Village Well Podcast

Pearl AuYeung is the absolutely delightful author and illustrator of the 2022 children’s picture book The Best Kind of Mooncake (Page Street Kids).  Based in Los Angeles, born in Hong Kong, and raised in Shanghai, China, Pearl works as a Mattel Toy Designer. She is the illustrator of the upcoming children’s picture book Nearly Almost Exactly Like Me (Simon and Schuster, 2025). Books recommended by Pearl AuYeung: Babel by R F Kuang These Olive Trees by Aya Ghanameh Recommended by VW bookseller,

Brian Sonia-Wallace is a multifaceted author and poet raised in Culver City, California and Santiago, Chile. His memoir, The Poetry of Strangers (Harper Collins, 2020), details his experiences engaging with the world through poetry. Brian has contributed to notable publications like the Guardian, LitHub, and Rolling Stone. His latest publication is Maze Mouth (Moontide Press, 2023). Brian fosters LGBTQ+ voices through a poetry column for The Pride LA and teaches creative writing at UCLA Writers’

An LA native mystery author of 20 novels and short story collections, a television writer on the acclaimed FX series Snowfall, Gary Phillips is the real deal. The sequel to his most recent novel, One Shot Harry (2022), will come out in April 2024, entitled Ash Dark as Night. Gary's classic 1994 LA-based Noir fiction novel Violent Spring has its 30th anniversary edition release in May of 2024.Books recommended by Gary Phillips: To Protect and To Serve: The LAPD's Century of War in the City

Kayla Min Andrews is the daughter of Katherine Min, author of The Fetishist, a book both the LA Times and Washington Post are calling “ahead of its time.” Katherine Min received a National Endowment of the Arts writer’s grant, a Pushcart Prize, and attended 8 different writers residencies. The Katherine Min MacDowell Fellowship exists in her name. Kayla wrote the afterword to The Fetishist. Her forthcoming essay to be published in The Massachusetts Review. Books mentioned by Kayla Min

Olivie Blake is the massively prolific and impressive New York Times best-selling fantasy and young adult author of The Atlas Six, and it’s sequel, The Atlas Paradox, Alone with You in the Ether, My Mechanical Romance, and many more books. Her newest book, The Atlas Complex, released on January 9th, concludes the Atlas trilogy.SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are

CJ LEEDE is a horror writer based in Los Angeles. Her debut novel, Maeve Fly, won this year’s Octavia E. Butler 2023 Golden Poppy Award. CJ has an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University, and a BA from NYU's Gallatin School, where she studied Mythology and the Middle Ages. When she is not driving around the country, she can be found in LA with her boyfriend and rescue dogs. Village Well Books & Coffee is an independent book- and coffee-shop in the heart of downtown Culver City

Francesca Lia Block is the wildly prolific author of over 25 books, including her newest novel House of Hearts, and her writing memoir, The Thorn Necklace, and the YA classic Weetzie Bat. We discuss how writing is a source of healing, her parallel career as an MFA instructor, and her position as editor of Lit Angels, an online literary journal. SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and

Colin Hinckley is both a bookseller and an author here at Village Well, and he is joining us on the podcast to talk about his 2023 release, The Black Lord. We discuss his process, journey, and his love for the genre of Cosmic Horror. We are honored to have him with us for our inaugural episode! SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are themselves reading. We release