Literary Podcasts
Written byPosted on November 10, 2005
Filed Under Podcasting
Like Maud, I’m finding it difficult to keep track of all the literary podcasts. The latest publishing company to enter the fray is Penguin, with the Penguin Podcast. This makes Penguin the second big publisher after Simon & Schuster. (And of course, there’s also Moby Lives Radio.) Personally, I’m waiting to see if Richard Nash will throw his hat into the podcasting ring.
Here’s a rundown of all the literary podcasts I’m aware of — some of them culled from The Millions. If anyone has any to include, please feel free and let me know and I’ll add them to the list.
PODCAST-SPECIFIC:
- Agony Column, The: Rick Kleffel was here before all of us and runs a great show. Predominantly science fiction and literary interviews.
- Air Out My Shorts: Short fiction is submitted and the hosts read it.
- Average Mortal Radio.
- The Bat Segundo Show: Pretty worthless interview program, if you ask me.
- Collected Comics Library: Comic book themed podcast.
- Dead White Males: A student shares his analysis of many literary classics. (Currently on hiatus.)
- Drinks with Tony: Tony DuShane talks with writers and filmmakers. Also broadcast on local microradio.
- Death of the Author: An awful writer hopes to get published.
- Engaging the Word.
- Librivox: “Acoustical liberation of books in the public domain.”
- The Literate Loser: More public domain literature read aloud.
- Miette’s Bedtime Story Podcast: (Thanks, Gaunt!)
- Mister Ron’s Basement: Random stories and more.
- Nextbook: Jewish life, with many authors represented.
- Pete’s Candy Store: They’ve started offering podcasts of their reading series.
- Pinky’s Paperhaus: An excellent podcast that involves writers mixing playlists on the air.
- The Public Domain: (Thanks, Eileen!) (Link does not appear to be functioning, will check again later.)
- SF Site Reviews: Reviews of science fiction books.
- Weird Deer: The deal is this. You call the number, they read your story on their podcast.
- Who Said?: A literary podcast game show.
- The Word Nerds (found by Carrie)
- The Writing Show.
PUBLISHERS:
- Hotzbrinck Podcasts: A podcasting consortium with FSG, Henry Holt, Picador, St. Martin’s and Tor/Forge.
- Moby Lives Radio (Melville House info, author interviews and Moby Lives news).
- The Penguin Podcast.
- Raincoast Books (Thanks, Monique!)
- Simon Says Podcast (No direct link other than XML feed, but it’s there on the main page.)
AUTHORS:
- Cory Doctorow: Thanks to the Creative Commons license, his works are now available in podcast form.
- Scott Sigler: Sigler reads his novel-in-progress, Earthcore.
FROM RADIO:
- ABC Books and Writing: Weekly Australian radio program.
- BBC Arts and Drama (Thanks, Bryce!)
- BBC Listen Again (Thanks, Bryce!)
- KCRW Bookworm.
- KCRW Overbooked.
- Lannan Readings & Conversations Program: RealAudio only, but lots of writers for this KLMN/KSFR show.
- Word by Word: Bimonthly KRCB literary show with Jordan E. Rosenfeld.
- Writer’s Voice Radio: Local show broadcast on KALW.
If you have any more, please let me know and I’ll add it to the list.
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Books To Jump Up and Down Over
Beyond Heaving Bosoms by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan. The famed writers behind Smart Bitches, Trashy Books have written a very funny and thoughtful volume about romances, both Old Skool and New Skool. Here is a book that any smug and humorless literary manboy beating his flabby passive chest over Banville or Bolano should probably read pronto, if only for the distant possibility that he might get over himself. While the Choose Your Own Adventure segment at the end caused me to have a very disturbing dream involving Shelley Long (don't ask), Sarah and Candy did have me rethinking many of my own misperceptions when I wasn't busy laughing. They're not afraid to take on the New York Times Bok Review or even the groupthink within certain sectors of the romance community.
Alice Fantastic by Maggie Estep. This wild and highly enjoyable narrative involves two sisters (presumably, the third one was still being rented out by Chekhov), a hippie ex-junkie mother who lives with seventeen dogs, a murder, gambling, and libidinous Hollywood actresses who live in Woodstock. But this is the wonderful Maggie Estep we're talking here. And what seems at first like a quirky yarn becomes something unexpectedly moving about connectivity. What I love about Estep's work is the way that she'll juxtapose an extremely astute observation (now that you mention it, why do cab drivers always have somebody to talk with on the phone past midnight?) with an often outrageous story development.
Generosity by Richard Powers. It doesn't come out until September 29th, but Richard Powers's latest will have anyone committed to books reconsidering their literary fervor. I foresee some animosity from the vanilla critics hostile to idea-driven novels, but book bloggers, YouTube chroniclers, and MFAs would do well to plunge into this chance-taking narrative, which introduces vital questions about what the reader's relationship is with media, scientific dissection, and "creative nonfiction." Are we rats fleeing to happy cities? Or can we find the humanism within the purported plague?
Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon. Lennon is one of the most underrated fiction writers working today. Much as On the Night Plain proved that Lennon had a lot more in the toolbox than heartfelt (and often very funny) suburban satire, this slim but fascinating volume juxtaposes 100 small-town anecdotes -- arranged by category -- in a manner that reads, at times, like Nicholson Baker's passions for minutiae and, at other times, Stewart O'Nan's concern for psychological detail. The result is fiction that makes us wonder about whether one person's subjective view of particulars can entirely be trusted. This book never found a publisher in 2005. But thankfully, Graywolf has released it in the United States, along with Lennon's latest novel, The Castle.
Wonderful World by Javier Calvo. This wonderfully raucous volume has been completely ignored by the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. But it's probably one of the most delightful reading experiences I've had this year. Calvo cavalierly mashes up multiple genres and manages to mix up familial subtext with larger-than-life, almost cartoonish characters. (Indeed, one might argue that one mobster's penis is a character of its own in this sprawling novel.). This is not an easy thing to pull off, but Calvo makes it work. And it's helped immeasurably by Mara Faye Lethem's idiom-specific translation. (See longer post.)
The Means of Reproduction, Michelle Goldberg This thoughtful book tackles the complicated (and little discussed) subject of reproductive rights from numerous angles, which includes a number of unpleasant but necessary ones. The upshot is that there isn't a quick fix solution for declining birth rates and fundamentalist abuses. Just about every political faction has contributed to the friction. But you'll want to read this book anyway to refamiliarize yourself with the topic, but also to understand just what's occurred during the past several decades to get us where we are today. (See also podcast interview with Goldberg.)
Any idea if anyone’s actually listening to all these podcasts? Then seem like, well, blog posts made harder to get at.
Thank you for mentioning The Writing Show, Edward!
Just to be a little more specific, our format is almost exclusively interviews. Our mission is to entertain, help, and engage writers by providing helpful information and inspiration for them. “Writing” pretty much means just that: books, screenplays, poetry, games, advertising, manuals, etc..
When we interview writers, we focus largely on the craft and business of writing rather than strictly on the content of their work.
We are very keen to get listeners’ feedback and suggestions so we can produce the best possible shows and Web site features. People can post to our blog and/or email me at paula at compulsivecreative dot com.
Thanks again!
Best regards,
Paula Berinstein
Producer and host
Yes, J. We’re getting about 4000 downloads a month right now. But we know that a lot of people don’t have time to listen, so we’re beefing up our Web site. We’ve got written transcripts of the interviews, and we’re adding a lot of text-based resources.
I can vouch for Paula. I don’t have a precise figure, but I learned the other night that around 2,000 people are listening to each Segundo installment. This was a surprise to me, since I thought it was much less. I’ve had to upgrade my bandwidth limits so that I don’t pay too much for this.
Well, Ed, you’ve put my measly little “Literary Podcasts” post to shame. For the betterment of my readers I’ve added a link to your list to my post.
Don’t forget the stories on BBC. There are daily and weekly reads on BBC Radio 4: The Afternoon Reading, Book at Bedtime, Book of the Week. They can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/ BBC Radio 7 also hosts book reading scattered among their broadcast. Have a look at http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain
Two more for your great list: Maria Letrix, who reads mostly theological texts http://marialectrix.blogspot.com/ and Miette’s Bedtime Stories, http://www.enivrez.com/bedtime/, which is a healthy diverse selection of short fiction.
Please add Raincoast Books to the publisher section. Vancouver-based Raincoast Books is the first publisher in Canada to start podcasting. The first episode launched yesterday and is available from iTunes by searching podcasts for “Raincoast”. The RSS feed is available from Feedburner: http://feeds.feedburner.com/raincoast or http://blogs.raincoast.com
Valid questions about who’s listening and accessibility. Apple’s June upgrade to iTunes included built in podcast functionality, making podcasts even easier to download and play. Seems more mainstream now than it was even a couple of months ago.
Hello,
Please add The Public Domain Podcast to your list:
http://publicdomaindpodcast.blogspot.com
I’ve been reading texts from their public domain in their entirety and releasing them in weekly segments. Authors I’ve read so far include Jules Verne, Mark Twain, O. Henry, Lafcadio Hearn, Wilkie Collins and Edgar Allen Poe. I have both short stories and novels in my collection.
I’m also an occasional volunteer reader for Librivox.
Thanks!
e
May I be so bold as to mention my literature podcast? “Postcards from Gravelly Beach” features me reading from literary stalwarts – from Russians to the beats – along with smatterings from original works, backed by an eclectic assortment of music. Recent episodes include snippets from G.G. Marquez, N. Soseki, R. Bratigan, G.Snyder, E. Abbey, R. Carver, and many others… One may also subscribe via iTunes or just visit my website, Uncleweed.Net. Enjoy!
I am a graduate student working on my second master’s degree in literacy for birth through grade 6 and I have chosen to build a thesis rather than take the comprehensive exam. In one of my courses, I developed a webquest utilizing podcasting technology to create presentations for a class in the History of American Popular Music. Continuing with this theme, I recently co-presented at a conference for Universal Design for Learning with a faculty member and our topic was “Podcasting & Possibilities.” Librivox was one of the favorite resources I shared with attendees. For my thesis, I am investigating the potential uses of podcasting for educators of literacy (though it is applicable to all curricular areas). If you have any questions or suggestions I would love to hear from you!
Hi,
I have being enjoying Houghton Mifflin’s poetry podcast—The Poetic Voice at http://www.thepoeticvoice.com.
Thank you so much for this list! And hey, that Bat Guano show ain’t too bad…
My suggestion would be the podcast of “Writer’s & Company” on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Host Eleanor Wachtel interviews major writers from all over the world, even a few Canadians now and again. I have the feeling that most writer’s are impressed with her (and probably her research staff’s) amazingly comprehensive knowledge of their works. Her interviews are an hour long and comprehensive.
Wachtel is a national treasure for literature in Canada. Now by the magic of podcasting, more can enjoy.
http://www.cbc.ca/writersandcompany/
CBC Radio – Writers and Company
http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/index.html?arts#writersandcompany
My bad.