Love Books? Listen Up.
5 literary podcasts that go beyond straightforward author interviews and book reviews.
Do people who listen to a lot of podcasts tend to read a lot of books? It’s hard to know for sure, but the ubiquitous advertising presence of a certain audio book company would certainly suggest that podcast listeners are avid consumers of audio books. Personally, I’ve never listened to an audio book in my life; I like words on a page, I like reading books. I do, however, listen to a lot of literature podcasts.
In the podcast Fiction / Non / Fiction, the show opens by claiming that “nearly every issue that shows up on your twitter feed or on the evening news has already been tackled somewhere in literature”. I couldn’t agree more. There are plenty of podcasts uncritically interviewing authors or chatting about the latest book releases. Far less common are those shows which do what great books are supposed to do: comment on the world, make us think, entertain us, connect fiction to culture and the society we live in.
Luckily, there are some excellent podcasts out there which do precisely that, whether through insightful interviews, in-depth research, or just great storytelling. Here are a few to listen out for:
Fiction / Non / Fiction
In the Literary Hub podcast Fiction / Non / Fiction, V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell interview authors and other literary types, but in a way that opens up wider topics: how does crime fiction shape the way we think about crime more generally? How does a book become a movie and what makes a great adaptation? What is the role of obscenity in fiction, and life, and how has this changed? Ganeshananthan and Terrell, both writers themselves, provide great insights while also getting the most out of the high-caliber line-up of guests.
Annotated
Annotated, from Book Riot, is another show which uses literature as a launching pad to explore the much wider world of fiction and culture: the implications of the resurgence of interest in George Orwell’s 1984, how an unknown author played the system and made it to number one on the New York Times bestseller list, the scandal and intrigue that has led to the cancellation of this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature. Presented in a laid-back, chatty style by hosts Jeff O’Neal and Rebecca Schinsky, it is consistently well researched and produced.
Why Why Why
Why Why Why is a relatively new show with a simple but very effective premise. Host Linda Mannheim picks a book and asks the author why they wrote it, the publisher why they published it, and a reader why they picked it up and read it. Sensibly, the author is given the most time to discuss their novel, but the publisher and reader perspectives are a great addition. A recent episode on Caribbean fiction with author Leone Ross is particularly good.
Literary Friction
Literary Friction explores a broad theme each month: friendship, shame, small towns in fiction, the road novel. With both author interviews and the considered musings of hosts Carrie Plitt and Octavia Bright, Literary Friction contains a nice balance of interview and insight. The episode “On the Road” is a fascinating interview with author Damian Le Bas, about his novel journeying through Gypsy Britain. It was an episode which made me go buy the book after listening. Always a good indicator of a successful podcast!
RTÉ Book Show
Unlike the other shows here, The Book Show is not a standalone podcast but a radio show from RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcaster. It features Irish authors and fiction prominently but does so in a way that makes it essential listening for anyone interested in fiction, whether in Ireland or abroad. The most recent season changed the format, with Irish authors guest-presenting the show and asking, rather than answering, the questions. There’s also a great documentary on Tristram Shandy, by producer Regan Hutchins, made in the deliberately rambling style of the novel itself.
The Bello Collective is a publication + newsletter about podcasts and the audio industry. Our goal is to bring together writers, journalists, and other voices who share a passion for the world of audio storytelling.
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