Quillette

Quillette Podcast

News EN ↓ 344 episodes

Long-form conversations with scientists, writers, historians, and public intellectuals on the ideas shaping — and dividing — the Western world. Mostly hosted by Jonathan Kay — Canadian journalist, author, and Quillette editor whose books include Among the Truthers , a landmark investigation into conspiracy culture. Kay brings a rare combination of intellectual range, genuine curiosity, and willingness to push back, whether the subject is evolutionary biology, cancel culture, geopolitics, or the philosophy of free speech. Non-dogmatic, evidence-driven, and unafraid of controversy.

Author

Quillette

Episodes

Sri Lankan by Birth, Tamil by Heritage, Canadian by Choice 19.12.2025 31:11

⁠Prisoner #1056⁠ author Roy Ratnavel discusses his journey from a prison cell in war-torn Sri Lanka to the heights of Canada’s financial industry—and the (sometimes politically incorrect) lessons about race, immigration, and multiculturalism he’s learned along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Genius of Jane Austen 17.12.2025 1:22:17

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Jane Austen scholar John Mullan to commemorate the 250th anniversary of her birth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marriage and Divorce in America 04.12.2025 15:23

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to sociologist Nicholas Wolfinger about trends in marriage, divorce, and maternity in the US from the 1950s to the present day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Gay Author’s Escape from Cults, Drugs, Queer Radicalism, and ‘Scrupulosity’ 30.11.2025 46:20

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with writer Ben Appel about his new memoir, Cis White Gay: The Making of a Gender Heretic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jesse Brown’s Rude Awakening 21.11.2025 52:39

In an interview with Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay, Canadaland publisher Jesse Brown discusses how an anti-Israel faction within his own subscriber base tried to cancel him after he began speaking out about the rise of antisemitism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ancient Christianities: The First 500 Years 13.11.2025 37:19

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with biblical scholar Paula Fredriksen, whose new book describes the theological diversity that existed among Christian communities before Nicene Christianity was adopted as Rome’s state religion in the fourth century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Finding Humor in Dark Places 10.11.2025 53:21

Quillette podcast host speaks with ⁠Healing Roar⁠ founder and comedian Matthew Pettit, who candidly tells audiences about the severe childhood abuse that once propelled him into a life of sexual confusion, meth addiction, crime, and incarceration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Crisis of Tolerance 05.11.2025 14:20

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Harry Saul Markham about the increasingly acute threat of Islamism in the UK and the normalisation of virulent antisemitism among British Muslims. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is There a Politically Motivated ‘War on Science’? (And If So, Who’s Waging It?) 01.11.2025 33:47

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with theoretical physicist and cosmologist Lawrence Krauss about ⁠his latest book projec⁠t, in which renowned scholars speak out about threats to open inquiry and the scientific process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Machetes in Melbourne 25.10.2025 14:35

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to criminal justice researcher Andrew Bushnell about the many causes of the recent surge in crime in Melbourne. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Cult Child to Chess Wunderkind 20.10.2025 37:13

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Danny Rensch about his astounding journey from the ‘Church of Immortal Consciousness’ to the role of Chief Chess Officer at Chess.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Desexing the Language of Motherhood 09.10.2025 15:17

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Dr Karleen Gribble, who works in the field of maternal and infant health, on the impacts of desexed language on women’s healthcare and wellbeing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Managing the Growing Gender-Critical Counterrevolution 04.10.2025 45:01

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks with Canadian Genspect director Mia Hughes about the emerging ‘gender glasnost’—and the best way to continue rolling back the excesses of trans activism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The End of Woke 25.09.2025 15:24

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to author Andrew Doyle about his new book, The End of Woke: How the Culture War Went Too Far and What to Expect from the Counter-Revolution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When New Netherland Became New York 20.09.2025 35:18

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Russell Shorto, whose new book chronicles the extraordinary events in 1664 that delivered Manhattan from the Dutch to the British. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Should Feminists Work with the Right? 11.09.2025 14:43

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to philosopher Holly Lawford-Smith about her new book, Feminism Beyond Left and Right. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

RFK Jr.’s Unprecedented Attack on Life-saving Vaccines 06.09.2025 38:02

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Stanford University infectious diseases expert Jake Scott about the perils of rolling back immunization treatments for COVID, RSV, and Measles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Modular Mind 28.08.2025 14:55

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to evolutionary psychologist Rob Kurzban about his book Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Jewish Girl in Revolutionary Iran 22.08.2025 15:52

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Roya Hakakian about her extraordinary memoir, Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Does It Take to Develop a ‘Scrabble-Shaped Brain’? 16.08.2025 43:20

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks to linguist, mathematician, and tournament organizer John Chew about the world of ultra-elite Scrabble word-masters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Parsi: A Fiercely Contested Identity 08.08.2025 16:02

Iona Italia talks to novelist and historian Nev March about how a series of landmark court cases in the 19th and 20th centuries upended both the Indian legal system and the Parsi community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How LGB Became Estranged from T 31.07.2025 36:49

Gay activist-turned-journalist Adam Zivo explains how radicalized forms of trans and queer advocacy became a liability to the once-united LGBT movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

War and the End of Empire 25.07.2025 16:02

Iona Italia talks to historian and film-maker Phil Craig about the latest in his series of books about World War II: 1945: A Reckoning: War, Empire and the Struggle for a New World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Entertainment Reporting Gets Political 17.07.2025 36:58

Quillette podcast host interviews veteran entertainment journalist Ben Mulroney—whose career has taken him to the Oscars red carpet and Kelly Ripa’s studio—about how ideological fads have damaged his industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The First Journalists 11.07.2025 16:30

The philosopher Stephen Harrop interviews Quillette’s Managing Editor Iona Italia about her book Anxious Employment on the journalism of Enlightenment London. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices