From witch hunts to cults, from war propaganda to religious honour killings, people are prepared to kill and die for stories they believe in - while others see these narratives as wildly false illusions.
Oct 2022
Erin Keane, "Runaway: Notes on the Myths That Made Me" (Belt Publishing, 2022)
From Erin Keane, editor in chief at Salon, comes Runaway: Notes in the Myths that Made Me (Belt Publishing, 2022), a touching memoir about the search for truths in the stories families tell. In 1970, Erin Keane's mother ran away from home for the first time. She was thirteen year ... Show More
1h 10m
Oct 2024
Writing Fiction, Overcoming Depression, and Ben Shapiro Becoming Christian (Andrew Klavan) | Ep. 490
Andrew Klavan is a bestselling author, screenwriter, and cultural commentator known for his incisive insights and engaging storytelling. With a career spanning decades, he has penned numerous novels, many of which have been adapted into films. Klavan's work often explores themes ... Show More
3h 1m
Aug 2025
Is The Racial Reckoning Over? John McWhorter on language, art, and defunding the grammar police
<p>This is the full version of the Aug 4 episode, now available to all subscribers. </p> <div><br /> <div>Author, New York Times columnist, and superstar linguist John McWhorter returns to the pod to catch us up on what's been on his mind now that the Woke Emergency is over . . . ... Show More
1h 11m
Mar 2025
Douglas Stuart on Shuggie Bain, Storytelling, and the Human Condition (Part Two)
This event is part of Conversations at the Kiln, a new event series at Kiln Theatre programmed by Intelligence Squared. For more events with speakers from the worlds of literature, art, poetry and politics, click here.
Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain ... Show More
33m 8s
Jun 2024
Salman Rushdie - ‘I’d rather have had a different life’
TW: this episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and injuries. Two years ago, Sir Salman Rushdie, one of the most celebrated and famous authors in the world was on stage at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, when a figure dressed in black clothes and a mask ... Show More
53m 39s
Oct 2024
Merve Emre on Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf
I am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast is the writer, critic, and author, Merve Emre.
Currently the Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University – and the Director of the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism – ... Show More
49m 21s
Apr 2025
Close Readings: 'Vanity Fair' by William Makepeace Thackeray
Thackeray's comic masterpiece, 'Vanity Fair', is a Victorian novel looking back to Regency England as an object both of satire and nostalgia. Thackeray’s disdain for the Regency is present throughout the book, not least in the proliferation of hapless characters called George, ye ... Show More
33m 7s
Oct 2025
743 Fairy Tales (with Jack Zipes) [RECLAIMED] | Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (#11 GBOAT) | Chaucer News
An early encounter with one of the most famous people in the world initiated Jack Zipes into the world of fairy tales - and he never looked back. In this episode, Jacke talks to the fairy tale expert about his book Buried Treasures: The Power of Political Fairy Tales, which profi ... Show More
1h 2m
Aug 2024
66: Teens, Cops, and Spies: The Varieties of Hysterical Experience feat. Dan Taberski
<p>Abby and Patrick welcome Dan Taberski, creator of the brand-new podcast series <em>Hysterical</em>. They explore the genesis of the series and the challenges and rewards of confronting both the history and the present of “the H-word.” Tracking the trajectories of this famously ... Show More
1h 24m