The Lit Hub Podcast

We're continuing our celebration of National Poetry Month this week with special guest Lisa Willis, executive director of Cave Canem! She's here to tell Drew about the wide-reaching, first-of-its-kind field study Magnitude and Bond: A Field Study on Black Literary Arts Organizations—it's a must-read for anybody interested in any part of the literary arts ecosystem.

Plus, Brittany Allen on some organizations and organizers pushing back against the Trump administration's assault on the historical archive—and new poetry!! Julia Haas reads "Passerine," an unpublished poem by Sophia Stid, and Oliver Scialdone reads one of their own poems, "Help, Am I Watching a Commercial Break or Just Living in One?" plus "The Garden" by H.D.

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If you didn't hear the song earlier this week, it's Lit Hub's 10th birthday! Double-digits, y'all! It's exciting stuff and so obviously Jonny Diamond had to drop by to tell us a bit about the occasion as well as some site-lore. (PS it's always a great time to become a Lit Hub member...)

Then, Traci Thomas comes on to chat about her podcast TheStacks and the amazing STACK THE SHELVES event she's putting up in LA on May 4th to support those who lost libraries (and more) in the wildfires earlier this year.

Plus, poetry from Olivia Rutigliano (reading Philip Sidney's "Sonnet 1" from Astrophil and Stella) and Dan Sheehan (reading W.B. Yeats's "The Fisherman")!

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Well books are about to get a lot more expensive, as is everything else, and there's no hiding from the fact that these tariffs really suck! But we're going to talk (mostly) about other things this week—like the trailer drop for the new season of The Cosmic Library, like some upcoming weird books you should pre-order as suggested by Molly Odintz, and the first in a run of Lit Hub staffers reading poetry in celebration of National Poetry Month!

* Listen to The Cosmic Library—new episodes Wednesdays starting April 16!

* Molly's suggested reading/pre-ordering:

- Crafting for Sinners

- Friends of the Museum by Heather McGowan

- Leverage by Amran Gowani

- The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw

- The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling

- Murderland by Caroline Frasier

The Lit Hub Podcast is a production of Lit Hub Radio

hosted by Drew Broussard

music by Dani Lencioni

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You might be mistaken in thinking that it's a real high-culture/low-culture episode this week, but really it's an all-joy-culture episode. Drew kicks things off with a quick nod to National Short Story Month before talking to Michael Kelleher about the 2025 Windham-Campbell Prizes and what makes the prize so special. Then, he chats with Sammy Loren about the new literary tabloid On the Rag and why pitching a broader, messier tent is a good idea. Go chase something that makes you (and, ideally, other people too) happy, damn it!

The Lit Hub Podcast is a production of Lit Hub Radio

Hosted by Drew Broussard

Music by Dani Lencioni

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This week, we embrace (surprise surprise) the power of books!! But seriously, Drew is in a tizzy about the latest AI-scraping news (tldr they got ALL of the books), Brittany Allen talks about the joys of learning about how they pick the books on The White Lotus, Sophie Gee & Jonty Claypole tell Drew about the joys of discovering (and hosting! the Secret Life of Books (listen now!), and Josh Cook shares a few more ideas for how publishing can do better to fill the information gap. Books: powerful stuff.

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It's a big one this week, kicking off with a quick exhortation to (metaphorically) tell Meta/Facebook/Zuckerberg to pound sand by buying a copy of Careless People! Then, Drew talks with Masie Cochran of Tin House and Molly Stern of Zando about the exciting news of the Voltron-esque team-up that is Zando's acquisition of Tin House. Next, James Folta and Oliver Scialdone drop in to discuss the past week in bracketology—reminder: the villains bracket final is open through Sunday!!—and finally, Erika Swyler (We Lived on the Horizon) picks up an ongoing conversation with Drew (now in pod form) about genre, wonder, and the algorithm. Something for the whole family!

The Lit Hub Podcast is a production of Lit Hub Radio

Hosted by Drew Broussard

Music by Dani Lencioni

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There's an Amazon boycott on, from today until the 14th! But really, publishing should stop linking to Amazon now and forever. Drew explains why!

Then, Brad Johnson from East Bay Booksellers drops by to talk about his essay "The Things We Learned in the Fire:

On the Destruction (and Rebirth) of a Bookstore" and then Emily Temple and James Folta chat with Drew about kicking off the Best Villain in Literature bracket. Round One is open through Sunday!!

The Lit Hub Podcast is a production of Lit Hub Radio

Hosted by Drew Broussard

Music by Dani Lencioni

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First up this week: Dan Sheehan recently had the chance to chat with Omar El Akkad about One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This and we're thrilled to bring you an audio excerpt from that conversation. Then, Calvin Kasulke drops in to grill Drew on his apparent disdain for the recent wave of Lady Macbeth novels. And finally, Olivia Rutigliano brings us more "Culture Schlock"—this time, looking Oscar-forward...

The Lit Hub Podcast is a production of Lit Hub Radio

Hosted by Drew Broussard

Music by Dani Lencioni

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Drew finished re-watching The Lord of the Rings over the weekend and it has probably influenced a bit of the episode. But he also chats with bookseller-libromancer Josh Cook about how the publishing world can respond to the second Trump presidency and why we could all do with a bit more doing what actually energizes us, and with Jordan Kisner about the return of Thresholds in collaboration with the Black Mountain Institute!

The Lit Hub Podcast is a production of Lit Hub Radio

Hosted by Drew Broussard

Music by Dani Lencioni

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It's Valentine's Day! So Drew chats with Chloé Caldwell about her recent piece "Yes, I've Been Selling My Book on Dating Apps" — and asks listeners to call in with their recent favorite reads! Plus, Calvin Kasulke chats with K. Kerimian about the Nonbinarian Book Bike's leap to brick and mortar.

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The Lit Hub Podcast is a production of Lit Hub Radio

Hosted by Drew Broussard

Music by Dani Lencioni

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This week, Olivia Wolfgang-Smith tells Drew about reading the entirety of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series for her piece "Actually, Master and Commander is a Domestic Fantasy About a Codependent Life Partnership!" and Dan Sheehan stops by to explain why it matters that The Giller Prize (finally) dropped Scotiabank as a sponsor.

The Lit Hub Podcast is a production of Lit Hub Radio

Hosted by Drew Broussard

Music by Dani Lencioni

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This week, some suggestions for men and some suggestions for history! First up, it's James Folta chatting with Drew about his recent piece "Men Have Bigger Problems Than Not Reading Novels" and the crisis of cultural illiteracy. Then, Molly Odintz stops by to talk up some upcoming historical fiction—and why reading historical fiction can help positively impact the present.

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On January 13, New York published a story by Lila Shapiro detailing allegations of sexual assault against fantasy author Neil Gaiman. (TW: the piece is at times graphic and should be approached with care.) Gaiman has denied the allegations and claimed that the encounters were consensual.

It's an upsetting story for so many reasons, and an important one. So, in a special episode of the show, Drew sat down with Lila Shapiroto talk about writing these kinds of stories, what they mean to communities across the world, and how to address the power imbalance between fans and their idols.

"There is No Safe Word" by Lila Shapiro for New York Magazine

Neil Gaiman's response

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The first week of the Trump administration has felt somehow even more awful than we expected it to feel. Everybody's a little on edge. So, we kick things off with Jonny Diamond extolling the excellent pieces from Kim Kelly and Madeline ffitch that ran on the site on Tuesday, sharing excerpts and explaining how they encapsulate Lit Hub's approach to the Trump administration.

Then, because our revolution must include the joyful things as well, we introduce a new recurring segment: "Culture Schlock" with Olivia Rutigliano. This installment, we're headed to Sherlock Holmes week!

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The year has really gotten off on a rough foot. But what lessons can we take from deeply admired artists like Ursula K. Le Guin and David Lynch, for the tumult to come? And what might readers be able to expect from 2025, trend-wise? We might not have the answers, but we do have some answers.

• A note from Drew, about wildfire assistance
• Another note from Drew, about Neil Gaiman
• Julie Phillips on "The Way of Water: On the Quiet Power of Ursula K. Le Guin's Activism"
• McKayla Coyle and Oliver Scialdone drop in to riff with Drew on some possible trends to watch out for in 2025 — or, really, what we all might like to see more of! Call it manifesting.
• A closing note from Drew, about David Lynch

The Lit Hub Podcast is produced by Stardust House

Music by Dani Lencioni of Evelyn

A Lit Hub Radio Podcast

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We're back and raring to go—starting with a year's-resolutions intro from Drew and then diving into something a bit more celebratory: some audio 2025 Most Anticipated picks from Calvin Kasulke, McKayla Coyle, Olivia Rutigliano, Molly Odintz, Brittany K. Allen, Emily Temple, James Folta, Dwyer Murphy, Jonny Diamond, Dan Sheehan, and Drew Broussard!

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'Twas the episode before Christmas and all through the studio

Not a sound could be heard—not even 'Sussudio'

To close out the year, a new holiday tradition: Jonny Diamond reads us Clement Clarke Moore's classic poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas"

Thanks to everyone for tuning in this year! See you in 2025!

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Well, we jinxed it last week by saying that there was only one more news story! Turns out 2024 isn't done with us, thanks to a handsome assassin who stole the internet's heart. Naturally, we took a look at what he was reading—plus, some more best-of list chat!

• Drew, Jonny, Calvin, and James chat about whether or not you can put together a profile of a person based on their reading habits—and what Luigi Mangione's Goodreads really says (or doesn't say) about him.
• Dan Sheehan tells Drew about BookMarks' year-end plans—including some great reviews and some great pans.
• Molly Odintz and Drew discuss the SFFH best-of list as well as CrimeReads' year-end list bonanza!

Music by Dani Lencioni of Evelyn

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It's the holiday season—which means that end-of-year lists are really kicking off, and we will be getting into that more in depth in the weeks to come... but the news hasn't quite finished having its way with us, so we're going to do one more proper news story before the year is out. And guess what: it's about AI!

• Drew, Jonny, Calvin, and James discuss the existential threat and/or possible nothing-burger (but either way, definitely environmentally terrible) reality of AI and the creative industries. (Read our AI-related writing!)

• Robin Whitten, editor of AudioFile Magazine, drops in to talk about Behind the Mic and AudioFile's "best of 2024" lists.

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Happy Thanksgiving! We're thankful for you, listeners—and so here is a little treat of an episode, a bit wild and a bit longer than usual but we figured you might need something special for that Black Friday rush.

• Merve Emre announces season two (and three!) of The Critic and Her Publics
• Jonny Diamond and Drew ask you for money
• Drew hosts a raucous round-table with McKayla Coyle, Oliver Scialdone, and Calvin Kasulke about awards season, why awards should give you cash, and more

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