First Edition

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

In this week's episode of First Edition, Jeff talks with Rachel Khong about her new novel, Real Americans.

40 years ago, Sandra Cisneros published what would become a contemporary classic: The House on Mango Street. To mark the occasion, Everyman's Library has released a new edition. The introduction to that edition was written by Professor John Philip Santos, a fellow writer and long-time friend of Cisneros. He joins me on this episode to talk about the origin,meaning, and legacy of this modern masterpiece.

Xochitl Gonzalez, author of Anita de Monte Laughs Last, joins Jeff to debut two new First Edition segments