Get Lit Podcast

Send us Fan Mail "We all know that something is eternal..." could most certainly refer to the impact that Thornton Wilder had on the American literary landscape with his novels, and plays, most notably, 'Our Town'. This week, we celebrate his fascinating life from Wisconsin to China, California or New Hampshire and every where in between. 

Send us Fan Mail In this special episode to kick off the Halloween season, we revisit Edgar Allan Poe - iconic author and poet, critic, cryptographer, and crafter of detective stories! We fill in some of the gaps in his life and provide plenty of stories that make this man as mysterious as his tales... 

Send us Fan Mail This week, meet Puerto Rico's unsung master poet, Julia de Burgos. Her short, remarkable life resembles the myths that had an impact on her work. Like these timeless tales, we hope to celebrate her work so that it lives on eternally! 

Send us Fan Mail We're back to your usually scheduled programming with August Wilson, an extraordinary playwright who revolutionized American theatre with his Century Cycle. We jump across America, following Wilson's unstoppable efforts and success, exploring what it truly means to 'lean ahead'. 

Send us Fan Mail This week, we set up a mic and waited for your stories at the Printer's Row Lit Fest in Chicago, IL. In the first part of this episode, we share your answers to questions like, 'what book or author has had an impact on you?' and 'if you could take a literary character or author to dinner, who would you take and why?' In the second half, we hear from local...

Send us Fan Mail Elizabeth Gask-who? Exactly! We're hoping to shine a light on this oft neglected author of Victorian England who wrote about poverty, double standards, and the working class, made her own money and traveled around Europe! Grab your tea - it's Dickens, without the baggage! 

Send us Fan Mail Eudora Welty. Wildly underrated, glass ceiling shattering, novelist, short story writer, photojournalist, Pulitzer Prize winner, and a card carrying member of the Night-Blooming Cereus Club to boot. Pack some sun lotion and a fan - we're headed to Jackson, Mississippi this week! 

Send us Fan Mail This week: The Woman. The Myth. The Legend: Susan Sontag! We attempt to unpack the persona of an exceptional American author, philosopher, playwright, and director, reconciling her life and work. Special shoutout to Nicholas Cage (seriously). 

Send us Fan Mail Get to know this exceptional poet, speaker, abolitionist, feminist fighter: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper! She was not only first African American woman to publish a short story, but traveled on a tour circuit fighting for liberty and justice for all, in the truest sense of the phrase! 

Send us Fan Mail Learn more about the author who inspired James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, helped bring mental healthcare to Harlem in the 1940's, and starred in a film version of one of his own works, Richard Wright. We hope to inspire you to take a closer look at this remarkable novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, poet, and reformer through this week's research! 

Send us Fan Mail Back from their Minnesota tour, Jon and Steph discuss Minnesotan author and cartoonist, Charles Schulz. With a story that spanned 50 years and 17,000+ comic strips, Schulz has left a legacy across generations, across the globe and even into space! 

Send us Fan Mail Introducing 'Get a Little Lit' - our shorter episodes that feature some of the more unusual stories in literary history! This week, we're delighted to bring you the story of Nancy Luce, the Madonna of the Chickens! She's as legendary as that title proclaims... listen to find out more about this extraordinary poet who lived her entire life on a small island off...

Send us Fan Mail Jon covers Indiana superstar poet & performer, James Whitcomb Riley. Fun Fact: We can definitely attribute #girlboss to Riley. Seriously. Find out how in this week's episode AND listen for a special (little) announcement! 

Send us Fan Mail This week, Steph took up the field work to report on Jim Harrison from Northern Michigan, with a feature on Ernest Hemingway! Harrison fused philosophy with nature, blended with his signature rugged voice. Grab a lawn chair and join us in the field! 

Send us Fan Mail This week, we have a TRUNK to unpack with the interesting life of Patricia Highsmith - iconic murder thriller and LGBTQ+ writer who was as fascinating a character as the ones she wrote! Join us, The Talented Mr. Ripley for a ride with some Strangers on a Train for this exciting episode! 

Send us Fan Mail We're featuring a wildly underrated expert of the Southern Gothic genre: Carson McCullers, who helped redefine the search for identity in American culture and what it means to understand 'the others' of society. 

Send us Fan Mail We're CHARGING forward this week IN MEMORIAM of Victorian star poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson! Come learn about the icon behind the most heart-breakingly beautiful poetry and the phrase "Tis better to have loved and lost, / Than never to have loved at all"... 

Send us Fan Mail We honor the remarkable, colorful children's book author and illustrator Eric Carle, who left a deep and lasting impact on picture books, how we see bugs, and a very fat cat called Julian. Join us to learn about his unexpected life before the books and the origins of The Very Hungry Caterpillar! 

Send us Fan Mail We're headed ALL the way back to the Greek Island of Lesbos to celebrate the exquisite, striking, and extraordinary poetry of Sappho, often just referred to as 'The Poetess' because she was THAT good! Join us as we attempt to piece together the various fragments of her poetry and her life! 

Send us Fan Mail This week, we welcome guest Mark Frale to discuss and explore the controversial, colorful life of the 2nd youngest Nobel Prize for Literature Winner, Albert Camus (with plenty of Greek Myth references and conspiracy theories to boot)! 

Send us Fan Mail Jon takes us through the wild life of Gore Vidal as we kick off pride month and celebrate LGBTQ+ authors, ft. world travels due to exile, pen names, and a few fights (verbal and physical)... 

Send us Fan Mail This week, we take a look at Justin Chin - a spoken word and performance art creator, poet, and author who also helped explore the modern intersectional nature of immigration stories, LGBTQ+ communities, and inequity. He used his voice as a signal for change, and his legacy lives on today. 

Send us Fan Mail This week, learn about the legacy of Hisaye Yamamoto, an extraordinary Japanese-American author with a harrowing experience in the Interment Camps of WWII. Her work captured the experiences of so many whose narratives were typically ignored as she fought for justice over the course of her life. 

Send us Fan Mail This week, we learn about the first American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, among many other accolades and who introduced Western audiences to Asian cultures: Pearl Buck. Jon takes us back and forth between China and the US, unpacking the complex relationship that Pearl shared in her multi-cultural upbringing. 

Send us Fan Mail Jon takes over this week and reports out on Miguel de Cervantes, a Spanish author most famous for writing Don Quixote. Also featuring William Shakespeare, pirates, and a series of odd jobs!