I've had some wonderful conversations with authors here recently.

Last week, the novelist, Eleanor Katton joined us to talk about her book, Burnham Wood,

a thriller set in New Zealand.

And before that, we had the New Yorker journalist, David Graham, who told us about what it was

like to write his latest book, The Wager, a tale of 18th century British sailors who

shipwrecking mutiny on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia.

If both of those interviews are listened, if you haven't yet.

This week, on the podcast, we have a pair of conversations with staffers from the book

review.

Later on, I will speak with one of our editors, Jumana Kattib, about some books to look up

for that are coming out this month.

But first I'm joined by Alexandra Alter and Liz Harris, reporters who cover the world

of books and publishing for The New York Times.

For more than a year, they have been reporting on what has become one of the biggest storylines

on their beat, the rise and attempts to challenge, remove or ban books at the local level

in public libraries and public schools.

I'm Gilbert Cruz and this is the Book Review Podcast.

Alexandra, thank you for being here.

Thanks for having me.

Liz, same to you.

Thanks, Gilbert.

So according to a new report by Panameraica, the free speech organization, book fans are

...