Welcome to the Dinner Party Download. This is your icebreaker.

Here's a joke. What did the passive-aggressive ravens say?

Never mind.

I'm Rico Gagliano. I'm Brendan Francis Nuneum and from APM American Public Media, this is the

dinner party download, the culture show that gives you an edge in your weekend conversations.

You just got a joke from author Amelia Gray. That'll break the ice. Yes, that was a writer

telling an Edgar Allan Pogag. The perfect way to open this is a very special all-book episode.

That's right. One hour dedicated to the pleasures of the written word,

featuring some of our favorite conversations with great authors.

Coming up, best-selling author Sebastian Younger,

the man who wrote The Perfect Storm,

and Marlon James, who won last year's Man Booker Prize

for his epic novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings.

Plus, Elizabeth Gilbert's here to provide you with advice beyond her standard admonishment, year's Man Booker Prize for his epic novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings.

Plus, Elizabeth Gilbert's here to provide you with advice beyond her standard admonishment to eat prey love.

And America's poet laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera, tells us his origin tale.

It's pretty wonderful.

And also, we are going to hear from you, our listeners, who called in in droves to tell us

which fictional characters from literature you would most like to invite to a dinner party.

But for now, bookmark whatever you're reading and listen close as we start this audio literary salon with Small Talk.

We are speaking with Sadie Stein. She is a contributing editor to the literary magazine, The Paris Review.

Sadie, what story are you going to be talking about at parties this week?

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