Open Stacks – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Technical and general information from the podcast's RSS feed.

Open Stacks

The Seminary Co-op Bookstores & UChicago Podcast Network

Arts

Society & Culture

Frequency: 1 episode/18d. Total Eps: 100

Open Stacks brings you conversations with scholars, poets, novelists and activists on subjects as eclectic as the books on our shelves, from under-the-radar debates in the academy to pressing contemporary social issues, and from bestselling works of fiction to avant-garde poetics. Recorded live at Chicago's Seminary Co-op Bookstores, Open Stacks invites listeners to sit in on the kind of candid discussions and lively debates made possible by the participation of readers in a public space, with the aim of expanding and encouraging a broader community of ideas. Turn up the volume, pull up a chair, and let's start a conversation.

Read moreCollapse

Site

RSS

Apple

Recent rankings

Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.

Apple Podcasts

🇫🇷 France - books
16/09/2025
#97

Spotify

No recent rankings available

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Links found in episode descriptions and other podcasts that share them.

See all

https://airtable.com/shri77T2zxj9Ngd1X
9 shares
https://www.danielbirchmusic.com/
5 shares
https://loyaltyfreakmusic.com/
3 shares

RSS feed quality and score

Technical evaluation of the podcast's RSS feed quality and structure.

See all

RSS feed quality

To improve

Score global : 49%

Publication history

Monthly episode publishing history over the past years.

Year

Latest published episodes

Recent episodes with titles, durations, and descriptions.

See all

Havens for the Heterodox: Seminary Co-op Director Jeff Deutsch on Good Bookstores

Season 4 · Episode 14

Thursday, June 30, 2022 • Duration 11:42

On this special episode of Open Stacks, we hear from Jeff Deutsch, the Director of the Seminary Co-op Bookstores. Jeff's book, In Praise of Good Bookstores, came out from Princeton University Press this Spring, and Jeff has been traveling the country visiting other independent bookstores to talk about it, and about the value of bookselling and bookstores in the 21st century. Jeff spoke at the Seminary Co-op with Ydalmi Noriega, a member of the Co-op's board of directors, and director of programs and community engagement at the Poetry Foundation. Find out more about the Co-op's mission and help these important spaces thrive.

This episode was produced by Jackson Roach, hosted by Alena Jones, and features music by Andrei Pohorelsky and Daniel Birch.

Read moreCollapse

Meeting Again: Mikki Kendall, Jack Cella, & Colin McDonald

Thursday, December 2, 2021 • Duration 22:16

On this episode of Open Stacks, the last of the fourth season, Mikki Kendall remembers a childhood at 57th Street Books and the reading that shapes her writing. We also hear from old friends Jack Cella and Colin McDonald, and from booksellers on the books they return to year after year.

For a list of books discussed, music credits, and directions for submitting your favorite passages, head to our website.

Read moreCollapse

Common Languages: A Visit to the Front Table

Thursday, July 8, 2021 • Duration 18:27

On this episode of Open Stacks, a circle around the Co-op’s Front Table: from a post-war pioneer of Afrofuturism on Chicago’s South Side to the complex communal powers of games like spades, mahjong, and pickup soccer.

Thanks to Bryce Lucas for taking us on a tour of the Front Table this time. In this episode, you hear fragments of archival recordings of Sun Ra, including brief excerpts from his film Space is the Place and the track "If You Are Not A Myth" from his album The Sub-Dwellers. You also hear Aleksandar Hemon reading at the 2012 Grand Opening of the Co-op's current location. If you'd like to hear more from Hanif Abdurraqib, you might start with his appearance on Open Stacks in May of 2019, and then check out his own podcast, Object of Sound, or his 1980-focused season of the KCRW show Lost Notes.

This episode's passage of the week comes from Philip Roth, by way of Alex at the Co-op. Have you read something recently that moved you, surprised you, made you laugh, or that you couldn't stop thinking about? Tell us about it, or just read it aloud.

Open Stacks is hosted by Alena Jones and produced by Jackson Roach. This episode features music by Daniel Birch and Blue Dot Sessions.

A Spirit in the Space: On Reopening Our Doors

Friday, June 25, 2021 • Duration 34:58

On this episode of Open Stacks, we celebrate the Co-op reopening its doors for in-person browsing – the first time since we closed 15 months ago. Browsers, booksellers, authors, and our own Clancey D'Isa and Bryce Lucas discuss the transfiguration of space, absence and presence, the "invisible" work of bookselling, and how reading needn't be a solo activity.

Have you read something recently (or over the last year) that moved you, that made you laugh, that you can't stop thinking about, or, simply, that changed you? We'd love to hear you reading an excerpt from the book. Click here to find everything you need to know to send us a voicemail – and you might hear yourself on the show sometime!

Open Stacks is produced by Jackson Roach and hosted by Alena Jones. This episode features music by Loyalty Freak Music, Blue Dot Sessions, Daniel Birch, Gallery Six, and Andrei Pohorelsky, as well as excerpts from virtual events co-hosted by the Seminary Co-op and our myriad community partners over the last year.

For a complete list of books mentioned in this episode, as well as details about the events you heard excerpts from, click here.

Read moreCollapse

Observer Observed: A Visit to the Front Table

Wednesday, June 9, 2021 • Duration 22:23

In this episode, Alena takes a tour around the Front Table, guided by Bryce Lucas, manager of 57th Street Books. Circling the table, they move from bald philosophy to the physics of crumpled paper, from an Icelandic fisheries museum to the shifting nature of observation itself.

Have a perspective to share? We'll be featuring listeners' voices throughout the season. This time: tell us about a book you loved on first reading, but hated the second time around – or vice versa. Share the story of your change in perspective, and your favorite (or least favorite) passage from the book. Find recording guidelines and send in your answer here.

Open Stacks is hosted by Alena Jones and produced by Jackson Roach. This episode features music by johnny_ripper, Daniel Birch, and Andrei Pohorelsky.

Find a list of books mentioned in this episode here.

Read moreCollapse

Not New in a New Way: Elizabeth Branch Dyson & Haki Madhubuti

Wednesday, May 26, 2021 • Duration 40:25

In this first episode of the fourth season, we sit down with Elizabeth Branch Dyson, assistant editorial director and executive editor at the University of Chicago Press, to hear how she approaches acquiring widely accessible books for an academic press. Bryce (manager of 57th Street Books) takes us on a tour around the Co-op's Front Table, checking out a few recent releases. We're then joined by poet, author, and publisher Haki Madhubuti, who talks to us about his journey through books, the founding of Third World Press, and the draw of the Front Table. Throughout, we hear "spine poems" composed by booksellers at the Seminary Co-op and 57th Street Books. Have something to say? We'll be featuring listeners' voices throughout the season. First up: tell us about a meaningful book you've come across accidentally in the past year. We'd love to hear the story behind your discovery or even just your favorite passage. Submit your answers through this form here. Open Stacks is hosted by Alena Jones (director of buying and content) and produced by Jackson Roach. This episode features music by Daniel Birch, johnny_ripper, junior85, and alright lover. For a close-to-complete list of books featured in this (and every) episode, head to our website: semcoop.com/openstacks

Read moreCollapse

Open Stacks Returns

Friday, May 14, 2021 • Duration 01:01

A new season of Open Stacks, coming soon from the Seminary Co-op Bookstores in Chicago, the first not-for-profit bookstores whose mission is bookselling.

This teaser features music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Read moreCollapse

Narrative Threads: Jordan Alexander Stein & Jasmon Drain

Sunday, March 15, 2020 • Duration 49:32

Think you know how fiction works? Think again on this episode of Open Stacks with literary theorist Jordan Alexander Stein, who joins us in the stacks for a look at When Novels Were Books. Plus, Jasmon Drain and Ben Austen discuss Drain’s novelistic collection of stories about the interconnected lives of residents of “the biggest concrete building on Chicago’s South Side,” Stateway’s Garden. And the Co-op’s Colin and Alena find humor in paying attention. You’ll never judge a book by its genre again.

This episode was produced by Elliot Ducree, Veronica Karlin, and Jackson Roach. It features music by Andrei Pohorelsky, Kevin MacLeod, and Blue Dot Sessions.

Read moreCollapse

Books on Books: Craig Fehrman, Anna Kornbluh & Booksellers Off the Clock

Monday, March 2, 2020 • Duration 01:17:38

From our nation’s highest office to the uncharted territories of political formalism, we trust in books to take us in and out of the bookstore on this episode of Open Stacks, with journalist and historian Craig Fehrman on presidential authorship and literary theorist Anna Kornbluh on the future of social space and the novels on which it stands. Plus, booksellers off the clock, and what’s not to like about Wuthering Heights. Find books that break ground and more reasons to dig into what might be our most meta episode yet.

Read moreCollapse

Visual Memories: Berthold Hoeckner, Leila Taylor & Adam Sonderberg

Monday, February 17, 2020 • Duration 58:44

On this episode of Open Stacks, Professor of Music Berthold Hoeckner spins a record of cultural memory made audible in films focused on the past, from Casablanca to Sleepless in Seattle in his book, Film, Music, Memory, as Leila Taylor turns over our shared, if buried, history of racism in Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul. Plus, looking back with Adam Sonderberg on his tenure at the Co-op and the books that struck a chord.

This episode was produced by Elliot Ducree, Veronica Karlin, and Jackson Roach. It features music by Andrei Pohorelsky, Kevin MacLeod, johnny_ripper, and Blue Dot Sessions,.

Read moreCollapse

Open Stacks – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Open Stacks – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other61

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other61

Youtube7

Apple Podcast1