Episode 399: Ten Minutes with Karen Joy Fowler

Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times.

This time out, Gary talks with PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author Karen Joy Fowler, about the challenges of concentrating in times of stress, but also the value of collective co-operation and respect for scientific evidence and the question of whether the current situation might encourage us to think more broadly about our responsibilities as co-inhabitants of this planet.

Books mentioned include:

• The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

• Eye of the Whale by Douglas Carlton Abrams

• The Widowed Warlock by Helen Sanders

• Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes (short story at Tor.com)

• The Overstory by Richard Powers

• Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard by Douglas W. Tallamy