Books and Brews

WMRA's November 2026 Books & Brews features Gregory Smithers, author of The Water Carriers: A Journey Through Cherokee History and the Secret Life of Rivers. From their first tentative steps in small hunting and gathering bands to bustling aquapelagos (communities forged along rivers) we'll explore the importance of water carrier traditions in Cherokee history.

WMRA's October Books & Brews features Earl Swift, author of Up on Cove Mountain: Adventure, Tragedy, and a Quest for Meaning on the Appalachian Trail. Five million steps. Twenty-two hundred miles. A five-month, bucket-list adventure on America's most storied footpath--followed by a second hike decades later to sort out what went so terribly wrong. From the New York Times bestselling author of Chesapeake Requiem comes a haunting tale of danger, destiny, and blind luck in the wilds, and of two hikers who did not survive the journey.

After years of writing and reporting as a journalist at WMRA, Martha Woodroof’s life quickly changed after a cancer diagnosis. Realizing her time was limited, Woodroof turned to writing nonfiction she called “splats.” A new book called Life’s a Wander collects these short essays.

WMRA's September Books & Brews featured Erica Cavanagh and Jack Greer, editors of Life's a Wander: Martha Woodroof in Her Own Words, a posthumous collection of Woodroof's essays. We featured Martha Woodroof's daughter, Liz Gipson.

WMRA's April 2026 Books & Brews featured Stephen Starring Grant, author of MAILMAN: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home.

WMRA’s March 2026 Books & Brews featured two authors who have written about life as a server. Rebecca Kauffman, author of The Reservation and Bruce Bryan, author of Turning Tables: Everything I needed to know about business I learned as a server. They joined us to share their perspectives on life in the restaurant world.

Charlottesville author, and UVA English professor, Bruce Holsinger explores a world newly shaped by chatbots, autonomous cars, drones, and other nonhuman forces in his latest novel Culpability.

Bruce Holsinger, author of Culpability, discussed his novel that explores a world newly shaped by chatbots, autonomous cars, drones, and other nonhuman forces.

UVA Astronomer Kelsey Johnson takes us to the edge of scientific understanding about the universe in her new book Into The Unknown.

WMRA's January 2026 Books & Brews featured Kelsey Johnson, author of Into the Unknown: The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos.