Hold The Door Open
Miwa Messer
Executive Producer of Author Events and Content, Barnes & Noble
Miwa Messer is the executive producer and host of Barnes & Noble’s beloved podcast “Poured Over,” which has released over 650 episodes in the last 5 years. Our conversation covers her journey in publisher publicity and brick and mortar bookselling, and the significant changes in book format and book discovery along the way—including events, podcasting, social media, and more.
INTERVIEWED ON: January 21st, 2026
Books discussed:
Interior Chinatown by Charlie Yu
“A shattering and darkly comic send-up of racial stereotyping in Hollywood” (Vanity Fair) and a deeply personal novel about race, pop culture, immigration, assimilation, and escaping the roles we are forced to play.
A Burning by Megha Majumdar
A "gripping thriller with compassionate social commentary" (USA Today) about three unforgettable characters who seek to rise—to the middle class, to political power, to fame in the movies—and find their lives entangled in the wake of a catastrophe in contemporary India.
Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee
A Chinese American woman spins tragedy into comedy when her life falls apart in a taut, wry debut novel, “as playful as it is profound” (Alison Espach, author of The Wedding People)—perfect for fans of Joan Is Okay and Crying in H Mart.
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
The bestselling author of The Marriage Portrait delivers a deeply moving novel about the death of Shakespeare’s eleven-year-old son, Hamnet, and the years leading up to the production of his great play.
