Get Lit Podcast

Send us Fan Mail We're pleased to introduce your new favorite novelist-playwright-garden-designer-baroness-paramour, Vita Sackville-West! We're discussing her wild, wonderful, and slightly witchy life as she disrupted marital expectations, gender rolls, and societal boundaries of her era! This episode is full of delightful stories and wild adventures, so join us for the ride! 

Send us Fan Mail This special episode covers our interviews, stories, and snippets from Printer's Row Lit Fest in Chicago, IL! We talked to people of all ages about the books and authors that changed their lives, who they'd like to take to dinner, and a few literary hot takes! Come along with us and learn about new books, and find out which author won our poll! 

Send us Fan Mail We're exploring the much-neglected legacy of Countee Cullen, Harlem Renaissance poet, playwright, and also, Junior High School teacher! Cullen's work ran counter to many of his contemporaries but made a huge impact on the world of poetry. Despite the mixed reception of his work, he continued to write, create, and challenge the understanding of what it meant to be Black a...

Send us Fan Mail This week, we're featuring the 'Sappho of England': Mary Robinson (not the former Prime Minister of Ireland...)! She lived a life more interesting than her fantastic poetry and prose, which is saying something indeed! Join us for adventure, romance, and a literal man named Banastre Tarleton. 

Send us Fan Mail Even though our author this week didn't live in Paradise, we hope our humor isn't totally Lost! That's right, we're learning about John Milton this week - author of the iconic epic poem with a delightful characterization of Satan, along with many other writings and pamphlets (!!!). This episode also features a short dramatic reading, for your delight and enjoym...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Dan Esquivel joins us to talk about the remarkable living legacy of Griselda Gambaro, Argentine playwright and activist who used her work to fight an oppressive government regime and pull focus to the experiences and voices of the marginalized! Dan has wonderful stories to share - this is an episode you won't want to miss! 

Send us Fan Mail We're waxing poetic about the legacy of the revolutionary and ever eccentric E.E. Cummings! We explore his work and interesting life and events that shaped his style, including being a pacifist during war and a few tumultuous relationships! There also might be an 50 year overdue library book story tossed in for good measure! 

Send us Fan Mail We're here to uncover the mystery behind the author of The Nancy Drew Series! Known to us as Carolyn Keene, the Nancy Drew novels were written by a series of ghost writers since their debut in 1930, but 23 of the original 30 novels were written by the exceptional Mildred Wirt Benson! We focus on her life and legacy in this episode - it's sure to be a marvelous time! 

Send us Fan Mail This week, we're looking at the legacy of Angelina Weld Grimké: poet, playwright, and physical education teacher? That's right! Weld Grimké found a home in education before beginning her work as an author. She wrote tirelessly about the experience of Black Americans through her work, including writing,  Rachel, her powerful response to 'The Birth of A Nation'....

Send us Fan Mail We're covering the flash of tragic poetic brilliance that was Thomas Chatterton. We explore his history and influence along with a healthy dollop of literary forgery! Chatterton inspired the likes of Rossetti, Keats, and Oscar Wilde himself! Join us to learn more about the short life of an extraordinary poet! 

Send us Fan Mail In a bit of a twist this week, we're celebrating the poetic technical writing of Ada Lovelace. Widely considered among the first computer programers, Lovelace fused her talent with words and her passion for programming to write extraordinary articles in a variety of math and science fields. We also include postcards from the East Coast tour, if you're looking for a littl...

Send us Fan Mail Meet the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature: Selma Lagerlöf! In addition to her groundbreaking literary accomplishments, Lagerlöf also inspired generations of students, restored her beautiful childhood home, traveled the world, received an honorary Doctorate, and fought against the Nazi regime... Safe to say, we should all try to live like Selma! 

Send us Fan Mail We're wrapping up our Pride Month Celebration with Federico García Lorca, a poet, playwright, musician, and artist who helped spur a revolution within the artistic communities in Spain and around the world. He used his art to explore his identity, aesthetics, and what it means to experience to full breadth of what it means to be human! 

Send us Fan Mail Get to know the whimsical, hard-working, clever, and Queer author behind the classic children's picture book Goodnight Moon. Margaret Wise Brown was a pioneer in the evolution of children's literature, exploring what it really meant to be a young person. This episode also features a flower cart, a well that doubled as a refrigerator, and a very powerful librarian. 

Send us Fan Mail She has arrived. The Queen of the Paris Lesbians: Natalie Clifford Barney! We're so delighted to speak about the legacy of the woman whose life was as compelling as her writing. She helped shaped generations of writers, artists, and thinkers through her literary salons, hosted with wit, charisma, and eviction? Find out more in this week's episode! 

Send us Fan Mail We're continuing our celebration of Pride Month with Christopher Isherwood, who not only contributed greatly to gay literature, but also served as a model for what an open and public queer relationship could look like. Join us to explore his plays, novels, short stories, screenplays, along with many delightful/wild/thrilling  facts and stories that made Isherwood a true ICON!...

Send us Fan Mail In this week's very special kick off to Pride Month, Steph is joined by co-hosts of the 'Ghosts in the Closet' Podcast, Ailey Yamamoto and Mary Rogers to discuss the controversial legacy of Radclyffe Hall. Hall is often credited with writing the earliest version of Lesbian Pulp Fiction and explored what a non-binary identity could look like. Also featuring trivia, s...

Send us Fan Mail This week, meet the remarkable bohemian author Sanmao who made an incredible impact on the world (very literally - she visited over 50 countries throughout the course of her life!). She changed the literary game with her striking writing, but also empowered women in the way she led her life, resisting societal norms as a true independent spirit. 

Send us Fan Mail We're headed to the Pacific Northwest as Jon takes over this week to present on the incredible author, activist, poet laureate, and change maker, Carlos Bulosan. He discusses the impact of Bulosan's work on communities around the United States and across the decades. 

Send us Fan Mail This week,  in recognition of Jewish American History Month, we honor the legacy of Anne Frank and her extraordinary diary. We hope to further Anne's dream of being recognized as an author and the impact that her words had and continue to have on generations of people around the world. Although not 'American', her diary has deeply impacted American Jews and their un...

Send us Fan Mail We're taking a dive into the complex legacy of Rudyard Kipling. Join us in challenging the traditional cannon and learn more about the youngest Nobel Prize Winner in literature, with side bars in Vermont, Japan, Canada, and England! Also ft. engineering! 

Send us Fan Mail This week, we're featuring an extraordinary playwright, novelist, diarist, and Keeper of the Robes - Fanny Burney! In addition to these titles, she can also be counted in: Jane Austen's inspirations and the woman who helped advance medical science by documenting her own mastectomy without anesthesia. You read that correctly - this woman was truly amazing! 

Send us Fan Mail H.D. doesn't ring a bell? Hilda Doolittle, maybe? Regardless of how familiar she might be to you, you'll definitely enjoy this week's episode! We cover ALL the details of this extraordinary poet, translator, novelist, playwright, actress, and editor's life from her entanglements in both love and literature! 

Send us Fan Mail This week, Get Lit celebrates its 4th birthday! We celebrate by giving some superlative awards (Most likely to star in a reality TV series, #MCM/#WCW, etc...), hear advice from your favorite authors and recount our own famousbirthdays.com data! Many thanks to everyone who supported us on the way to this milestone and for always keeping it lit! 

Send us Fan Mail Jump aboard the USS Get Lit as we journey to the depths of the earth, center of the sea and orbits of the moon through the adventurous life of Jules Verne, one of the founding fathers of Science Fiction. Verne's work laid out concepts for new technology and science as he sought to unit his passions for literature, science, history, and facts - but not really law... Bon voyage...