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. through June 21 on NHPR and NHPR.org. 

Subscribe to the podcast: Apple | Amazon | Spotify

Upcoming episodes:

Sameer Pandya, Our Beautiful Boys - Saturday, May 10 at 3 p.m.

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 at 3 p.m.

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 at 3 p.m.

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. 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 at 3 p.m.

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 at 3 p.m.

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 at 3 p.m.

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 at 3 p.m.

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.