The Lit Hub Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

We're back from our lil summer break and shaking off the rust! It's been hot, but getting maybe better—and we're trying to take the slow pace and the long view before we truly roll into the fall. Speaking of: what are you reading for the rest of the summer? Perhaps try the Sealey Challenge (all funds this year going to the Sameer Project)! Or start reading the Booker Prize longlist!

Also, you could pick up an old issue of Lapham's Quarterly to get in the mood for the storied mag's revival—and we have acting editor Donovan Hahn on the show to tell us more about that slow pace, that long view, and the future of Lapham's. Or perhaps you're feeling like it's a real socialist gothic summer—and McKayla Coyle is here to chat with Drew about the socialist fundamentals of gothic literature and the very specific burgeoning sub-genre that is Socialist Gothic.

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Halfway through the year means it's time to anticipate again! That's right: the Lit Hub staff has compiled a list (multiple lists, actually) of books you should be looking forward to for the rest of the calendar year—and now we bring you a bunch of staff members talking about some (some!) of the books they're most excited for.

Featuring (in order of appearance): Drew Broussard, Jonny Diamond, Julia Hass, Brittany K. Allen, McKayla Coyle, Calvin Kasulke, Jessie Gaynor, Dan Sheehan, Emily Temple, James Folta, and Drew again (because he is just that excited about SO MANY BOOKS).

Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025, Part Two

Our 33 Most Anticipated Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books for the Rest of 2025

The Most Anticipated Crime Fiction of Summer 2025

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This week saw the announcement of the 2025 Pulitzer Prizes—which, if you've been following along at home, I had some questions regarding! Unsurprisingly, that's also where we start the show this week. Then, Marie-Helene Bertino (Exit Zero) drops by to talk about vampires, Sinners, and the pitfalls of immortality and Meg Reid of Hub City Writers wraps up with a helpful explainer of just what it means that the NEA has suddenly cancelled funding for non-profit presses and other arts organizations. No Pope stuff, though. Missed the filing deadline by a couple hours.

• "Did the Pulitzer Board just overrule the Jury to give Percival Everett the prize?"
• "Viola in Midwinter" by Marie-Helene Bertino (from our "One great short story..." series this month)
• Sinners
• Hub City Writers
• the NEA Grant Termination Spreadsheet from Annie Dorsen

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Yesterday was May Day and it was a big one for us: Lit Hub finally got to add to the canon of "Why I'm Leaving Twitter" posts! Jonny Diamond kicks us off to explain the rationale behind why and why now. Then, we wrap up our National Poetry Month coverage with a small-press interview: Eric Amling and Sarah Jean Grimm of After Hours Editions tell Drew about running a small poetry press and looking for the strange pizzas. And finally, we thought we'd add to the "books for men" discourse by getting some guys together to talk about guys and books. Listen closely for a great business idea, because Calvin and James and Drew are waiting by the phone.

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April is, as it turns out, a great month for book lovers: the first big wave of pre-summer titles arrives, St. Jordi Day (and Shakespeare's birth/death-day) is April 23rd, and of course Independent Bookstore Day is the last Saturday of the month. And while every day can and should be Indie Bookstore Day, we're getting into the spirit of the holiday this week—just in time for you to hit up your local(s) on Saturday 4/26!

Kicking things off, it's Shelf Awareness editor-in-chief John Mutter, here to tell Drew about watching and reporting on the indie bookstore scene for nearly 20 years. Then, another bookseller roundtable, this one featuring bookstore-bar-coffee-shops, including:

* Jennifer Caspar, Village Well Books & Coffee (Culver City, CA)

* Catherine Johnson and Lani Martin, Flyleaf (Grosse Point, MI)

* Amanda and Anthony Stromoski, Rough Draft Bar & Books (Kingston, NY)

Plus, James Folta reads Sappho and Jonny Diamond reads Jonny Diamond for National Poetry Month!

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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 Hass 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

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

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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

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

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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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