On today's episode, we revisit a recent conversation with one favorite authors on the podcast, George Saunders, whose new story collection Liberation Day is out now. This episode is brought to you by Bombas, the socks Julia and her family is ALWAYS wearing! Go to bombas.com/disco and use code DISCO for 20% off your purchase! Learn more about your a…

Today, on Literary Disco, we continue our genre-based season. Each episode of this season, we're diving deep into a particular literary genre, exploring what defines it, what makes it work or not work, interviewing authors, talking to fans, scholars, whomever can help us unlock what it is that makes a genre a genre. And with this, our third episode…

Today, we continue our genre-based season where we dive deep into a literary genre exploring what defines it, what makes it work and not work, interviewing authors, talking to fans and scholars, whoever can unlock what makes a genre a genre. In our second episode, we find a body, a clue or two, maybe even some justice. We'll undoubtedly confront th…

Today we launch a new format of the Disco as we begin our "Genre Season." Each episode of this season, we're going to dive deep into a particular literary genre, exploring what defines it, what makes it work or not work, interviewing authors, talking to fans, scholars, whoever can help us unlock what it is that makes a genre a genre. With our inaug…

This is a recording of a live episode from Sea Tea Improv in Hartford, Connecticut, back in March. Julia and Rider are joined by special guests curator Mallory Howard of the Mark Twain House & Museum and librarian Gwen Glazer of the Croton Free Library -- and Tod's disembodied head joining virtually. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphon…

Hey, guys! It's been a while. While Julia may have grown a beard, Rider still hasn't cut his hair, and Tod is still up to his old bullshit, we've been still reading books and are ready to start a new season -- with some surprises! Listen in to find out what we're going to be up to in 2022. We're also coming to a town near you! And by town near you,…

It's episode 200. We're going to talk about what's changed over the years, and maybe do a bookshelf revisit. Who knows?! We're getting old. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Literary Disco

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod head back to school with special guest Bree Rolfe, a teacher from Austin, Texas, where she helps high school students discover literature and creative writing. She is also a poet, whose collection Who's Going to Love the Dying Girl is out now. She is also a dear friend of Literary Disco, a fellow graduate of the Ben…

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod tackle the incredibly popular, enduring, and surprisingly diverse world of the horse girl. We have read a classic of the genre, Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, and have read a new collection of essays edited by Halimah Marcus entitled Horse Girls, in which female writers go deep on horses and the horse gi…

On this episode of Literary Disco, Julia, Rider, and Tod take on John Steinbeck's classic epic novel East of Eden, which centers on the Salinas Valley of California and tells the story of several generations of the Trask and Hamilton families. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

On this episode of Literary Disco, while Rider's off camping, Tod and Julia talk about their philosophy of pool reads—and why they'll read books at the pool that they'd never be caught reading anywhere else. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Literary Disco

On this week's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod read some poetry -- and discuss Lauren Shapiro's poetry collection, Arena, which was published in 2020 to rave reviews. Lauren Shapiro is the author of Easy Math (Sarabande, 2013), which was the winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Prize and the Debut-litzer Prize for Poetry, as well as a chapbook of poems, …

Today, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss three articles from Alta Magazine, the publication based in California that focuses on news, history, literature, and culture, with a decidedly Western bent. Its founder, William Hearst III, declares it to be "a literate magazine that serves as a counterpoint to the New Yorker." Articles discussed: "The Accident…

On today's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod talk about all the things human beings never want to talk about: death, pain, sickness, and more, when we discuss Atul Gawande's seminal 2014 book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Today's sponsor: This episode is supported by GreenChef. Go to GreenChef.com/90disco and use code 90disco to …

On today's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss Brandon Hobson's new novel, The Removed, that follows a Cherokee family in Oklahoma in the aftermath of their son's death at the hands of a police officer. Today's sponsor: This episode is supported by GreenChef. Go to GreenChef.com/90disco and use code 90disco to get $90 off including free shipping…

This week, Julia, Tod, and Rider celebrate Literary Disco’s ninth birthday by breaking out some book games. In Judging a Book by Its Cover, Rider reads the first few lines of a book while Tod and Julia try to guess the era, genre, author, and even the book itself. In Game Two, Julia and Rider try to decipher between a poem, a song, a popular song, …

This week, Julia, Tod, and Rider talk about their favorite crime reads—and why we're so hooked on the genre, anyway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Literary Disco

This week, Julia, Tod, and Rider go behind the scenes of Tod’s new book, The Low Desert, out now from Counterpoint. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Literary Disco

On today's special episode, we are live from LumaCon 2021 — a comic convention brought to you by a cohort of public libraries in Sonoma County, California. Today, we discuss the graphic novel Cruel Summer by Ed Brubaker, and then a Q&A with the live audience. This episode is brought to you by Literati Kids. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit m…

Today, for the first time in a while, Julia, Rider, and Tod tackle a single short story. We solicited our listeners via social media for recommendations, and a couple of you directed us to "The Neighbors" by Shruti Swamy, which is available online at Electric Literature and is part of the collection A House Is a Body. Learn more about your ad choic…

On today's episode, we welcome one of our favorite authors on the podcast, George Saunders, to discuss his latest book, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, which takes a close look at seven Russian short stories and offers insight on reading and writing. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the Faraway Collection. Download n…

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod take on the year 2020 and all its glory and misery. Each of them picks the best thing they read in 2020 for the podcast and the best thing each read on their own... if they found any time to read on their own. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the Faraway Collection. Download now at …

On today's special holiday episode, Rider, Tod, and Julia discuss the work of storyteller and humorist Jean Shepherd, whose book In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash formed the basis for the classic 1980 film A Christmas Story. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the Faraway Collection. Download now at Amazon.com/Fara…

Today, in a special parents only episode, Rider and Julia discuss the works of poet, songwriter, cartoonist, and all-around Renaissance man of children's literature, Shel Silverstein. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the Faraway Collection. Download now at Amazon.com/FarawayStories. Learn more about your ad choices…

A massive art installation in the New Mexico desert. A Manson-like cult leader whose followers barricade themselves inside. An artist plagued by guilt, and a lonely teenager with violent intentions. This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss Scott O'Connor's literary thriller Zero Zone—and why the 1970s was the ideal decade for this story. Learn more…