Shows / Upstart Crow
Upstart Crow
Dedicated to promoting books and culture through engaging and informative podcasts. Our mission is to inspire our listeners to explore the literary arts and appreciate the diversity of ideas within our amazing world. We invite a diverse range of writers, historians, and cultural influences to share their expertise. From established artists to up-and-coming creatives, our guests provide unique perspectives on writing, the literary arts, and culture. Hosted by Ken Budd, Jennifer Disano, and…
Episodes
- Upstart Crow
Tara Leskowski - The Happiness of The Cold Read
A decade after making the horror film that launched their careers, a cast of actors reunites at the remote ski resort where the original movie was filmed…
- Upstart Crow
Shubha Sunder - The Push and Pull of Constructing a Life
Second of four in the Upstart Crow–Fairfax County Public Library Interview Series, celebrating America's 250th anniversary. More information about the series…
- Upstart Crow
Liam Callanan - Stone Age Astronaut
What makes an extraordinary accomplishment disappear from the history books? And what does it take to leave one life behind and begin another? Liam Callanan…
- Upstart Crow
Lois Romano – Mary Todd Lincoln: An Inconvenient Widow
Lois Romano – Mary Todd Lincoln: An Inconvenient Widow This is the first of four interviews in the Upstart Crow–Fairfax County Public Library Interview Series…
- Upstart Crow
Ilan Stavans – A Nation Wrestles with God
Internationally known, award-winning writer and editor Ilan Stavans sees an anthology as something akin to a library where the books come down from the shelves…
- Upstart Crow
Nicholas Reynolds and Katie S. Sanders – Ortiz’s War
From 1932 until the end of World War II, Peter J. Ortiz was almost constantly involved in international warfare—13 years of it—either fighting or gathering…
- Upstart Crow
Marty Ross-Dolen – Always There, Always Gone
Marty Ross-Dolen’s memoir Always There, Always Gone, winner of the 2026 Ohio Book Awards Readers’ Choice Award, carries the subtitle “A daughter’s search for…
- Upstart Crow
Kathryn DeZur - Objects of Affection
Kathryn DeZur – Objects of Affection The things Kathryn DeZur focuses on—a doll, a quilt, bookshelves, a gun, an ashtray, a table, a finial—in this book of 15…
- Upstart Crow
Emil Wilson - The Nightingales
Emil Wilson – The Nightingales. Based in San Francisco, Emil Wilson is an advertising art director and illustrator as well as a comic artist. His work has…
- Upstart Crow
Lina Patton - The Lake Club
Lina Patton – The Lake Club A spirited read about the sort of people who spend summer days sitting poolside and playing golf, versus ambitious young adults…
- Upstart Crow
Melody Lomboy-Lowe - Author & Founder, Luna Peak Foundation
Melody Lomboy-Lowe — Founder, Luna Peak Foundation Melody Lomboy-Lowe was 6 years old when she planned her own funeral. She had been diagnosed with leukemia…
- Upstart Crow
Caroline Bock - The Other Beautiful People
Caroline Bock – The Other Beautiful People In the entertainment world, there are the on-stage, front-of-camera, beautiful people, and there are those who…
- Upstart Crow
Zach Powers -The Migraine Diaries: A singular, first-person novel.
Zach Powers – The Migraine Diaries: A singular, first-person novel. This story goes into the interior life of a thirty-something man who has just lost the best…
- Upstart Crow
Caroline Bicks – Monsters in the Archive: My Year of Fear with Stephen King
Caroline Bicks – Monsters in the Archive: My Year of Fear with Stephen King Monsters in the Archives – that’s the main title of Caroline Bicks’ latest book…
- Upstart Crow
Olufunke Grace Bankole - The Edge of Water
Olufunke Grace Bankole – The Edge of Water In an immigration novel not like others, a Nigerian daughter wants to try life in America, and so once more she…
- Upstart Crow
Jung Yun - All the World Can Hold
Jung Yun – All the World Can Hold It is Sunday, Sept. 16, 2001. The Sunday after 9/11. Five days after the Tuesday when hijacked planes are flown into the twin…
- Upstart Crow
Cristina Jimenez - Dreaming of Home
Cristina Jimenez – Dreaming of Home The subtitle of Cristina Jimenez’s memoir is, “How we turn fear into pride, power, and real change.” In the book, she…
- Upstart Crow
Shubha Sunder - Optional Practical Training
Shubha Sundra – Optional Practical Training In 2006, when this novel is set, American immigration law allows students, scholars, trainees, teachers, etc., on…
- Upstart Crow
Margaret Hutton - If You Leave
Margaret Hutton – If You Leave With the intrusive, catalytic forces of two wars, World War II and Vietnam, Margaret Hutton’s debut novel, If You Leave, tells…
- Upstart Crow
Linda Chavez - The Silver Candlesticks: A Novel of the Spanish Inquisition
Linda Chavez – A Novel of the Spanish Inquisition: The Silver Candlesticks Linda Chavez began working on The Silver Candlesticks after appearing on the PBS…
- Upstart Crow
W. Ralph Eubanks - When It's Darkness on the Delta
W. Ralph Eubanks – When It’s Darkness on the Delta Some today would cross off the Mississippi Delta as a backwater beyond redemption or a region where bad…
- Upstart Crow
Mary Kay Zuravleff – American Ending
Mary Kay Zuravleff – American Ending Mary Kay Zuravleff is the author most recently of the novel American Ending, a story inspired by the experiences of her…
- Upstart Crow
Library Reads Special Edition – Fairfax Local Author Festival - Fairfax, VA
Upstart Crow: Library Reads Special Edition – Fairfax Local Author Festival In this special edition of Upstart Crow, host Jennifer Disano visits the Fairfax…
- Upstart Crow
Andy Shallal - A Seat at the Table
Andy Shallal – A Seat at the Table Andy Shallal has been a voice for social causes in and around Washington, DC, so consistently and for so many years that…
- Upstart Crow
Amy Stuber & Rebecca Burke – Sad Grownups
Amy Stuber wrote the stories and Rebecca Burke edited them to produce the book Sad Grownups that won the 2025 PEN/Bingham Prize for Best Debut Short Story…
- Upstart Crow
Matthew Davis – A Biography of a Mountain: The Making and Meaning of Mount Rushmore
In his new book, Matthew Davis explores one of the most iconic monuments in America—and perhaps the world. For nearly a century, Mount Rushmore has loomed…
- Upstart Crow
Olufemi Terry - Wilderness of Mirrors
Set in South Africa, Olufemi Terry’s first novel is, on one level, a straightforward story of an affluent Creole man coming of age, but on another level, it is…
- Upstart Crow
Steven Mintz and Peter Stearns - The American Child
Steven Mintz and Peter Stearns – The American Child Have a child? Want to have a child? Listen to this podcast episode. The book—The American Child: The…
- Upstart Crow
Richard Bausch - The Fate of Others
Since publishing his first book of fiction in 1980, Richard Bausch has produced ten collections of stories and thirteen novels. The tenth of those story…
- Upstart Crow
Robert Luckett Jr. and Jerry Mitchell – Re-Constructing What We Know
Veteran journalist Jerry Mitchell discusses his work that led to four reopened murder cases from the Civil Rights era including those of Medgar Evers and the…
- Upstart Crow
David Baldacci - A Calamity of Souls
David Baldacci – What is A Calamity of Souls? The title of his most autobiographical novel occurred to David Baldacci the day he penned the first words. And it…
- Upstart Crow
Catherine Nixey - Heretics and History
Journalist and writer Catherine Nixey and host William Miller discuss her books that focus on early church history and some of the other men who lived lives…
- Upstart Crow
Robert T. Luckett Jr. - Evolving Resistance to Black Advancement
A professor at Jackson State University in Mississippi, Robert T. Luckett Jr. discusses his book analyzing the career of Joe T. Patterson, the attorney general…
- Upstart Crow
Dinaw Mengestu - Someone Like Us
Dinaw Mengestu is the author of four novels—Someone Like Us (2024), All Our Names (2014), How to Read the Air (2010), and The Beautiful Things That Heaven…
- Upstart Crow
Dr. Rina Bliss — What’s Real About Race?
Dr. Rina Bliss, an associate professor of sociology at Rutgers University, discusses her most recent book, What’s Real About Race?, with Upstart Crow host…
- Upstart Crow
Carol Mitchell - What Start Bad A Mornin'
In this episode, first-time novelist Carol Mitchell discusses the ideas and experiences out of which grew this novel, What Start Bad A Mornin’. The story she…
- Upstart Crow
David Rowell - The Endless Refrain
Do We Even Want New Music Anymore? Why are people less interested in discovering new music? In this episode, we explore how nostalgia, technology, and cultural…
- Upstart Crow
Samuel Ashworth
To write his novel The Death and Life of August Sweeney, Samuel Ashworth drew on experience and some very personal research—he worked in the back of…
- Upstart Crow
Steph Liberatore
Steph Liberatore, as a writer, specializes in nonfiction, so it stands to reason she founded a new on-line journal focused on short forms of the genre…
- Upstart Crow
Scott Strode
When Scott Strode was 11, he had his first drink. By 15, he was using cocaine. In his 20s, paranoid and fearing death, he got sober, replacing drugs and…
- Upstart Crow
Special Episode: Debra Lane & Ann Marie Luce
In this special episode, guest hosts Debra Lane and Ann Marie Luce, two educators and researchers with extensive backgrounds in leadership development and…
- Upstart Crow
Constance Sayers
Constance Sayers has published three novels (A Witch in Time, The Ladies of the Secret Circus and The Star and the Strange Moon) in four years. All are books…
- Upstart Crow
Paula J. Johnson: Julia Child's Kitchen at the Smithsonian
This episode hosted by Jennifer Disano, features Paula J. Johnson. Paula is a distinguished curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History…
- Upstart Crow
Ray Suarez: A Public Speaking Event
In remarks delivered at the Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason University, former National Public Radio correspondent Ray Suarez presents…
- Upstart Crow
Charles Baxter
Master fiction writer Charles Baxter joins host William Miller to discuss his latest novel, Blood Test, in a conversation that spans a wide range of topics…
- Upstart Crow
Chelsea Henderson
In this episode of Upstart Crow, host Jennifer Disano sits down with Chelsea Henderson, author of Glacial: The Inside Story of Climate Politics. Henderson, an…
- Upstart Crow
Katherine E. Young
Literary translator Katherine E. Young joins host William Miller to talk about her latest project, the first-time-in-English volume People and Trees by…
- Upstart Crow
Nicholas Delbanco
In this episode, host William Miller talks to writer and teacher Nicholas Delbanco, who has published thirty-one books of fiction and nonfiction, including the…
- Upstart Crow
Dr. Charan Ranganath
In this episode of Upstart Crow, a part of Watershed Lit Radio, host Ken Budd sits down virtually with Dr. Charan Ranganath, renowned neuroscientist and author…
- Upstart Crow
Chris Stuck
In this episode, host William Miller is joined by writer Chris Stuck, who dives into the creative process behind Give My Love to the Savages, his acclaimed…
- Upstart Crow
Joseph M. Thompson
In this episode of Upstart Crow, host Jennifer Disano interviews Dr. Joseph M. Thompson, historian at Mississippi State University and author of the book Cold…
- Upstart Crow
Jessica Anthony
"The responsibility we have as novelists is to not be colonizers of another life, but we are to instead, live that other life." - Jessica Anthony The Most by…
- Upstart Crow
Eric Weiner
“Couldn’t you see Ben Franklin using noise-cancelling headphones and a MacBook Air Pro?” - Eric Weiner Is that a big stretch or not so much? While Ben was one…