The Lit Hub Podcast

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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It's a big episode this week, because it is raining in New York (finally!) and we just have a lot of cool stuff to share.

• Jessie Gaynor drops in to chat about having ChatGPT attempt classic poetry and the dangers of AI-assisted art

• Drew talks with The Public Theater's Jack Phillips Moore about the latest revival of Gatz, a verbatim adaptation of The Great Gatsby

• Jonny Diamond celebrates a year of literary assholes with Kristen Arnett and drops a live "Am I the Literary Asshole?" question on our columnist

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Samantha Harvey's Orbital won the Booker Prize! Next week, it's the National Book Awards! It's cold and flu season! Gosh, the year is really flying by.

• Jessie Gaynor talks with Jadie Stillwell and Nicole Blackwood about their piece on the Nancy Drew Convention and the sleuth's enduring appeal

• Ryan Chapman leaves a voicemail about his failed Booker prediction

• Drew reads some delightful answers to the Lit Hub Questionnaire from the 2024 National Book Award Finalists

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No theme music, so you know it's serious.

IN THIS EP:

• Jonny Diamond talks to Drew about some ways that Lit Hub hopes to respond to the idea of a second Trump Presidency

• Drew sits down with Ryan Chapman (The Audacity) to get his thoughts on the 2024 Booker Prize in advance of his forthcoming Sewanee Review column—recorded live at one of Lit Hub's "10 of the Best Bookstores in the World," Rough Draft Bar & Books

• Lena Crown introduces the newest Lit Hub Radio show: Awakeners.

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Spooky season is officially over, which means it's Bookmatch time! Our friends at n+1 have launched their holiday fundraising book quiz once again—and this year, it coincides with a celebration of the magazine's twenty anniversary. It's the right moment to celebrate, so celebrate we shall...

• Jonny Diamond in conversation with n+1 co-editors Mark Krotov and Dayna Tortorici on the history and future of the little magazine and the new collection celebrating the magazine's last decade, The Intellectual Situation

• Brittany Allen on curating a sex-work-positive reading list after seeing Anora

• Drew urges everyone to vote—and to vote in such a way that takes care of your community

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It's a bookseller-heavy episode this week—just in time to start thinking about shopping local/indie for your holiday shopping needs...

• Drew expands on his recent piece about the low-quality paperbacks suddenly showing up in bookstores

• Calvin Kasulke talks to Ramsey Kanaan of PM Press about his leftist press taking ownership of Autumn Leaves, the legendary indie bookstore in Ithaca, NY

• Maris Kreizman drops in to discuss her latest column on the need for better fact-checking

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It's mid-October which means we are in the thick of spooky season—and we've got a spooky spectacular for you this week!

• Tune in to James Folta calling Literary Terrors Bingo live at the community center in Halloweentown

• Olivia Rutigliano drops in to talk to Drew about the strange similarities between the collapse of the publishing mid-list and the recent spate of streaming cancellations

• A conversation about reading weird books with Drew Broussard, McKayla Coyle, and Oliver Scialdone

MENTIONED:

 The Companion by E.E. Ottoman • Paradise Rot by Jenny Hval • Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield • Earthlings by Sayaka Murata • You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman • Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth • Bizarre Publishing House • Coup de Grace by Sofia Ajram • Revelator by Daryl Gregory • Curses by George Wylesol

A Lit Hub Radio Podcast

Hosted by Drew Broussard

Music by Dani Lencioni of Evelyn

Mixed and Engineered at Stardust House

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As part of The Issues 2024, this episode is largely about unions and labor—but also, a little bit more about romance books because it turns out... people really like romance books!

• Lit Hub EIC Jonny Diamond talks with Kim Kelly, author of Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor, about the challenges facing organized labor in the 2020s but also the still-young history of the labor movement in America
• Drew Broussard and McKayla Coyle talk about getting into reading romance novels
• Alexandra Kleeman offers an elegy for the late Robert Coover

Hosted by Drew Broussard

Music by Dani Lencioni of Evelyn

Production and Engineering by Stardust House

A Lit Hub Radio Podcast

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What's with all the romance-specific bookstores opening around the country? Have you ever read any translated true crime? And what is horror as a genre, anyway?

• A romance-bookstore-roundtable with Emily Ezell (Blush & Bashful Books, Hopkinsville KY), Leah Koch (The Ripped Bodice, LA & NYC), and Mel Saavedra (Steamy Lit, Deerfield Beach, FLY)
• CrimeReads's Molly Odintz on "True Crime in Translation: A Reading List"
• A sneak peak of Voyage Into Genre's upcoming horror episode, feat. CJ Leede and Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Hosted by Drew Broussard

Music by Dani Lencioni of Evelyn

Production and Engineering by Stardust House

A Lit Hub Radio Podcast

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It's Banned Books Week! There's a new Sally Rooney book! What a week!

• Brittany K. Allen talks to host Drew Broussard about Sally Rooney Mania
• Calvin Kasulke talks to librarian Jess deCourcy Hinds about banned books, libraries, and fighting back against attempts at oppression
• Maris Kreizman stops by with a peek into her latest column

BANNED BOOK RESOURCES:

FReadom Fighters

Advice on writing to elected officials or your local newspaper

Advocate for School Libraries 

Anti-Censorship Toolkit from Book Riot

Librarian Amanda Jones's story of fighting back and suing her tormentors 

Hosted by Drew Broussard

Music by Dani Lencioni of Evelyn

Production and Engineering by Stardust House

A Lit Hub Radio Podcast

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This week:

• James Folta on "Meet the writer who added 'lol' to the end of every sentence of In Search of Lost Time"
• Dan Sheehan talks to Huda Fakhreddine about "Intifada: On Being an Arabic Literature Professor in a Time of Genocide"

Here's a link to the full text of the lol-ed version of In Search of Lost Time.

Hosted by Drew Broussard

Music by Dani Lencioni of Evelyn

Production and Engineering by Stardust House

A Lit Hub Radio Podcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week:

• A Conversation on Lists with Jonny Diamond & Emily Temple
• 17 Novels You Should Read This Fall
• "Am I the Literary Asshole?" with Kristen Arnett
• An Introduction from the Host

Hosted by Drew Broussard

Music by Dani Lencioni of Evelyn

Production and Engineering by Stardust House

A Lit Hub Radio Podcast

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Lit Hub Podcast!

Hosted by LH podcasts editor Drew Broussard, this new weekly show goes behind the scenes at Lit Hub, diving deeper into everything interesting, dynamic, strange, and wonderful in literary culture. Featuring appearances by Lit Hub staff, recurring columnists like Kristen Arnett and Maris Kreizman, and special guests talking about the news of the day and so much more.

New episodes every Friday, wherever you get your podcasts.

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