Gayle Feldman is a journalist who has covered the book publishing industry for decades for Publishers Weekly and The Bookseller, among many other publications. Her new book is Nothing Random: Bennett Cerf and the Publishing House He Built, published by Random House with legendary editor Bob Loomis. In this episode, Gayle traces Bennett Cerf’s improbable arc from Jewish Harlem to Columbia University to Wall Street and finally to the founding of Random House.

She tells the stories behind some of the most consequential moments in American publishing history: the legal battle to publish James Joyce’s Ulysses, the creation of The Cat in the Hat and Beginner Books, the publication of Portnoy’s Complaint, and more from the early days of Random House.

Photo credit: Michael Lionstar

Paul Yamazaki has been the head buyer at the iconic City Lights bookstore in San Francisco since 1982. In this episode, Paul traces a singular life: from the music clubs of LA and the cultural ferment of late-1960s San Francisco, to more than four decades of deciding which books to shelve at one of the world’s most beloved bookstores. A longtime champion of independent presses and underrepresented voices, Paul Yamazaki shares his perspective on why books matter.

Perminder Mann is CEO of UK & International for Simon & Schuster, a role she stepped into in May 2024 after eight years as Group CEO of Bonnier Books UK. In this episode, Perminder traces an unlikely path to the top of publishing—from a working-class immigrant family outside West London, where she didn’t own a book until she was 22, to special sales, a tour through the toy industry, and ultimately the corner office. She talks about elocution lessons, flexibility as a philosophy, and what she is doing at Simon & Schuster to build a culture where difference is celebrated rather than managed around.

Bob Carrigan is the CEO of Audible, the world’s leading audiobook platform. In this episode, Bob describes Audible’s extraordinary growth and the company’s ambitious vision to make every book available as an audiobook in every language. He discusses the pandemic’s effect on listening habits, the landmark multicast production of the Harry Potter series, Audible’s new “Story House” pop-up in New York, the role of AI in expanding global catalogs, and the company’s deep roots in the economic renaissance of Newark, New Jersey.

Ruth Dickey is the Executive Director of the National Book Foundation—the organization behind the National Book Awards, now in its 77th year. In this episode, Ruth shares the foundation’s new five-year strategic plan, which will expand programming at a moment when many arts organizations are retrenching, including providing millions of free books in public housing communities, awarding teacher fellowships in book-banning hotspots, and streaming the National Book Awards.

Michael Carlisle is a co-founder of Inkwell Management, one of the most respected literary agencies in the business. Born of publishing parents, he became a human rights lawyer first, before he found his way to the William Morris Agency, then built his own agency before forming Inkwell Management. From William Styron to Elin Hilderbrand, Michael has been in at the beginning on an amazing set of authors and books. This episode gives you a look inside the life and career of a fascinating literary agent.

Brendan Curry has spent 24 years at W.W. Norton—the largest and oldest employee-owned publishing company. Norton is renowned for nonfiction and higher education publishing. In this episode, we discuss the rise and recent challenges of serious nonfiction, exploring how political upheaval, cultural fatigue, and fragmented digital media environments have reshaped readers’ engagement with big-idea books.

Miwa Messer is the executive producer and host of Barnes & Noble’s beloved podcast “Poured Over,” which has released over 650 episodes in the last 5 years. Our conversation covers her journey in publisher publicity and brick and mortar bookselling, and the significant changes in book format and book discovery along the way—including events, podcasting, social media, and more.