Allusionist: Curse Soup
Somebody has really ticked you off. You're all steamed up inside and you want to vent that rage using words, but you don't want to confront them directly because you're…
This American Life: We Are in the Future
One of our producers, Neil Drumming, has recently become fascinated with Afrofuturism. It's more than sci-fi. It’s a way of looking at black culture that’s fantastic, creative, and oddly hopeful—which feels especially urgent…
Jennifer Kronovet studied Yiddish so she could communicate with the dead
Kronovet had a ton of ideas for language-related podcast episodes. We eventually settled on her adventures with Yiddish. She shared these adventures with two other students of the language, Faith Jones and Samuel…
The dirty secrets of Hollywood’s golden age
Karina Longworth’s podcast began as a calling card. It was an overnight success
Natalie Shapero Reads “Sunshower”
The editors discuss Natalie Shapero’s poem “Sunshower” from the November 2017 issue of Poetry.
Trick or Treat 2017 – Set 1
The first Trick or Treat Halloween special of 2017 features two tales. The first, A Bridge Too Far, walks us through a winter train ride that went horribly wrong over…
Herman Melville: From obscurity to immortality
When he died at age 72, on September 28, 1891, Herman Melville was so obscure that those who even remembered his literary output presumed that he had passed away many…
Memorial Day – PoetryNow
Sunnylyn Thibodeaux mediates on the anxieties and ambitions of adult life. Produced by Sarah Geis. {listen}
Technobabble
UK podcast star Helen Zaltzman of The Allusionist helps me figure out why one set of poorly understood pseudo-scientific terms can sink a scene, while another set can make a…
“It’s the Language, Stupid.”
Matthew Zapruder discusses the role of language and meaning in poetry and his book of criticism, Why Poetry. {listen}