Check Your Shelves

The Utah Humanities Program Staff joined the Check Your Shelves Podcast to share, in depth, what we do statewide and what we stand to lose if Utah Humanities does not survive DOGE's cuts and the attack on the humanities. I think you'll be enlightened by how far we reach across the state, how we are amazing precise and responsible stewards of our federal and local funding, and how much Utah stands to lose. If you love wheat we do, please considering donating to keep Utah Humanities' doors open: https://utahhumanities.org/donate

Author Karin Anderson and publisher Torrey House Press join us on this episode of Check Your Shelves. This was a great conversation about writing, about publishing, and about Utah and the west.  Find Torrey House Press and Karin's work here: https://www.torreyhouse.org/what-falls-away

Vengeance is Mine: The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Its Aftermath - Barbara Jones Brown Barbara Jones Brown, co-author of Vengeance is Mine, and Executive Director of Signature Books joined us to talk about aftermath of The Mountain Meadows Massacre. 

Utah Humanities Executive Director Jodi Graham and Special Projects Manager Emily Grubby joined Kase on the first 2025 Check Your Shelves Podcast.  This year, we will focus on two things during our podcasts. We will continue to focus on literature and the power of writing in the first half of the episode. In the second half of the episode we will focus on Utah Humanities wide reach across the state and how our partnership model multiplies that reach.  On this podcast, Grubby discussed the This Watershed Moment project and Graham talks about the origins of Utah Humanities and the partnership model.  You can find out more about This Watershed Moment and Utah Humanities at the link below.  https://utahhumanities.org/programs/special-projects/this-watershed-moment

Kevin Fedarko, A Walk In The Park - Check Your Shelves Ep. 13 Amazing talk with Kevin Fedarko. You can catch him at the Moab weekend of the Utah Humanities Book Festival.   10/11/25: Back of Beyond Books, conversation with Chris Cokinos. 10/12/25; Star Hall: 159 E. Center St. Moab, Utah.

Daria Peoples - Check Your Shelves Ep. 12 We are so lucky to have Daria Peoples join us in Cedar City for the Southern Utah Book Festival, as part of the 2024 Utah Humanities Book Festival. Peoples is the keynote guest during the week of 10/14-10/19 in Cedar City and St. George. 

Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut - Check Your Shelves Ep. 12 Check Your Shelves had the amazing opportunity to chat with Utah Humanities Book Festival Keynote Speaker Jack Carr. We talked about his new book Targeted Beirut. What a great half hour.  Please join Carr in Utah in October for a free event and book signing: October 26th: 2:00pm, Park City Library Auditorium

Michael Finkel, The Art Thief - Check Your Shelves Ep. 11 Such a great interview with author Michael Finkel about his new book: The Art Thief! Michael Finkel's dates for the Utah Humanities Book Festival when he'll tell you exactly how to steal famous art. 10/19/2024: 6:30pm, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art 10/21/2024: 6:00pm, Park City Library, Auditorium

Check Your Shelves Ep. 10 - Artes de Mexico We had such a great opportunity to chat with the Executive Director of Artes de Mexico, Fanny Guadalupe Blauer, and poets Aaron Garcia and Lina Vega-Morrison on the show. We had a ball but ran out of time!

Check Your Shelves Ep. 9 - Christopher Cokinos Still as Bright Chris Cokinos, author of Still is Bright, joined the Check Your Shelves to talk about the book, to talk about the sky, to talk about time in a simulator, and to talk about life and writing and research. This episode is so full of interesting insights into all of these things that you have to listen.   NOTE: Chris' Moab date will be 10/10 and 10/11 (not 10/12 as noted in the podcast).

Check Your Shelves Ep. 8 - Rachael Bush, League of Utah Writers President We sat down with Rachael Bush, the current President of the League of Utah Writers. We talked about the upcoming conferences, about our partnership in bringing back the Utah Book Award, and many other great things, including how LUW serves its writers and how it is such an amazing resource statewide, nationally, and internationally!

Literary Death Match with Adrian Todd Zuniga Presented by Utah Humanities.   This episode of Check Your Shelves brought together the host of Literary Death Match, Adrian Todd Zuniga and an ensemble cast of writers, and the puns and funs never stop throughout. Get a glimpse into Zuniga's insights about the long-running show and the writers who competed in Ogden 2023!

Paisley Rekdal joined us in studio to talk about her newest book, West: A Translation. West: A Translation was Utah and Utah Humanities’ Adult selection for the 2023 Library of Congress, long listed for the National Book Award in Poetry, and so much more. You can find the full text of the book and videos that accompany each poem and translation at westtrain.org. We encourage you to buy the book and experience the multi-media art on your own. As always, an enlightening podcast with Rekdal.    

We got the very cool opportunity to chat with author, researcher, and writer Erika Bsumek on the Check Your Shelves Podcast. She delves so deeply into the dispossession of indigenous people's through architecture and infrastructure along the Colorado River and Glen Canyon. Such a great listen. You'll learn something. We did! Erika will be speaking at two events this week. Join her! Oct 5, 2023, 11:00 am - BYU Charles Redd Center for Western Studies The Charles Redd Center for Utah Humanities Reading with Erika Bsumek, author of The Foundation of Glen Canyon Dam, Infrastructures of Dispossession on The Colorado Plateau 366 Spencer W Kimball Tower Provo , UT 84602-4702 Map [+] Oct 6, 2023, 4:00 pm -- Salt Lake City Public Library, Main Branch Glen Canyon Institute presents Erika Bsumek, author of The Foundations of Glen Canyon Dam: Infrastructures of Dispossession on the Colorado Plateau, and Andrew Curley, Assistant Professor in the School of Geography, Development, and Environment at the University of Arizona. 210 E 400 S Salt Lake City , UT 84111-2804 Map [+]      

Natalie Padilla Young, author of the amazing collection of poetry This Was Once All Under Water, talked with us from southern Utah about her new collection. This was so Utah, and so fitting for the upcoming 2023 Utah Humanities Book Festival. See Natalie in Helper on 10/21 with Cindy King. Thanks to Nancy Takacs for hosting! Oct 21, 2023, 7:00 pm Helper Reading Series with Natalie Young and Cindy King

Check Your Shelves sat down with Betsy Gaines Quammen to talk about her forthcoming book, TRUE WEST, forthcoming for Torrey House Press this October.  This book tackles the western mythologies that have damaged so many lives and led to events like January 6th. Quammen will be in Utah for at least TWO events of the Utah Humanities Book Festival.  Go see her!   Oct 15, 2023, 6:00 pm Back of Beyond Books and Torrey House Press Betsy Gaines Quammen and David Quammen Oct 16, 2023, 7:00 pm The Springdale Community Center with Zion Canyon Mesa hosts Betsy Gaines Quammen and David Quammen      

Rebecca Clarren, author of The Cost of Free Land, joined Utah Center for the Book’s 'Check Your Shelf’ Podcast to talk about her research, The Lakota, and her grappling with her family history in relation to land grants in South Dakota.   Clarren will be at the following places and times for the 2023 Utah Humanities Book Festival:   October 12, 2023 (6:00pm) Casot + Wine, Salt Lake City The King’s English Bookshop and Pinxtos + Libros host Rebecca Clarren for an intimate discussion: tickets here : https://www.kingsenglish.com/event/pintxos-libros-presents-rebecca-clarren   October 12, 2023 (7:30pm) Ken Sander’s Rare Books at the Leonardo, SLC Rebecca Clarren, author of The Cost of Free Land, will join Ken Sander’s rare books and guests to talk about her research, The Lakota, and her grappling with her family history in relation to land grants in South Dakota.   This podcast is made possible in partnership with Utah Humanities as part of the annual Utah Humanities Book Festival. Produced by The Banyan Collective.

Ruben Degollado, author of the acclaimed The Family Izquierdo and more, joined Utah Center for the Book’s 'Check Your Shelf’ Podcast to talk about The Family Izqierdo, the writer life, and much more.   Degollado will be at the following places and times for the 2023 Utah Humanities Book Festival;   October 6, 2023 (7:30pm): Monarch Building, Ogden, Utah The Van Sessions and Happy Magpie Book and Quill host Ruben Degollado during Ogden’s First Friday Art Stroll at the Monarch in Ogden, Utah.   7pm: Alicia Stockman Band 7:30pm: Author Ruben Degollado 8:00pm: Sammy Brue 8:30pm Comedy Set, Arvin Mitchell 9:00pm Vincent Van Draper and the Culls   October 7, 2023 (4:00pm): Weller Book Works, Salt Lake City Weller Books hosts a reading with Ruben Degollado and David Lindes.   This podcast is made possible in partnership with Utah Humanities as part of the annual Utah Humanities Book Festival. Produced by The Banyan Collective.