Riot Headline The Best Books of 2024

First Edition

BookRiot.com co-founder Jeff O'Neal explores the wide bookish world. Interviews, lists, rankings, retrospectives, recommendations, and much more, featuring people who know and love books.

The Books Won’t Save Us

Book Riot's Sharifah Williams joins Jeff to talk about her piece, "The Books Won't Save Us."

What It Is Like To Break Into Agenting & The Black List

This week on First Edition, we've got a couple of segments here ported over from The Book Riot Podcast. First, Brooke Nagler tells us what it's like to break into the world of literary agenting. Then, Franklin Leonard and Randy Winston talk about their project, The Black List.

Tracking Bestsellers, What You See (or Don’t) When You Read, and Growing Up on the Internet Can Be Great

This week on First Edition, Book Riot editor Danika Ellis joins Jeff to talk about how she tracks bestsellers for Book Riot, how growing up online was sort of great, and what we see (or don't) when we read.

10 Burning Questions for the World of Books and Reading

This week on First Edition is an audio version of a post I wrote for Book Riot recently, The 10 Most Interesting Questions in the World of Books and Reading.

Democracy…the Book

This week on First Edition, a woman with no prior political experience decides to run for city commission in her small college town. So she goes to the library and checks out a book called How to Win a Local Election. And she wins. This is her story and the story of the book that helped her win.

My Reading Life

Today's First Edition is from the vault: Jeff's own story of becoming a reader.

What is Going On With Book Sales?

This week on First Edition, Jeff is joined by Brenna Connor, Director & Industry Analyst for U.S. books sales for Circana. She has the goods: what is selling, what is trending, how retailers are doing, and much more. I learned a TON, and I bet you will too.

The Reading Life of Ada Limón

In this episode of First Edition, the reading life of U.S. National Poet Laureate Ada Limón.

Ayana Mathis and THE UNSETTLED

Jeff O'Neal talks with Ayana Mathis about her latest book, The Unsettled. The Unsettled was a 2023 New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and a Best Book of the Year selection by The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Oprah Daily, and others. The Unsettled is now available in paperback.

Claire Messud and THIS STRANGE, EVENTFUL HISTORY

On this week's episode of First Edition, Jeff talk with Claire Messud about her new novel, This Strange, Eventful History