We’re not just book nerds, we’re Professional Book Nerds®
With over a half million downloads, readers and librarians turn to the PBN team for weekly expert book recommendations, author interviews and all things books.
All Episodes
Interview with Bestselling Author Jennifer Weiner!
Professional Book Nerds
Today's interview is one Jill did with the immensely popular author, Jennifer Weiner about her new book MRS EVERYTHING. The book covers multiple decades and the pair discuss Jennifer's research process, the idea of "chick lit" and how Jennifer's mom inspired this book.
Ali Benjamin, National Book Award finalist and International bestselling author
Professional Book Nerds
On today's episode, Adam chats with Ali Benjamin about her latest novel, The Next Great Paulie Fink. The book is all about how storytelling can shape an individual, how we experience stories, and how we relate them to others.
Recent Reads and How Books Helped Me Fight Depression
Professional Book Nerds
On today's episode, Adam chats about his recent book festival travels before discussing the books he's enjoyed recently. Then, he gets into how he overcame depression last year by focusing on stories in the books he was reading.
Alafair Burke
Professional Book Nerds
On today's episode, Adam chats with Alafair Burke who was in town for a library event! They discuss her latest thriller The Better Sister, how she uses tension from the criminal justice system to up the stakes for family dramas, and what it's like getting to work with Mary Higgins Clark.
Chill with the return of our Summer Reading Program
Professional Book Nerds
On today's episode, Adam returns from LA to chat with Christina about the upcoming OverDrive Summer Reading Program! She breaks down the awesome collection available to our school and library partners and then dives into the titles she's most excited about.
There Were Never Such Devoted Sister Books
Professional Book Nerds
Christina and Rickie are back, this time joining Jill to discuss books featuring sisters! From going into hell to save your sister's soul to helping your sister cover up multiple murders to fighting your sister over the King of England, there's a little something for everyone in this list.
Charlaine Harris (!!) and announcing the PBN 2019 Reading Challenge
Professional Book Nerds
On today's episode, Jill and Adam interview the great Charlaine Harris, well known author of the Sookie Stackhouse Chronicles, The Aurora Teagarden series, and the Midnight, Texas series, all of which have been turned into television adaptations.
Kari Lynn Dell, author of Mistletoe in Texas
Professional Book Nerds
Today’s episode is sponsored by Sourcebooks and Sourcebooks Casablanca and features a conversation with romance suspense writer Kari Lynn Dell whose contemporary western romance series Texas Rodeo includes Reckless in Texas, Tangled in Texas, Tougher in Texas, Fearless in Texas and the new holiday special Mistletoe in Texas.
What OverDrive is Reading for Read an Ebook Day!
Professional Book Nerds
Tuesday, September 18th is Read an Ebook Day! OverDrive's own holiday which celebrates a love for digital reading and for today's episode, Adam and Jill talk to some of their coworkers to find out what books they'll be reading.
Kami Garcia!
Professional Book Nerds
On today's episode, Adam interviews Kami Garcia, bestselling co-author of the wildly popular Beautiful Creatures and Dangerous Creatures series as well as the new Broken Beautiful Hearts, The X-Files YA origin book Agent of Chaos and numerous other wonderful books.
Tricia Levenseller, author of the Daughter of the Pirate King duology
Professional Book Nerds
On today's episode, Adam bonds with YA fantasy author Tricia Levenseller over their shared loved of pirates and vikings while getting into the incredible world she's created in both Daughter of the Pirate King and Daughter of the Siren Queen.
Jane Yolen, Children's Literature legend!
Professional Book Nerds
No matter what your age, chances are you grew up reading Jane Yolen's books. She is a children's literature institution who has been compared to Aesop and Hans Christian Andersen and countless generations learned to read through her stories
Chris Ferrie, author of Quantum Physics for Babies!
Professional Book Nerds
Today's episode is sponsored by Sourcebooks. We'll be interviewing children's author Chris Ferrie and if you're looking for more children's books for your library or personal collection be sure to check out these great Sourcebooks selections
Kerri Maniscalco, New York Times bestselling author of Hunting Prince Dracula
Professional Book Nerds
On Today's episode, Jill and Adam talk about their Halloween plans and mutual love of classic candy before getting into a conversation Adam had with two-time New York Times bestselling author Kerri Maniscalco.
YA Horror picks to prepare for Halloween! AND the return of Dawn Kurtagich
Professional Book Nerds
We're getting spooky on today's episode as Adam first chats with Andrea and Christina in the office about their YA Horror recommendations before calling the queen of YA Horror, Dawn Kurtagich, to get her picks.
Dav Pilkey, Creator of Captain Underpants
Professional Book Nerds
Tra la Laaa! Today's episode is a chat with legendary children's author and illustrator Dav Pilkey! Dav is best known for creating Captain Underpants which has been read by millions of children around the world and is responsible for countless people falling in love with reading.
ALA Recap! Interviews, Books, and Chicago, Oh My
Professional Book Nerds
Last weekend, Adam and Jill were in Chicago for the American Library Association. Along with getting to meet some of our library partners, podcast listeners, publishing company friends, they also got to interview some incredible authors and Jill, at least, got to do some sightseeing in the Windy City.
Wonder Women: the 10 most bad ass female writers
Professional Book Nerds
On today's episode, Adam and Jill unveil their top 10 most bad ass female writers working today. Inspired by Wonder Woman, they decide to share this list of incredible ladies in the hopes that you'll discover some authors you may not have known about or never considered reading.
Interview with Brad Ricca
Professional Book Nerds
On today's episode, Adam is left all by his lonesome for a sleep-deprived introduction where he talks about a local theater production he saw the night before and begs you to give us a 5-star rating before getting into the actual important part of the show, an interview with the awesome Brad Ricca.
Interview with Elise Parsley, picture book author and illustrator
Professional Book Nerds
The main portion of this episode is a conversation Adam had with children’s author and illustrator Elise Parsley who is known for her bestselling “If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don’t! series of gorgeous picture books.
Big Library Read is back and we're talking Pie with Kate McDermott
Professional Book Nerds
On today's episode Adam and Jill are celebrating the upcoming launch of the latest Big Library Read event by chatting with Kate McDermott, author of Art of the Pie, which was selected as the eBook readers around the world will be reading at the same time starting March 16th as part of the largest digital book club on earth.
Jill In a Recording Studio With a Microphone
Professional Book Nerds
So in this very off the cuff episode, Jill talks about all the ways you can keep track of the books you read and also goes over the books she has read thus far in 2017 as well as what she's currently reading (and listening to because audiobooks totally count).
Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge, Part I
Professional Book Nerds
Like most book nerds, we love the website Book Riot and their annual Read Harder Challenge. But sometimes it's hard to know where to find titles that fit the categories if they are a little outside of your reading comfort zone so we decided to offer some suggestions throughout the year.
LIfestyle books, cookbooks, and party planning, oh my!
Professional Book Nerds
Today is Thanksgiving in the United States and the OverDrive staff are off with family and friends. But with the holiday season now officially starting, they decided to talk about some of their favorite "lifestyle" books, including cookbooks and party planning.
Interview with Marissa Meyer, NYT bestselling author of The Lunar Chronicles and Heartless
Professional Book Nerds
In today's episode, Jill gets to talk to one of her personal favorite authors, Marissa Meyer, who is the New York Times bestselling writer behind The Lunar Chronicles and the brand-new Heartless, which is a prequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Interview with Kyle Mills
Professional Book Nerds
Jill and Adam sit down with bestselling author Kyle Mills who not only created his own geopolitical mysteries but he also has taken up the mantel of the wildly popular Mitch Rapp novels for Vince Flynn and he's written in the Robert Ludlun Covert-One series.
Horror Reads for Adults
Professional Book Nerds
This week Jill is not only back from her witchy work visit to Massachusetts, she's sitting down with Rachel K. and Quinton to discuss some of their favorite horror novels (and she tries her hardest to not spend the entire episode mentioning Stephen King).
Live interview with James Dashner, author of The Maze Runner
Professional Book Nerds
Our first ever live episode! Jill and Adam sat down with #1 New York Times bestselling author James Dashner, of Maze Runner fame, in front of a large crowd of his adoring fans at the main branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library.
Big Library Read Interview with Marieke Nijkamp, author of This Is Where It Ends
Professional Book Nerds
Multiple times a year, OverDrive offers users an opportunity to take part in a global ebook club through their library and this time the book choice is This is Where It Ends and we are thrilled to have author Marieke Nijkamp back on our podcast!
Musical Memoirs & Rock Biographies
Professional Book Nerds
The OverDrive staff librarians come from a wide range of backgrounds and two of our librarians -- Liz and Rachel K. -- come from music library backgrounds. So we decided to use their collective knowledge and reading backgrounds to discuss musical memoirs and rock biographies!
Interview with Duane Swierczynski, Author of Revolver
Professional Book Nerds
In this episode Jill returns for our intro with Adam! The actual episode is an interview with Duane Swierczynski, author of the crime novel, Revolver, which is about the murder of two cops and their family efforts to solve the mystery.
Muggles, Magic, McGonagall, and More!
Professional Book Nerds
Today, June 23, 2016, marks the start of the American Library Association's Annual Conference, which is being held in Orlando this year. Since so many librarians and library fans will be taking advantage of the nearby Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park while there, we decided to do another Harry Potter themed episode!
Interview with Jewell Parker Rhodes
Professional Book Nerds
In today's episode, Adam sits down with writer Jewell Parker Rhodes, an author who is familiar writing for both adults and juveniles/YA. Her forthcoming book, Towers Falling, is all about teaching the story of the 9/11 attacks to children who weren't born when it happened.
Interview with Matthew Quick, bestselling author of Silver Linings Playbook
Professional Book Nerds
This week we are back with another author interview, this time with bestselling author Matthew Quick, the man behind the popular The Silver Linings Playbook which was also adapted into the Academy Award nominated film.
Big Library Read interview with Taya Kyle, author of American Wife and widow of American Sniper Chris Kyle
Professional Book Nerds
Big Library Read officially kicks off March 17th and in anticipation of the event, Adam sat down with Chris Kyle's widow Taya Kyle, who has written her own memoir, American Wife.
Science Fiction and Fantasy
Professional Book Nerds
In our ninth episode we are talking all things science fiction and fantasy! If you're not familiar with either genre that's okay because some of the recent reads that Jill, Quinton, and Rachel K. mention include some non-genre picks as well before discussing the differences between science fiction and fantasy.
Interview With Sunil Yapa, author of Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist
Professional Book Nerds
In our second author interview, Adam interviews Sunil Yapa, author of Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, which takes place over one day during the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle.
All Things Romance
Professional Book Nerds
Valentine's Day is just around the corner so the staff librarians here at OverDrive decided to dedicate an episode to the Romance genre. But because we are all such well-rounded readers, we cover more than just your typical "bodice rippers," discussing some young adult titles and Amish romances, but also titles perfect for Galentine's Day and those single on this particular holiday.
