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The Watchung Booksellers Podcast

The Watchung Booksellers Podcast

By: Watchung Booksellers
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Watchung Booksellers' community of writers and readers dive deep into what they do for the love of books.

Watchung Booksellers is located in the heart of Montclair, NJ, a literary beacon filled with writers, journalists, publishers, and avid readers. Each year we host hundreds of author events and every day the most interesting and dedicated readers walk through our doors. Their insights and enthusiasm have inspired us to share our conversations with book-lovers everywhere. We invite you to listen and be a part of our community!

© 2026 The Watchung Booksellers Podcast
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Episodes
  • Episode 70: Writers' Groups
    Jun 23 2026

    In this week's episode of The Watchung Booksellers Podcast, authors Judith Lindbergh and Stephanie Cowell discuss their decades long writers' group, the importance of writing with other writers, and how to find your own writing community.

    Judith Lindbergh’s award-winning new novel, Akmaral, about a nomad woman warrior on the ancient Central Asian steppes, was called “crackling” by Publishers Weekly and “a gripping saga” by Christina Baker Kline. Her debut, The Thrall’s Tale, about women in Viking Age Greenland, was an IndieBound Pick praised by Pulitzer Prize winners Geraldine Brooks and Robert Olen Butler. She has published with the Smithsonian and provided expert commentary for History Channel documentaries. Judith received a 2024 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She is the Founder/Director of The Writers Circle, a creative writing center based in New Jersey.

    Stephanie Cowell has been an opera singer, balladeer, founder of Strawberry Opera and other arts venues including a Renaissance festival in NYC. She is the author of seven novels, including Marrying Mozart, Claude & Camille: a novel of Monet, The Boy in the Rain, and The Man in the Stone Cottage: a novel of the Brontë sisters. Her work has been translated into several languages and adapted into an opera. Stephanie is the recipient of an American Book Award. She has lived in NYC all her life.

    Resources:

    Writers Circle Workshop

    Casey Kelly

    Montclair Literary Festival

    Books:
    A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here.

    Register for Upcoming Events.

    The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup and is recorded at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ.

    The show is edited by Kathryn Counsell.

    Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff.

    Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids’ Room!

    If you liked our episode please like, follow, and share!

    Stay in touch!
    Email: wbpodcast@watchungbooksellers.com
    Social: @watchungbooksellers

    Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!

    Show More Show Less
    51 mins
  • Episode 69: Featured Event with Colm Tóibín and Garth Risk Hallberg
    Jun 2 2026

    In this episode, we feature an event with Colm Tóibín in conversation with Garth Risk Hallberg, held at the Montclair Literary Festival for the launch of Toibin's latest book, The News from Dublin.

    Colm Tóibín is the author of eleven novels, including Long Island, an Oprah’s Book Club Pick; The Magician, winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; and Nora Webster, winner of the Hawthornden Prize, as well as three story collections and several books of criticism. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and was named the 2022–2024 Laureate for Irish Fiction by the Arts Council of Ireland. In 2021, he was awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature.

    Garth Risk Hallberg's first novel, City on Fire, was a New York Times and international bestseller and was selected as one of the best books of 2015 by The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Vogue. It was the basis for the Apple TV+ series of the same name. His second novel, The Second Coming, about a troubled teen whose father is a recovering addict, was released in 2024 and is in paperback now. He is also the author of the novella A Field Guide to the North American Family. In 2017, Granta named him one of the Best of Young American Novelists. His work has been translated into seventeen languages.

    Resources:

    Seamus Heaney 1995 Nobel Prize Speech ( Poetry in Conflict quote)

    Thomas Mann’s Brother Hitler Essay

    Books:
    A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here.

    Register for Upcoming Events.

    The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup and is recorded at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ.

    The show is edited by Kathryn Counsell.

    Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff.

    Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids’ Room!

    If you liked our episode please like, follow, and share!

    Stay in touch!
    Email: wbpodcast@watchungbooksellers.com
    Social: @watchungbooksellers

    Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!

    Show More Show Less
    59 mins
  • Episode 68: WB Podcast Book Club Live: The Lost Daughter
    May 19 2026

    In this episode of the Watchung Booksellers Podcast, authors Alice Elliot Dark and Dagmara Domińczyk reunite to lead a discussion of The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante. Recorded live from The Kids' Room, the two dive into the book as well as the Academy Award-nominated film adaptation, which featured an amazing performance by Dagmara.

    Alice Elliott Dark is the author of the novels Fellowship Point and Think of England, and two collections of short stories, In The Gloaming and Naked to the Waist. A new novel, Wherever You Are, will be published in May 2027. She is the director of the Rutgers-Newark MFA program.

    Dagmara Dominczyk is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama, and has starred in films, television, and on/off Broadway plays for the past twenty years. Dag was a series regular on the HBO hits Succession and We Own This City. She is the author of The Lullaby of Polish Girls and her essays have appeared in Huffington Post and in the book, Pretty Bitches. She is currently working on her memoir, which centers around the life of her father and his sudden death. Dag can be seen in the upcoming series The Savant opposite Jessica Chastain. She is an avid reader and fierce library supporter, and lives in Montclair with her husband and two teenage sons.

    Resources:

    The Lost Daughter Film

    Normal People

    Priscilla

    Higher Ground

    The Deuce

    Books:
    A full list of the books and authors mentioned in this episode is available here.

    Register for Upcoming Events.

    The Watchung Booksellers Podcast is produced by Kathryn Counsell and Marni Jessup and is recorded at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ.

    The show is edited by Kathryn Counsell.

    Original music is composed and performed by Violet Mujica. Research and show notes by Caroline Shurtleff.

    Thanks to all the staff at Watchung Booksellers and The Kids’ Room!

    If you liked our episode please like, follow, and share!

    Stay in touch!
    Email: wbpodcast@watchungbooksellers.com
    Social: @watchungbooksellers

    Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest on our shows, events, and book recommendations!

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 14 mins
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