For this fourth season, Check This Out! is expanding to 12 episodes, offering more opportunities for in-depth exploration of the work of diverse and emerging authors.

Host Rachel Barenbaum and her guests go beyond the pages of each book, discussing not only the characters and themes, but the writing process itself—from finding writing groups to navigating the evolving world of publishing.

Check out the show page for each episode to discover downloadable PDF discussion questions for readers and book clubs.

Check This Out is proud to partner with The PEN/Faulkner Foundation to champion new voices in literature.

Check This Out! airs Saturdays at 3 p.m. beginning April 5 through June 21 on NHPR and NHPR.org. 

Subscribe to the podcast: Apple | Amazon | Spotify

Upcoming episodes:

Karissa Chen, Homeseeking - Saturday, April 5 3pm

“Homeseeking” follows Haiwen and Suchi, two separated lovers through six decades of Chinese history. War, famine, and opportunity take them from Hong Kong, to Taiwan, New York, and LA.

This debut novel is a story of family, sacrifice, and loyalty, and of the power of love to endure beyond distance and time.

Olivia Wolfgang-Smith, Mutual Interest - Saturday, April 12 3pm

A novel about marriage and ambition, sexuality and secrecy, and the true costs of building an empire. “Mutual Interest” explores the lives of “three queer misfits turned business titans” during the Gilded Age with immersive period detail and compelling emotional stakes.

Callan Wink, Beartooth - Saturday, April 19 3pm

Two brothers are living off the grid on the edge of Yellowstone. In dire straits and desperate for money, they accept a dangerous proposition that permanently alters their lives and their relationship to each other. 

Julie Iromuanya, A Season of Light - Saturday, April 26 3pm

When 276 schoolgirls are abducted from their school in Nigeria, a Florida-based lawyer and former POW of the Nigerian Civil War is consumed by memories of his younger sister who went missing during that conflict. “A Season of Light” explores the shaky promise of the immigrant American dream and a family struggling with intergenerational trauma.

Tova Mirvis, We Would Never - Saturday, May 3 3pm

Inspired by a true story, “We Would Never” is a gripping murder mystery and an intimate family drama. It explores the issues of loyalty, betrayal, and the blurred line between protecting and forsaking the ones we love most.

Sameer Pandya, Our Beautiful Boys - Saturday, May 10 3pm

Three star players on a high school football team are accused of violence by another student. Their secrets, and the secrets of their parents, threaten to shatter their entire community in a novel of race, class, and privilege.

Colwill Brown, We Pretty Pieces of Flesh - Saturday, May 17 3pm

A coming of age novel about working-class female friendship, set in the schoolyards, nightclubs, and alleyways of a gritty, post-industrial town in Yorkshire, England. Three girls are inseparable, their friendship as indestructible as they are, but as they grow up and away from one another, a long-festering secret threatens to rip the trio apart.

Jon Hickey, Big Chief - Saturday, May 24 3pm

A story about power and politics on a reservation in Wisconsin in the days leading up to a hotly contested tribal election, where loyalties are being sharply tested, and the lines between right and wrong have become blurred. This debut novel is also a family saga that explores what it means to belong to a family, a community, and a history.

Jemimah Wei, The Original Daughter - Saturday, May 31 3pm

In this debut novel, two sisters are betrayed and violently estranged. They must weigh the value of ambition versus familial love and home versus the outside world. An exploration of family bonds in a story of sisterhood in turn-of-the-millennium Singapore.

Emma Pattee, Tilt - Saturday, June 7 3pm

Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. All she can do is try to walk home. We follow her journey across a transformed city as she reflects on her life and re-considers hope for the future.

Rob Franklin, Great Black Hope - Saturday, June 14 3pm

A young Stanford graduate caught between worlds of race and class, glamour and tragedy, a friend’s mysterious death and his own arrest. Pulled into the court system and mandated treatment, he finds himself in an absurd but dangerous situation: his class protects him, but his race does not.

Darrow Farr, The Bombshell - Saturday, June 21 3pm

The pampered French American daughter of a politician becomes the face of a widespread movement for a global TV audience. Her radicalization sparks a media frenzy, exploring youthful passion, political awakening and first love.