PODCAST · arts
Booktalk with Diana Korte
by Diana Korte
Top authors are interviewed on this 10-minute program about their books and often the story behind the story. Diana has spoken with hundreds of authors from national politicians and scientists to novelists and storytellers of all kinds. Listeners stream from around the world and on many community & public radio stations across the U.S. The show, hosted by Diana and engineered by her husband Gene Korte, has been in production for nearly 30 years. Together they've traveled in more than 100 countries, sometimes interviewing authors along the way.
Episodes
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British Historian Edmund Richardson’s “ALEXANDER: God, King, Man”
Host Diana Korte speaks with Historian Edmund Richardson, author of 3 books. His newest title, ALEXANDER: GOD, KING, MAN is about a boy from the hills of Macedon, a neighboring kingdom to Greece, who ruled most of the known world by his mid-twenties. For centuries, many have told his story, and…
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Memory Expert Dr. Zaldy Tan’s WHAT TO REMEMBER WHEN YOU ARE FORGETTING
Ever wonder what’s the difference between normal forgetting and Alzheimer’s? Did you know there are tools to work with forgetfulness? What if a dementia diagnosis could be an invitation to live as told in patient stories in this book? My guest today is Dr. Zaldy Tan, Director of the Memory and...
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Prize-winning fiction writer Jim Shepard’s THE QUEEN OF BAD INFLUENCES
Host Diana Korte speaks with fiction writer Jim Shepard, author of 14 books. His newest title, “The Queen of Bad Influences” is a collection of 12 short stories spanning six centuries and multiple catastrophes. We read the 1864 letters between Lucy in Boon, North Carolina and her great love,...
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Romance novelist Lia Louis’s THE PHONE SWAP
Host Diana Korte speaks with England-based writer Lia Louis, author of 6 books. In her newest rom com, THE PHONE SWAP, an accidental phone swap finds a celebrity heartthrob falling in love with an ordinary girl. But falling in love in private is not as simple as falling in love in reality....
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Mary D Williams’s “Mahalia Jackson, Moving On Up A Little Higher”
Host Diana Korte speaks with Mary D Williams’s, a gospel singer, historian, educator and co-author of “Mahalia Jackson, Moving On Up A Little Higher, The Story of a American Civil Rights Pioneer.” If Americans today still recognize the name Mahalia Jackson, they might recall that she was perhaps...
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Novelist Alexander McCall Smith’s “In the Time of Five Pumpkins” (#26)
Host Diana Korte speaks with Alexander McCall Smith, the author of 120 books in 46 languages sold around the world. These include the “No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency” novels plus other series and stand-alone titles. His 26th book in this series is “In the Time of Five Pumpkins” featuring Precious...
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Retired Naval Aviator Dan Pedersen’s “TOPGUN. AN AMERICAN STORY”
Host Diana Korte speaks with naval aviator Dan Pedersen, author of “TOPGUN. An American Story,” who was the boss of the group that formed the elite Navy Fighter Weapons School. Also known as the TOPGUN program, it began in Miramar, California 57 years ago. CLASSIC. I’m re-airing this 2019...
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Bestselling novelist Lisa See’s DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN AND MOON
Host Diana Korte speaks with writer Lisa See who has published 13 books. Her newest title, DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN AND MOON, is the story of three Chinese women immigrants. As the book begins, it’s 1870 when these Chinese women arrive in the small, dusty, and violent part of Los Angeles. Each woman...
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Best-selling Novelist Kevin Powers' CHILDREN OF THE WILD
Host Diana Korte speaks with writer and Iraq War veteran Kevin Powers. Author of 5 books, his first title, “The Yellow Birds,” is considered a landmark work of American fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award. His newest title, CHILDREN OF THE WILD, is a love story of three people...
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Novelist Jane Smiley’s “LIDIE. The Further Travels And Adventures Of Lidie Newton”
Host Diana Korte speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jane Smiley, author of 34 books. Her newest title, “LIDIE. The Further Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton,” follows two young women fleeing a divided America in 1857. When Lidie’s niece Annie becomes an actress at the local theater…
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Historian Daniel Rood’s IN THE SHADOW OF THE GREAT HOUSE
Host Diana Korte speaks with historian and University of Georgia professor Daniel Rood, author of 2 books. His newest title is “IN THE SHADOW OF THE GREAT HOUSE. A History of the Plantation in America.” In a narrative that sweeps across 400 years of American history, Rood reveals that the...
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British Science Journalist Helen Pearson's BEYOND BELIEF
Host Diana Korte speaks with science writer Helen Pearson, author of 2 books and editor for England’s prestigious Nature Journal. Her newest title is, “BEYOND BELIEF: How Evidence Shows What Really Works.” In an age of alternative facts, today more people around the globe are using scientific...
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Craig Fehrman's "This Vast Enterprise. A New History of Lewis & Clark"
Host Diana Korte speaks with historian Craig Fehrman whose newest title, THIS VAST ENTERPRISE, is a major revisionist history of the Lewis and Clark years-long expedition that began in 1804. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson who fought bitter Congressional unrest to get the funding for…
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Bestselling novelist Marie Benedict’s DAUGHTER OF EGYPT
Host Diana Korte speaks with Marie Benedict, known for her suspenseful historical fiction, about her 10th book, DAUGHTER OF EGYPT, a story of two ambitious women who lived centuries apart. In the 1920s, British archeologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon of Highclere Castle (the real life…
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Psychology Professor Harry Reis's HOW TO FEEL LOVED
Host Diana Korte speaks with Harry Reis whose newest title is "HOW TO FEEL LOVED. The Five Mindsets That Get You More of What Matters Most." We can be loved and still not feel loved. Many people believe that if they behave the right way, say the right things, or make themselves more lovable, they...
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Pilot Caroline Paul’s WHY FLY
Host Diana Korte speaks with New York Times bestselling author Caroline Paul, author of 8 books. Her newest title is “WHY FLY. Seeking Awe, Healing, and Our True Selves in the Sky.” She’s been drawn to flying since she was twenty and learned to fly a single-engine plane for the first time. In her...
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Literary Agent Alia Hanna Habib’s “TAKE IT FROM ME”
Host Diana Korte speaks with author Alia Hanna Habib this week whose debut book is “TAKE IT FROM ME, An Agent's Guide to Building a Nonfiction Writing Career from Scratch.” She’s the agent behind some of today’s most successful authors and has written a narrative guide geared specifically to the...
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Ex-Evangelical Josiah Hesse’s “On Fire for God"
Host Diana Korte spoke with Ex-Evangelical Josiah Hesse this week about his fourth book, “ON FIRE FOR GOD. Fear, Shame, Poverty, and the Making of the Christian Right—A Personal History.” When asked why he wrote this book, Colorado-based Hesse said “I was tired of hearing my colleagues in...
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Novelist Meg Donohue's THE MEMORY GARDENER
Host Diana Korte speaks with Meg Donohue, author of 6 books, whose newest title is “The Memory Gardener” about Lucy Barnes, a gardener with a magical ability to grow flowers whose scents awaken lost memories. Her work among the lush gardens of Oceanview Home, a retirement community, soon helps...
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Wild West Historian Mark Lee Gardner's "Brothers of the Gun"
Wild West Historian Mark Lee Gardner's newest title--his 12th--is "BROTHERS OF THE GUN: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a Reckoning in Tombstone." He focuses on the friendship between the two men and uses new research to provide a detailed account of their lives, their involvement in the politics…
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Military Historian Phillips O'Brien's WAR AND POWER
Host Diana Korte speaks with military historian Phillips Payson O’Brien, author of 5 books, whose newest title is “WAR AND POWER. Who Wins Wars And Why.” He is an American professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and known for his work on 20th and 21st-century...
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TRUE CRIME. Writer Skip Hollandsworth’s “SHE KILLS”
This is Diana Korte with Booktalk. My guest today is true-crime reporter Skip Hollandsworth, author of 2 books. His newest is SHE KILLS: The Murderous Socialite, the Cross-Dressing Bank Robber, and Other True Crime Tales.” This book focuses on female perpetrators—from the high schooler who was…
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Writer Priyanka Kumar's "The Light Between Apple Trees"
Host Diana Korte speaks with Priyanka Kumar, author of 3 books, whose newest title is “The Light Between Apple Trees: Rediscovering the Wild Through a Beloved American Fruit.” As a child in the foothills of the Himalayas, Priyanka Kumar was entranced by forest-like orchards of diverse and…
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"What a Time to be Alive" by Novelist Jade Chang
Host Diana Korte speaks with Jade Chang, author of 2 books, whose newest title is WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE about an accidental self-help guru. This book blends humor with an exploration of what it means to be living in our current moment, and for many of us, constantly consuming and being consumed...
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Science Writer Mary Roach's "REPLACEABLE YOU"
In her 8th book, "REPLACEABLE YOU. Adventures in Human Anatomy", science writer Mary Roach dives in with her characteristic verve and infectious wit. Her travels take her to the OR at a legendary burn unit in Boston, a “superclean” xeno-pigsty in China, and a stem cell “hair nursery” in a San...
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TRUE CRIME. Investigative journalist Artis Henderson's "No Ordinary Bird"
Host Diana Korte speaks with Artis Henderson whose newest title, “NO ORDINARY BIRD. Drug Smuggling, a Plane Crash, and a Daughter's Quest for the Truth,” is a page-turning true crime book based on personal history, interviews with long-lost family members (and co-conspirators), along with...
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Bill McKibben's "Here Comes the Sun"
Host Diana Korte speaks with Bill McKibben, environmental activist and author of some 20 books. His newest title is “HERE COMES THE SUN. A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization.” Largely unnoticed by many of us is the rapid rise of power from the sun around the world.…
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A Holocaust Family. Georgia Hunter's "We Were the Lucky Ones"
Georgia Hunter's first historical novel, “We Were the Lucky Ones” was born of her quest to uncover her family's staggering history. The book’s chapters are written in the voices of her ancestors, most of whom were in Poland at the beginning of World War II when 3 generations still gathered at the...
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Bestselling historian Scott Ellsworth's "Midnight on the Potomac"
Host Diana Korte speaks with author and historian Scott Ellsworth about his fifth title, MIDNIGHT ON THE POTOMAC, my favorite civil war book. Its pages are full of compelling details and new research that brings us a story many of us might have felt like we already knew. But turns out there are…
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Julie McFadden (@hospicenursejulie) and “The Nothing to Fear Journal"
Host Diana Korte speaks with Julie McFadden, author of 2 books--her New York Times bestselling “Nothing to Fear,” published in 2024, and her newest, “The Nothing to Fear Journal: Questions and Reflections for Demystifying and Preparing for the End of Life.” In both she interweaves emotional…
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America’s First Women WWII Pilots. Becky Aikman’s “SPITFIRES”
Host Diana Korte speaks with award-winning journalist Becky Aikman about her new book, “SPITFIRES. The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger During World War II.” This is a fast paced true story of the 25 US women who flew the world’s most dangerous aircraft through the treacherous skies…
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Anne Hillerman’s SHADOW OF THE SOLSTICE (#10 in her Navajo Detectives Series)
Host Diana Korte speaks with award-winning journalist and novelist Anne Hillerman, author of 18 books, whose newest title is SHADOW OF THE SOLSTICE (#10 in her Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito series). In the new book, Navajo Nation police are on high alert when a U.S. Cabinet Secretary schedules an...
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UK Foreign Policy Adviser Chloe Dalton’s “RAISING HARE”
Host Diana Korte speaks with bestselling author Chloe Dalton who rescued and reared a wild hare in the English countryside during the Covid lockdown about her memoir, Raising Hare. Imagine you could hold a baby hare (similar to rabbit, but bigger and wilder) and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it...
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Former FBI Agent Scott Payne’s “CODENAME: PALE HORSE"
Host Diana Korte speaks with former FBI Agent Scott Payne, author of the memoir, “CODENAME: PALE HORSE: How I Went Undercover to Expose America’s Nazis.” A decorated agent dubbed the “Hillbilly Donnie Brascoe,” Payne takes readers along with him on some of the most terrifying and riskiest...
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Novelist Karen Russell's THE ANTIDOTE
Host Diana Korte speaks with award-winning Karen Russell about her newest book, THE ANTIDOTE , which begins on Black Sunday, as a historic dust storm in the 1930s ravages the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska. But Uz is already collapsing—not just under the weight of the Great Depression and the…
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Elizabeth Greenwood’s PLAYING DEAD. A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud
Host Diana Korte speaks with Elizabeth Greenwood, author of Playing Dead. A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud, tells us just how hard it is to permanently disappear or fake your death. She should know. Dealing with $100K in college loans, Elizabeth dabbles with the notion herself, details...
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Historical Fiction Writer Marie Bennett's QUEENS OF CRIME
Host Diana Korte speaks with award-winning novelist Marie Benedict, author of nine books, whose newest title, QUEENS OF CRIME, features the 5 greatest women writers of the Golden Age of Mystery (1920s-1930s) and their bid to solve a real life murder. That murder is the death of May Daniels, a…
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Crime Writer Robert Crais's THE BIG EMPTY (#20 Elvis Cole & Joe Pike)
Host Diana Korte speaks with Crime Writer Robert Crais, whose books have been translated into 42 languages, about his private investigator Elvis Cole and his enigmatic partner Joe Pike who race to find a terrifying, unidentified killer in this unpredictable thriller, THE BIG EMPTY. Traci Beller…
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It's ok to forget where you left the keys??? Neurologist Scott Small's FORGETTING
Host Diana Korte speaks with Neurologist Scott Small about his debut book “FORGETTING. The Benefits of Not Remembering” in a 2021 conversation. Who wouldn’t want a better memory? Until recently, most everyone—memory scientists included—believed that forgetting served no purpose. But new research…
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Journalist Lydia Reeder's "The Cure for Women"
Host Diana Korte speaks with author Lydia Reeder whose research and writing brings to light the stories of little-known or forgotten pioneers in their professions and daily lives. Her newest book is “The Cure for Women: Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi and the Challenge to Victorian Medicine That Changed...
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Game Show Host Ken Jennings, author of “MAPHEAD"
Diana Korte spoke with Game Show Host and author Ken Jennings, probably better known now for his more recent appearances on Jeopardy. He authored "MAPHEAD: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks" about a dozen years ago when we met up to chat about this new book. You map nerds know who...
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Musicologist Todd Decker's MUSIC MAKES ME: Why Fred Astaire was a King of Jazz
Host Diana Korte speaks with Musicologist and Washington University Professor of Music Todd Decker, who specializes in commercial US popular music, about the first of his five books, “Music Makes Me: Fred Astaire and Jazz.” Is stunning dancer and singer Fred Astaire also one of the great jazz...
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World Traveler Ella Morton's ATLAS OBSCURA: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders
Host Diana Korte speaks with New Zealand-born, Australia-raised, Brooklyn-based writer Ella Morton who co-authored the first title in this book collection, the “Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide To The World’s Hidden Wonders.” For sure this is not your usual travel guide. In a 2017 conversation...
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Salman Rushdie's "Quichotte: A Novel"
Salman Rushdie, author of more than 20 books, spoke with me in 2019 about his “Quichotte: A Novel,” a contemporary story about chaotic political times that live on today. He takes readers on a road journey across America in a Chevy Cruze. Rushdie’s road traveler, Quichotte, is a simple man who…
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Author and historian Silvia Pettem’s “SEPARATE LIVES"
Silvia Pettem has published more than 20 books. Her newest title, “SEPARATE LIVES. Uncovering the Hidden Family of Victorian Professor Mary Rippon” is the true story of a pioneer woman educator who lived and worked in the male-dominated world of 19th century academia at the University of Colorado...
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Middle School Librarian Amanda Jones’ “THAT LIBRARIAN. The Fight Against Book Banning in America”
Host Diana Korte speaks with award-winning Librarian Amanda Jones who decided to stand up for the right to read and stage a war against book bans and censorship in her small Southern town. THAT LIBRARIAN is part memoir, part manifesto. One of the things small town librarian Amanda Jones values…
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United Airlines pilot and author, Carole Hopson’s A PAIR OF WINGS
Host Diana Korte speaks with United Airlines pilot and author, Carole Hopson, who has crafted a riveting, adventure-filled historical novel, A PAIR OF WINGS. It’s based on the remarkable true story of pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman, a Black woman who received her pilot’s license almost two years...
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Author Gayle Forman's NOT NOTHING
Host Diana Korte speaks with Gayle Forman, author of her 13th book, NOT NOTHING, a story of hope, compassion, and forgiveness. In this intergenerational middle grade novel, a 12-year-old boy who has been assigned by a judge to spend his summer volunteering at a senior living facility learns...
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Journalist Brantley Hargrove's "Man Who Caught the Storm"
It’s summer and the tornado season is upon us, the movie Twisters is in theaters, and now it's time to re-air a favorite program. Host Diana Korte speaks with journalist Brantley Hargrove, author of The Man Who Caught the Storm: The Life of Legendary Tornado Chaser Tim Samaras. He describes...
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CBS Sunday Morning Correspondent Mo Rocca’s ROCTOGENERIANS. Late in Life Debuts, Comebacks, and Triumphs”
Host Diana Korte speaks with Mo Rocca, co-author with English professor Jonathan Greenberg, of ROCTOGENERIANS. They introduce us to the people past and present who peaked when they could have been puttering—breaking out as writers, selling out concert halls, and attempting to set land-speed...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Top authors are interviewed on this 10-minute program about their books and often the story behind the story. Diana has spoken with hundreds of authors from national politicians and scientists to novelists and storytellers of all kinds. Listeners stream from around the world and on many community & public radio stations across the U.S. The show, hosted by Diana and engineered by her husband Gene Korte, has been in production for nearly 30 years. Together they've traveled in more than 100 countries, sometimes interviewing authors along the way.
HOSTED BY
Diana Korte
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Booktalk with Diana Korte have?
Booktalk with Diana Korte currently has 71 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Booktalk with Diana Korte about?
Top authors are interviewed on this 10-minute program about their books and often the story behind the story. Diana has spoken with hundreds of authors from national politicians and scientists to novelists and storytellers of all kinds. Listeners stream from around the world and on many community &...
How often does Booktalk with Diana Korte release new episodes?
Booktalk with Diana Korte has 71 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Booktalk with Diana Korte?
You can listen to Booktalk with Diana Korte on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Booktalk with Diana Korte?
Booktalk with Diana Korte is created and hosted by Diana Korte.
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