen is a storyteller whose work pulls at the heartstrings of the readers while sharply examining the complexities of family, identity and culture in today's world, On the publisher's web site, they write: "In these quiet yet deeply knowing stories of migration, power, and longing, A New Race of Men from Heaven offers us, above all else, stories of enduring love and hope."  Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/ 

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Courtney Duke Foster, author of the novel PASSING NOTES.  Set in New York city in 1951, PASSING NOTES is about a young Black woman who is mistaken to be white on a new job, and with the support of her best friend, decides to keep passing.  It addresses the daily anxiety of living a double life in the midst of racism, family, and romance at the office.   Follow Courtney on Instagram at @bycourtneydukefoster.  Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/ 

In November of 2021, Diverse Voices Bo Review host Hopeton Hay interview Tomas Q. Morin, author of MACHETE.  Morin and his poems are described on the publisher's web page - “Dios aprieta, pero no ahorca” (“God squeezes, but He doesn’t strangle”)–the epigraph of Machete–sets the stage for a powerful poet who summons a variety of ways to endure life when there’s an invisible hand at your throat. Tomás Morín hails from the coastal plains of Texas, and explores a world where identity and place shift like that ever-changing shore.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/  

Diverse Voices Bok Review contributor Amanda Moore interviewed Maya Smart, author of READING FOR OUR LIVES: A Literary Action Plan from Birth to Six.  Maya Smart writes "Reading for Our Lives challenges the bath-book-bed mantra and the idea that reading aloud to our kids is enough to ensure school readiness. Instead, it gives parents easy, immediate, and accessible ways to nurture language and literacy development from the start."  Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/  

Crime Fiction Picks of the Month Host Hopeton Hay and co-hosts Scott Montgomery and Amanda Moore discussed their five favorite crime novels of 2022.  THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME by Gabino Iglesias was the only novel to make the list for all three hosts.  Co-host Molly Odintz could not make the taping, but a bonus episode will feature her picks.

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Aaron Philip Clark, author of BLUE LIKE ME, the second novel in his Trevor Finnegan series.  Finnegan, a former Los Angeles police detective, is investigating corruption in the LA police department when he discovers his former partner may be ensnared in illegal activities.  In the interview, Hopeton and Aaron discussed why he set the novel in November and December of 2016, pre and post election of Donald Trump.  They also discussed the complicated emotional life of his protagonist.  More information on Aaron Philip Clark’s novels and his social media is available at aaronphilipclark.com.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/ 

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Jeff Abbott, author of TRAITOR’S DANCE, the sixth book in his Sam Capra Series.  In the interview they discussed the conflict between his protagonist Capra working on call for a U.S. secret espionage agency while trying to raise his 13 year-old son as a single dad.  Set in Austin, the novel weaves together Russian agents, betrayal, and dark secrets from Capra’s past.  More information on Jeff Abbott’s other books and his social media contact information is available at jeffabbott.com.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/