Get Lit Podcast

Send us Fan Mail This week's hot take: we should all want to be Sylvia Beach when we grow up... Learn more about the founder of Shakespeare and Company, translator, editor, author, and patron saint of booksellers as we jet off to Paris in celebration of her ongoing impact on the literary world! 

Send us Fan Mail Just in time for extended St. Patrick's Day festivities, we're celebrating Irish author James Joyce, author of Ulysses, The Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and more! We interview Jon DiSavino, the actor behind the 'Short Story Today' podcast who is also featuring Joyce this week. Filled with some fantastic stories that seem like his fiction,...

Send us Fan Mail Some pig! Well, author... This week, we're recounting the life of E.B. White, author of numerous novels, poems, and essays for children and adults, but most famously: Charlotte's Webb and Stuart Little! We also answer the age-old question: Is Stuart Little actually a mouse?!

Send us Fan Mail Meet the woman behind the Irish literary renaissance: Lady Augusta Gregory! A preservation powerhouse, Lady Gregory ensured that Irish history, literature, theatre, and culture was recorded for future generations (including us!) to enjoy. Come celebrate both Women's and Irish History month, Get Lit style! 

Send us Fan Mail You may know him as an 'explorer' but we're discussing Sir Walter Raleigh as a poet and author whose titles are nearly as long as his works! This episode includes some fantastic stories and features Jon singing, along with a beheading (Sir Walter, not Jon...), so be sure to tune in! 

Send us Fan Mail We're taking a deeper dive into the women of the Harlem Renaissance with this week's author, Nella Larsen. Larson was a nurse, librarian, and volunteer in addition to writing some extraordinary work exploring what it means to be biracial and her experiences grappling with her identity between worlds. We also discuss the growing interest in her work amongst present day sc...

Send us Fan Mail Get to know the extraordinary woman behind the Harlem Renaissance: Jessie Redmon Fauset! This remarkable teacher, editor, and author helped to foster the careers of Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and others, in addition to her dedication to education! She's someone you definitely need to know more about! 

Send us Fan Mail This week, we're featuring Alain Lock, the Father of the Harlem Renaissance and an incredible trail blazer for African Americans in the academic, philosophical, and cultural realms! We examine the tensions of his legacy and reflect on the incredible advancements that he and others alongside him were able to achieve in a world determined to hold them back. 

Send us Fan Mail To kick off our celebration of Black Authors for Black History Month, we honor the legacy of bell hooks, who died this past December after an incredible career as an author, poet, teacher, activist, and critic. She challenges us to love as an action, rather than feeling to make this world a better place. 

Send us Fan Mail We're on a literary pilgrimage of sorts as we trace the life of Geoffrey Chaucer, 'The Father of English Literature' across his various jobs and literary works! From poetry to an astrolabe manual, and diplomat to gardener, there really wasn't much he didn't cover in his writing or get paid to do! 

Send us Fan Mail Possibly our most charming episode yet, we're celebrating the literary contributions of author, playwright, and poet A.A. Milne! Most known for creating Winnie the Pooh, Milne's work of all sorts has been cherished by generations of families and fans. Join us this week as we head off to the Hundred-Acre Woods! 

Send us Fan Mail This week, a tribute to the woman who did all she could to further equality for all and then kept going: Julia Ward Howe. Most famous for writing the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' and championing the causes of women and other marginalized groups, may we take inspiration from her and all aspire to look like a walnut. 

Send us Fan Mail Looking for some inspiration for 2022? Let Robert Louis Stevenson show you the way! This popular Scottish author took young and old readers alike through physical and mental journeys in his works, including Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, among many others! Join us for this seafaring adventure!

Send us Fan Mail In our last episode of 2021, we remember Joan Didion who revolutionized journalism as we know it, capturing the unique American experiences during the second half of the 20th century. She died on December 23 at the age of 87. 

Send us Fan Mail This week, just in time for Christmas, we answer all your literary-oriented Christmas questions! Ever wonder why Charles Dickens wrote Christmas ghost stories? Or how Santa's reindeer got their names? Or how the Nutcracker came to be a season classic? Tune in while you're opening your stockings or gifts or just enjoying your weekend! 

Send us Fan Mail As we head into December, the time for FROST is upon us! That's right - Robert Frost! We head out East (mostly) to explore the life of this failed chicken farmer, teacher, newspaper delivery person and four-time Pulitzer Prize winning poet. We're off on a road less traveled by, come along for the walk! 

Send us Fan Mail A noble bloodline. A stay at a convent. Crossdressing. Hidden identities. Numerous affairs. Revolution. Sound like the plot of a fantastic adventure story? Yes! But it also captures just some of George Sand's life experiences! Tune in this week for an absolutely bananas report on a French literary legend that you'll have to hear to believe! 

Send us Fan Mail This week, we remember theatrical titan Stephen Sondheim and his extraordinary life and legacy. His lyrics brought a profound freedom to the human experience, inspiring countless theatre artists and patrons alike. We'd like to propose a toast to Mr. Sondheim. 

Send us Fan Mail To honor American Indian Heritage Month, we're featuring author, speaker, and activist, Simon Pokagon. Known for his work advocating for Indigenous land rights through his writing and speeches, Pokagon's legacy is charged but very worth examining. Thank you to our listener Rebecca for this recommendation!

Send us Fan Mail We're spending this week in Europe, as we cover poet, playwright, and the first Nobel Laureate in Literature from Ireland: William Butler Yeats! Join us for some ghost stories and a sidebar in Germany with Jon! 

Send us Fan Mail We heard you called for a magical realist, multilingual, genre-defying author from Argentina! And we're here to deliver! Well, Jon specifically, who will be sharing out this week on the remarkable life of Jorge Luis Borges! Grab your sun lotion and shades - we're headed south of the equator! 

Send us Fan Mail Never heard of Neith Boyce? Meet the woman who wanted to make it possible for women to live as bachelors. A columnist, journalist, novelist, and playwright, Neith Boyce blazed a trail that we're still following today! 

Send us Fan Mail Just in time for Halloween, we jump into the history of some more unusual books, featuring a how-to guide to summoning your own demon, books bound in human skin, 'the witches hammer' that spurred on the witch hunts of Europe, and a book written by the ghost of Mark Twain, this episode is sure to get you into the spooky spirit! 

Send us Fan Mail Jon is enroute to Germany and shares his explorations of the life of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the German Shakespeare. There are career switches to silver mining, disguises, and a reluctance to travel to Italy, along with too many jokes about eyes... Here we Goethe! 

Send us Fan Mail Arguably the most important labor journalist of the 20th century, Mary Heaton Vorse advocated for the rights of women, children, workers, and people living in poverty over the course of her 70 year career. This week, we salute her extraordinary legacy just after her 147th birthday!