Episodes

Get up-close and personal with a city, state and national landmark that has welcomed every sporting contest from marble championships to the National Football League, and the baseball team that for 20 seasons called it home field.

Author Ron Rindo talks about his latest novel, Life, & Death, & Giants.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · A Kinship with Ash: Heather Swan In this edition of Madison Book Beat, host Lisa Malawski sits down with Wisconsin poet, essayist, and environmental humanities scholar Heather Swan. A lecturer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Swan brings a unique blend of ecological insight and lyrical depth to her writing, exploring the fragile intersections between humans and the natural world. Her poetry collection, A Kinship with Ash, published by Terrapin Books, is a meditation...

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Time, Beauty, and Grief, Betsy-Korbinyr_7-28-25 In this edition of Madison Book Beat, host Lisa Malawski sits down with local author Betsy Korbinyr who is an award-winning author and retired social worker based in Madison, Wisconsin. With over 30 years of experience in hospice, medical, mental health, and school social work, she brings a deep understanding of aging, loss, and resilience to her writing. Her debut book, Time, Beauty, and Grief: A Hike Through Wisconsin’s 50 ...

Stu Levitan welcomes Dean Robbins for a discussion of his new book Wisconsin Idols: 100 Heroes Who Changed The State, The World, And Me (Wis. Hist. Soc. Press 2025), a collection of engaging essays about the musicians, thinkers, actors, athletes, creators and boundary breakers who've had a profound affect on Wisconsin, the world, and Dean Robbins.

Political Science Professor Steven Davis comes on BookBeat to talk about his book "The Other Public Lands: Preservation, Extraction, and Politics on the Fifty States’ Natural Resource Lands."

Author Kristina Amelong talks with host Sara Batkie about her new memoir, What My Brother Knew.

Stu Levitan welcomes the biographer of modern Madison, award-winning columnist Doug Moe, for a conversation about his latest book, Saving Hearts and Killing Rats: Karl Paul Link and the Discovery of Warfarin. It’s the first detailed look at one of the most important and most honored biochemists of the 20th century — the brilliant, unconventional, and seemingly bipolar University of Wisconsin scientist whose discoveries led to two synthetic compounds: the rat-killing Warfarin and the heart-saving...

On this edition of Madison BookBeat, host Sara Batkie talks with author Denise S. Robbins about her debut novel The Unmapping. There is no flash of light, no crumbling, no quaking. Each person in New York wakes up on an unfamiliar block after the buildings all switch positions overnight. The power grid has snapped, thousands of residents are missing, and the Empire State Building is on Coney Island—for now. The next night, it happens again. Esme Green and Arjun Varma work for the city of New Yo...

Stu Levitan interviews former U.S. Ambassador to Norway (1993-1997) Tom Loftus about his new book, Mission to Oslo, Dancing with the Queen, Dealmaking with the Russians, Shaping History (Mineral Point: Little Creek Press, 2024). Amb. Loftus served during a pivotal period in diplomatic and military history, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It was a time of optimism, but it was fraught with uncertainty, a time of particular concern in neighboring Norway. Amb. Loftus’s succes...

Jane Hirshfield—widely regarded as one of America’s greatest living poets—joins Madison Book Beat for a rich conversation about poetry, the natural world, and the human condition. The New York Times Magazine has called her work “some of the most important poetry in the world today,” and her latest collection, The Asking: New & Selected Poems, showcases the depth and range of a life devoted to lyrical inquiry. In this episode, host David Ahrens and guest co-host Heather Swan, a poet and faculty ...

A book club is a great way to build community—bringing people together around shared interests, while also introducing them to new perspectives and ideas. Today, Bill Tishler hosts his inaugural episode centered on community. Tishler, who is also a local elected official, has been hosting book clubs in his district. On today’s episode, four area residents join him in the WORT studio to share their thoughts on recent book clubs they participated in this year and how the books they read raised aw...

In this edition of Madison Book Beat, host Andrew Thomas speaks with AJ Romriell on his debut memoir Wolf Act (University of Wisconsin Press, 2025). Wolf Act is a “memoir in essays,” and these essays take on a variety of forms. The work is divided into three different Acts, and each act is made up of chapters that are both interlinked but can also stand on their own as well. While the majority of the prose is narrative nonfiction, there are a number of chapters that include lengthy lists, defin...

On this edition of Madison BookBeat, host Sara Batkie chats with Wisconsin Poet Laureate Brenda Cárdenas about her new position and the exciting plans she has in the works during her service. Brenda Cárdenas was born and raised in Milwaukee and has also lived in Beaver Dam, Appleton, Menasha, and Fond du Lac. She obtained her undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and a Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative Writing (Poetry) at the University of Michigan. She rece...

Tana Elias has more than three decades of experience at the Madison Public Library. After one year in the role, she’s “just settling in” to the position as Director of the MPL. Elias sits down with Madison Book Beat host David Ahrens for a conversation about the history, funding, services and evolution of the Madison Public Library system, which has nine libraries in the city, operates the mobile Dreambus service, and is now building an “Imagination Center” on the north side. Elias and Ahrens ...

Christine Wenc on the founding of "The Onion"

On Jumping, Swimming, Sinking, and Floating: Poet Steven Duong Discusses His Debut Collection

Theresa Okokon on her memoir in essays "Who I Always Was"

What Books Did You Like This Year?

Zara Chowdhary on The Lucky Ones

The Year in Books with Three Madison Booksellers

Imagining Beyond Prisons: On Books-to-Prisons Bans and Abolition Activism

In this edition of Madison Book Beat, host Lisa Malawski talks with local Madison author Tammy Borden. Tammy is a professional copywriter turned novelist. She has had a whirlwind of a year since releasing her novel, Waltraud. She has reached thousands of readers on 5 continents, had more than 70 speaking or book-related events, and approximately one thousand reviews! Waltraud was self-published by Tammy Borden in 2023. Waltraud is about a true story of Tammy’s mom growing up in Nazi Germany. Tam...

Author and geologist Marcia Bjornerud on the rocks that made her