Otto Penzler, founder of The Mysterious Bookshop and Mysterious Press, is widely considered to be the father of crime fiction in the US, bringing critical and popular appreciation of the genre to the forefront.

From journalist for the Village Voice to bestselling author on the Italian-American experience, Maria Laurino has had a fascinating writing career. We talk with Maria about her latest book—an exposé about how thousands of children were taken from unwed mothers in Italy and sent to America for adoption as “war orphans” in a program run by the Vatican.

Called the “master of experience-based nonfiction,” award-winning author Ted Conover has worked as a prison guard at Sing Sing, crossed borders with migrant workers, and lived off the grid in the American West. We speak with Ted about his extraordinary life and career as a writer.

Making the leap from working on presidential campaigns for Senator Bill Bradley and Governor John Kerry to executive roles at Random House and Penguin make Allison Dobson a unique figure in the book industry. We discuss the original “Swift Boat” book, the challenges of merging company cultures, and much more.

Hi, I’m David Steinberger, and I’m inviting you to listen to the Open Book podcast, where we explore the stories behind the bestsellers, and also the many different ways our guests were first drawn to books, and ultimately found themselves making a life in publishing. Here are a few snippets of the kinds of conversations you will hear – from Morgan Entrekin, the longtime publisher of Grove Atlantic; Lisa Lucas, the first black woman to be Executive Director of the National Book Foundation; and John Sargent, former CEO of Macmillan.

A longtime publishing industry leader, John Sargent is known for his frank straight-talking style, even when engaged in a highly public confrontation with the world’s largest retailer, or a formidable legal challenge from a sitting president over the right to publish a White House exposé.

As the first woman and the first Black person to serve as Executive Director of the National Book Foundation (presenter of the National Book Awards) and later as Publisher of Pantheon and Schocken, Lisa Lucas has had a dramatic impact on the nation’s literary landscape.

From editing Kurt Vonnegut to making Black Hawk Down a #1 Bestseller to taking a chance on The Sympathizer, which went on to win the Pulitzer Prize and is now an HBO series, the adventures of one of publishing’s most iconic figures.