In his first essay collection, UP UP DOWN DOWN, Cheston Knapp attends skateboarding camp for adults, recalls his fraternity days, looks for UFOs, and checks out the local wrestling circuit, all in the name of learning more about himself. He and James talk about the art of the essay, the search for community, editing at Tin House, and the difficulty they have living in the moment. Plus Scribner art director and designer Jaya Miceli on book covers.

Cheston Knapp

Cheston and James discuss:

David Foster Wallace

Charles D’Ambrosio

W. G. Sebald

HAMLET

Joan Didion

Zadie Smith

Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Edmund Husserl

Leslie Jamison

A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER by Tom Clancy

Graham Greene

John LeCarre

Sarah Manguso

Maggie Nelson

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Jaya Miceli

Jaya and James discuss:

UP UP DOWN DOWN by Cheston Knapp

Anna Laytham (designer)

Daniel Loedel

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins

THE ANIMALS by Christian Kiefer

THE READY MADE THIEF by Augustus Rose

Marcel Duchamp

Viking Penguin

Helen Yentus (art director, Riverhead/ designer)

Riverhead Books

INTO THE WATER by Paula Hawkins

A SEPARATION by Katie Kitamura

THE INCENDIARIES by R.O. Kwon

MY ABSOLUTE DARLING by Gabriel Tallent

SING, UNBURIED, SING by Jesmyn Ward

Paul Buckley (art director, Penguin)

WEST by Carys Davies

Lauren Peters-Collaer (designer)

I’D DIE FOR YOU by F. Scott Fitzgerald

FLESH, BONE, WATER by Luiza Sauma