Best The Seminary Co Op Bookstores Podcasts (2024)

1
Havens for the Heterodox: Seminary Co-op Director Jeff Deutsch on Good Bookstores 11:42

2y ago11:42

11:42

On this special episode of Open Stacks, we hear from Jeff Deutsch, the Director of the Seminary Co-op Bookstores. Jeff's book, In Praise of Good Bookstores, came out from Princeton University Press this Spring, and Jeff has been traveling the country visiting other independent bookstores to talk about it, and about the value of bookselling and book…

1
Meeting Again: Mikki Kendall, Jack Cella, & Colin McDonald 22:16

2+ y ago22:16

22:16

On this episode of Open Stacks, the last of the fourth season, Mikki Kendall remembers a childhood at 57th Street Books and the reading that shapes her writing. We also hear from old friends Jack Cella and Colin McDonald, and from booksellers on the books they return to year after year. For a list of books discussed, music credits, and directions f…

1
Curiosity Is a Skill: On Reading Seriously 26:00

2+ y ago26:00

26:00

This time on Open Stacks, with Philip Leventhal, Elizabeth Branch Dyson, Paul Yamazaki, and Dan Wells, we ask what makes a book "serious." Booksellers Amélie, Annie, and Artemie share scholarly favorites. We're releasing this episode during University Press Week 2021, the 10th annual celebration of these important institutions and the knowledge and…

1
A Cave with Windows: Bookstore as Building 36:37

2+ y ago36:37

36:37

This time on Open Stacks: We explore the rabbit warren of the Co-op’s original location in the old Chicago Theological Seminary with manager emeritus Jack Cella and veteran bookseller Katy O’Brien Weintraub, then emerge from the underground with architect Margaret McCurry, who was integral in the creation of our new space in the sun. Paul Yamazaki,…

1
At All Costs: Dave Eggers, Dan Wells, Ann Kjellberg, & Paul Yamazaki 15:57

2+ y ago15:57

15:57

On this episode, authors, publishers, editors and booksellers reflect on the value of their work, and what it takes to make a great bookstore thrive. Plus, an out-of-the-way reading list from our bookseller Mrittika: queer historical fiction... thrillers. For more from the voices you hear in this episode, a list of books mentioned, music credits, a…

1
What's There and What's Not: A Visit to the Front Table 17:29

2+ y ago17:29

17:29

On this episode of open stacks: a ghostly tour of the Co-op's Front Table, from the hauntings of american history to life (and death) advice from Spinoza. For a list of books featured in this episode, music and production credits, and more, visit our website.

1
Escape Tunnel: Philip Leventhal on The Front Table 18:56

2+ y ago18:56

18:56

This time on Open Stacks we hear from Philip Leventhal, editor at Columbia University Press and veteran Co-opian, about the history of the famous Front Table catalog, in its print and digital forms. Then we head to the Front Table (the actual table) for some recent titles on underground transformation. Philip Leventhal is Senior Editor at Columbia …

1
Place to Place: Katarzyna Bartoszyńska & Reuben Jonathan Miller 48:31

2+ y ago48:31

48:31

On this episode of Open Stacks with Katarzyna Bartoszyńska and Reuben Jonathan Miller, we trace paths between: academia and bookselling; Poland and Ireland; animal navigation and interpersonal knowledge; the inside and the outside of the American prison. For a complete list of books mentioned in this episode, music credits, and supplementary materi…

1
A Land Without Trees: A Visit to the Front Table 17:43

2+ y ago17:43

17:43

On this episode of Open Stacks, books from the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun, where the hot springs flow. In the middle of the Summer, a stack of Front Table books from the heart(s) of Winter. Thanks to bookseller Joey for sharing a favorite passage from Roberto Bolaño's The Savage Detectives. If you want to share something you re…

1
Washing a Book: Elizabeth Branch Dyson, Eve Ewing, and Ann Kjellberg 38:38

3y ago38:38

38:38

On this episode of Open Stacks: a prismatic exploration of new releases at the Front Table, an editorial dialogue with Elizabeth Branch Dyson and Eve Ewing, and Ann Kjellberg on a life in publishing, Joseph Brodsky, and how serious books connect us to one another and the world. Elizabeth Branch Dyson is Assistant Editorial Director and Executive Ed…

1
Common Languages: A Visit to the Front Table 18:27

3y ago18:27

18:27

On this episode of Open Stacks, a circle around the Co-op’s Front Table: from a post-war pioneer of Afrofuturism on Chicago’s South Side to the complex communal powers of games like spades, mahjong, and pickup soccer. Thanks to Bryce Lucas for taking us on a tour of the Front Table this time. In this episode, you hear fragments of archival recordin…

1
A Spirit in the Space: On Reopening Our Doors 34:58

3y ago34:58

34:58

On this episode of Open Stacks, we celebrate the Co-op reopening its doors for in-person browsing – the first time since we closed 15 months ago. Browsers, booksellers, authors, and our own Clancey D'Isa and Bryce Lucas discuss the transfiguration of space, absence and presence, the "invisible" work of bookselling, and how reading needn't be a solo…

1
Observer Observed: A Visit to the Front Table 22:23

3y ago22:23

22:23

In this episode, Alena takes a tour around the Front Table, guided by Bryce Lucas, manager of 57th Street Books. Circling the table, they move from bald philosophy to the physics of crumpled paper, from an Icelandic fisheries museum to the shifting nature of observation itself. Have a perspective to share? We'll be featuring listeners' voices throu…

1
Not New in a New Way: Elizabeth Branch Dyson & Haki Madhubuti 40:25

3y ago40:25

40:25

In this first episode of the fourth season, we sit down with Elizabeth Branch Dyson, assistant editorial director and executive editor at the University of Chicago Press, to hear how she approaches acquiring widely accessible books for an academic press. Bryce (manager of 57th Street Books) takes us on a tour around the Co-op's Front Table, checkin…

1
Open Stacks Returns 1:01

3y ago1:01

1:01

A new season of Open Stacks, coming soon from the Seminary Co-op Bookstores in Chicago, the first not-for-profit bookstores whose mission is bookselling. This teaser features music by Blue Dot Sessions.

1
Narrative Threads: Jordan Alexander Stein & Jasmon Drain 49:32

4y ago49:32

49:32

Think you know how fiction works? Think again on this episode of Open Stacks with literary theorist Jordan Alexander Stein, who joins us in the stacks for a look at When Novels Were Books. Plus, Jasmon Drain and Ben Austen discuss Drain’s novelistic collection of stories about the interconnected lives of residents of “the biggest concrete building …