Hopeton Hay Podcasts

Hopeton Hay Podcasts is the founder, producer, and host of Diverse Voices Book Review (formerly known as KAZI Book Review) which features interviews with a wide range of culturally diverse authors of recently published fiction and nonfiction, and Economic Perspectives, an audio interview show featuring discussions on finance, economic, and small businesses and policies.

Hopeton Hay Podcasts is a society podcast hosted by Hopeton Hay, with 100 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Hopeton Hay hosts Hopeton Hay Podcasts, a society show with 100 episodes published.

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  Episode #394

  Episode 394: Literary Agents and Authors' Success in American Literature

  Aug 17, 202637 min

  Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Laura B. McGrath , author of MIDDLEMEN: Literary Agents and the Making of American Fiction , a revealing study of how literary agents have shaped American fiction, publishing markets, and the literary canon from the 1950s to today. In the conversation, McGrath explains why agents are far more than behind-the-scenes dealmakers. Drawing on archival research, data analysis, and interviews with more than 75 agents and publishing professionals, she describes agents as advocates, matchmakers, negotiators, tastemakers, and career strategists who help determine which books reach readers—and how writers build sustainable literary lives. McGrath is an assistant professor of English at Temple University. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic , The Nation , and the Los Angeles Review of Books . Before joining Temple, she was associate director of the Literary Lab at Stanford University. Follow Laura B. McGrath on Social Media: Instagram - @laurabmcgrath Bluesky - @lbmcgrath

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  Episode #393

  Episode 393: Friendship and Motherhood Explored in Naima Coster's Novel

  Aug 8, 202648 min

  "I wanted to write about friendships that are really, really close, and so they are more complicated, say, than friendships that are less close... And so I wanted to talk about a friendship that isn't always sunshine and roses," shared Naima Coster about her new novel, TAKE WHAT YOU CAN . TAKE WHAT YOU CAN, as Coster explained in the interview, "is a story of two best friends, Millie and Val, who decide to move near one another when they're both pregnant with their girls so they can raise their daughters together. They're both motherless mothers who want to be family to each other, but once they're living in the same Brooklyn neighborhood, things don't go the way they planned, and the ways that their lives have taken different directions becomes really apparent." Naima Coster is a New York Times bestselling author and a recipient of the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 honor. Her novel, What’s Mine and Yours, was a Read with Jenna pick, a statewide read for One Maryland One Book, longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award, and named a best book of the year by Kirkus Reviews, Esquire, Marie Claire, Ms. Magazine, and more. Her first novel, Halsey Street, was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and named a must-read by People, Essence, Well-Read Black Girl, The Skimm, and the Brooklyn Public Library. Naima’s work has appeared in The New York. Follow Naima Coster on Instagram - @naimacoster Follow Diverse Voices Book Review on Social Media: Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review Bluesky - @diversevoicesbooks.bsky.social

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  Episode #392

  Episode 392: ire'ne lara silva dreams, history, spirituality and erotic longing

  Aug 6, 202650 min

  ire'ne lara silva's latest book, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD , is a collection of lyrical and rhapsodic stories wrought from dreams, history, spirituality and erotic longing. In the interview with Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay, ire'ne discussed the way she connects with readers emotionally, the inspiration for her stories, and engaging mortality and pain with her characters.. ire’ne lara silva, 2023 Texas State Poet Laureate, is the author of five poetry collections, furia, Blood Sugar Canto , CUICACALLI/House of Song , FirstPoems, and the eaters of flowers, which won Gold for the 2025 Juan Felipe Herrera Best Poetry Book (ILBA), a comic book, VENDAVAL , and two short story collections, flesh to bone, which won the Premio Aztlán, and the light of your body . Follow Diverse Voices Book Review on Social Media: Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review Bluesky - @diversevoicesbooks.bsky.social

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  Episode #391

  Episode 391: Novel Explores Heist of Tech Billionaire's Bunker and Its Aftermath in Los Angeles

  Aug 1, 202646 min

  "It's a heist novel... and invariably in the aftermath, something goes wrong, something goes sideways, something that...O'Connor, the mastermind, didn't see coming, because he's quite the plotter and planner. But, for once, even he is caught flat-footed..." remarks Gary Phillips, author of the novel THE HAUL, in his interview with Hopeton Hay, host of Diverse Voices Book Review. O'Connor, is a middle-aged Black man living a quiet life, semi-retired from his thieving days, when an old contact provides an opportunity of a lifetime: to rob a tech billionaire's secret bunker. Set in the Los Angeles area, Phillips reveals through flashbacks with O'Connor as a preadolescent "what is it that made the boy the man." Gary Phillips has published novels, comics, novellas, short stories and edited or co-edited several anthologies, including the Anthony-winning The Obama Inheritance: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir. Violent Spring , his debut effort more than a quarter-century ago, was named in 2020 one of the essential crime novels of Los Angeles. He is also a story editor on Snowfall, an FX show about crack and the CIA in 1980s South Central, where he grew up. Follow Gary Phillips on Facebook Follow Diverse Voices Book Review on Social Media: Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review Bluesky - @diversevoicesbooks.bsky.social

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  Episode #390

  Episode 390: May Cobb’s East Texas Noir

  Jul 16, 202625 min

  In this episode of Diverse Voices Book Review, host Hopeton Hay welcomes contributor Amanda Moore for a lively conversation with bestselling author May Cobb about her novel All the Little Houses . Cobb discusses how the book blends Southern suspense, family drama, and small-town secrets in a 1980s Longview, Texas setting, where social status, jealousy, and hidden resentments collide. The conversation also explores Cobb’s inspiration from Little House on the Prairie, her return to East Texas as a literary landscape, and the ways her characters reveal what can lurk beneath polished surfaces. May Cobb grew up in the piney woods of East Texas where her thrillers A LIKEABLE WOMAN, MY SUMMER DARLINGS, THE HUNTING WIVES and BIG WOODS are set. Follow May Cobb on Social Media: Instagram: @may_cobb Follow Diverse Voices Book Review on Social Media: Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreview Instagram - @diverse_voices_book_review Bluesky - @diversevoicesbooks.bsky.social

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