Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. We're going to spend the pod today

talking to Douglas Stewart. If you don't know him, he's one of the biggest talents in the

literary scene today. His new book is titled Young Munga, and it's about the romance of these

two teen boys in 1990s, Glasgow, that crosses class and sectarian lines.

We'll hear about that book in a minute, but first I wanted to play you this interview.

He did back in 2020 with NPR Scott Simon about his first book, Shuggy Bain.

It was the one that got him all this praise and attention, including a man Booker Prize.

The book draws a lot from Douglas Stewart's own life growing up the queer

son of a single mother struggling with addiction. And in this interview, the two of them, Scott and

Douglas, really connect over their experiences loving someone with an addiction and seeing them

as full people, not just defined by their addictions.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Shuggy Bain is a novel that cracks open the human heart, brings you inside, tears you up and brings you up with its episodes of unvarnished love,

lost, survival, and sorrow. It's on the shortlist for the Booker Prize. It's been nominated

for the National Book Award and has already been acclaimed a masterpiece by tough-nosed

Kirkus reviews. It's the story of a little boy, Shuggy Bain, growing up in rough circumstances in the Glasgow

of the 1980s, rife with families living under the strain of joblessness and depression

and sometimes dealing with it in the worst way.

Shuggy Bain is a first novel from Douglas Stewart, who joins us from New York, where he lives now.

...