Check This Out!
Check This Out, a partnership between New Hampshire Public Radio and PEN/Faulkner, is a literary podcast in which host and novelist Rachel Barenbaum interviews diverse and emerging authors about their work. Previous guests have included PEN/Faulkner honorees Claire Jimenez, John Vercher, Jonathan Escoffery, Ruben Degollado, and K-Ming Chang, among many others.
You can listen to episodes live by streaming NHPR.org, or download it as a podcast, wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Amazon, and Spotify. Past episodes are also available to stream at any time.
Watch this page for episode updates!
Sept 25 – Maria Reva
Set in Ukraine, an eccentric scientist breeding rare snails crosses paths with sisters posing as members of the marriage industry, and as Russia invades, they embark on a wild journey with kidnapped bachelors and a last-of-its-kind snail.
Oct 2 – Jennifer Armentrout
“Romantasy” titles from indie presses, along with their enormous fan bases on BookTok, are reshaping the publishing landscape. Jennifer Armentrout is proving that the next giant of fiction doesn’t need a giant publisher. This is the sixth book in the Blood and Ash series – all published by a tiny Indie press that is taking publishing by storm.
Oct 9 – Ruben Reyes Jr.
A genre-blending, speculative historical novel about revolution and empire, following two families across alternate timelines of the Salvadoran civil war. Includes special segment with Zibby Owens about what’s happening in the publishing world today.
Oct 16 – Xenobe Purvis
Based on a strange historical anecdote, this novel tells the story of five sisters in18th-century England whose neighbors become convinced they’re turning into dogs.
Oct 23 – Addie E. Citchens
A Southern Black family drama unfolds as long-held secrets about a beloved son surface, shaking the foundation of a Mississippi town.
Oct 30 – Rickey Fayne
In this debut novel, eight generations of a Black family in West Tennessee are visited by the Devil himself, each offered a different kind of salvation—while he wonders if redemption is possible for him, too.
Nov 6 – Katie Yee
When a young mother’s life unravels after a divorce and a cancer diagnosis, she spins her pain into sharp, comedic fiction that’s equal parts heartbreaking and hilarious.
Special segment at 3:40 – Vanessa Lillie
When a Native teenager vanishes from her small town, a place with dark ties to an elite historical society, archaeologist Syd Walker is called to investigate.
Nov 13 – Quiara Alegía Hudes
Told as a letter from mother to daughter, this luminous novel explores a moment of abandonment that stretches from ten days to ten years—and reshapes a family forever.
Nov 20 – Callie Hart
Callie Hart, a romantasy phenomenon who only published her first book with a traditional publisher, Quicksilver, in December 2024, is out with her second book in the series. In Brimstone we see the newly crowned queen, Saeris Fane, trying to control her volatile new powers.
Nov 27 – Eliana Ramage
A sweeping, multi-generational story of a young woman obsessed with becoming an astronaut and escaping her complicated past, and the extraordinary lengths she will go to find space for herself.
Dec 4 – Janet Rich Edwards
Set in 13th-century Bruges, this historical debut centers on a young woman’s search for faith, agency, and love in a convent—and in a world that wants to silence her.
Dec 11 – Best Books of 2025
A conversation with judges from the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, offering a behind-the-scenes look at what makes a book stand out—and their favorite books you might have missed.
Your Support Matters
Your support makes our programs possible. Please consider a contribution. Thank you.
GIVE ONLINE
Make a secure, tax-deductible gift online
GIVE by Mail
PEN/Faulkner Foundation
6218 Georgia Avenue NW
Unit #1062
Washington, DC 20011
GIVE by phone
(202) 898-9063
GIVE by Text
Text
PENFAULKNER
to 44321