Ep. 206: Behind the Scenes of Book Festivals & Author Interviews with Jason Blitman (Host of the Gays Reading Podcast)
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.7 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 17 September 2025
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For Episode 206, fellow podcaster Jason Blitman, host of the Gays Reading podcast, joins Sarah to go behind the scenes of producing book festivals. They talk about how he came to reading later in his life and how his journey as a reader led him to his current role. Also, they discuss how he approaches author interviews. Plus, Jason shares his book recommendations.
This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog.
Highlights
- Jason's experience with becoming a "later in life reader"
- How Jason got his start in podcasting and started the Gays Reading podcast
- The method and madness behind choosing which authors to feature
- Jason turns the tables on Sarah and asks her an interview question
- With 2 different book festivals under his belt, Jason shares what producing these events entails
- How authors and special guests are chosen for book festivals
- Managing authors' expectations, difficulties, and comfort levels at these large events
- Plus, ALL of Jason's book recommendations are from LGBTQIA+ authors!
Jason's Book Recommendations [39:38]
Two OLD Books He Loves
- A Star is Bored by Byron Lane (2020) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [40:00]
- Still Life by Sarah Winman (2021) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:01]
- Other Books Mentioned
Two NEW Books He Loves
- Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [44:02]
- The Sunflower Boys by Sam Wachman (2025) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [46:26]
One Book He DIDN'T Love
- Blackouts by Justin Torres (2023) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [48:48]
- Other Books Mentioned
- Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig (1976) [50:14]
One NEW RELEASE He's Excited About
- Lean Cat, Savage Cat by Lauren John Joseph (February 17, 2026) | Amazon
| Bookshop.org [51:40]
Books From the Discussion and Other Links
- The Slip by Lucas Schaefer (2025) [1:01]
- Gays Reading | Season 4, Episode 36: Lucas Schaefer (The Slip) feat. Mike Curato, Guest Gay Reader [1:04]
- We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker (2021) [1:39]
- Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett (2022) [1:48]
- The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (1937) [3:29]
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960) [4:03]
- How I Paid for College by Marc Acito (2004) [5:10]
- A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (2010) [6:11]
- Find Me by André Aciman (2019) [7:31]
- Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman (2007) [7:34]
- The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han (2009) [8:09]
- The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (2018) [8:37]
- The Nix by Nathan Hill (2016) [8:54]
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (2016) [8:57]
- The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel (2021) [11:24]
- Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau (2021) [11:50]
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (2022) [12:55]
- The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue (2023) [14:48]
- Real Americans by Rachel Khong (2024) [37:20]
- Charlotte's Web by E. B. White (1952) [38:41]
- Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes written by Eric Litwin and illustrated by James Dean (2008) [38:43]
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. |
| 0:11.9 | I'm your host, Sarah Dickinson. |
| 0:13.9 | Join me every other week as we get real and sometimes a bit snarky about books and reading. |
| 0:19.2 | Let's get rolling. |
| 0:20.7 | Y'all might be familiar with the podcast |
| 0:22.8 | Gaze Reading and its host Jason Blitman. On Gays Reading, Jason has been in conversation with authors |
| 0:28.4 | like Kavei Akbar, Dolly Alderton, Angie Kim, Stephen Rowley, R. Eric Thomas, and many more. |
| 0:35.5 | Jason is also a theater director and arts and culture producer. |
| 0:38.9 | He produced two seasons of the Books that changed my life festival for JCC Manhattan |
| 0:43.2 | and the Palm Springs Readers Festival for the Best Bookstore in Palm Springs. |
| 0:48.4 | You can find him on Instagram at Jason Blitman, and his website is jasonblitman.com. |
| 0:54.9 | Jason and I started communicating on social media about one of my favorite books of |
| 0:59.6 | 2025 so far, and that is The Slip by Lucas Schaefer. |
| 1:04.1 | And we started communicating because Jason did a really great interview with him. |
| 1:08.1 | So I'll link to that in the show notes and you all can check it out if you want to listen to it. But I am thrilled that he's on the podcast with me today. Welcome, |
| 1:14.9 | Jason. Thank you, Sarah. I'm so happy to be here. I'm fanning out. Oh, you should not be. |
| 1:22.8 | It's so weird having you in my ears, but talking to me. I can respond to the things that you are saying, |
| 1:29.1 | which hilariously, I'm shocked that this is coming up because I have two responses for you. |
| 1:35.3 | Oh, sweet. Yeah. One is, oh my God, I can't believe you DNF to we begin at the end. |
| 1:40.9 | Oh, yeah, I know. Twice. I tried two different times. And thing too is, oh my God, I loved |
| 1:48.7 | unlikely animals so, so, so much. Oh, I loved it so much, too. And I love Annie Hartnett, |
| 1:54.3 | and she has been on the show. And she's been on your show. Yes. So those are like the two big things |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sarah Dickinson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Sarah Dickinson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.