Get Lit Podcast

This week, we're looking at the legacy of Angelina Weld Grimké: poet, playwright, and physical education teacher? That's right! Weld Grimké found a home in education before beginning her work as an author. She wrote tirelessly about the experience of Black Americans through her work, including writing,  Rachel, her powerful response to 'The Birth of A Nation'. Come learn with us about her remarkable work! 

We're covering the flash of tragic poetic brilliance that was Thomas Chatterton. We explore his history and influence along with a healthy dollop of literary forgery! Chatterton inspired the likes of Rossetti, Keats, and Oscar Wilde himself! Join us to learn more about the short life of an extraordinary poet! 

In a bit of a twist this week, we're celebrating the poetic technical writing of Ada Lovelace. Widely considered among the first computer programers, Lovelace fused her talent with words and her passion for programming to write extraordinary articles in a variety of math and science fields. We also include postcards from the East Coast tour, if you're looking for a little more adventure! 

Meet the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature: Selma Lagerlöf! In addition to her groundbreaking literary accomplishments, Lagerlöf also inspired generations of students, restored her beautiful childhood home, traveled the world, received an honorary Doctorate, and fought against the Nazi regime... Safe to say, we should all try to live like Selma! 

We're wrapping up our Pride Month Celebration with Federico García Lorca, a poet, playwright, musician, and artist who helped spur a revolution within the artistic communities in Spain and around the world. He used his art to explore his identity, aesthetics, and what it means to experience to full breadth of what it means to be human! 

Get to know the whimsical, hard-working, clever, and Queer author behind the classic children's picture book Goodnight Moon. Margaret Wise Brown was a pioneer in the evolution of children's literature, exploring what it really meant to be a young person. This episode also features a flower cart, a well that doubled as a refrigerator, and a very powerful librarian. 

She has arrived. The Queen of the Paris Lesbians: Natalie Clifford Barney! We're so delighted to speak about the legacy of the woman whose life was as compelling as her writing. She helped shaped generations of writers, artists, and thinkers through her literary salons, hosted with wit, charisma, and eviction? Find out more in this week's episode! 

We're continuing our celebration of Pride Month with Christopher Isherwood, who not only contributed greatly to gay literature, but also served as a model for what an open and public queer relationship could look like. Join us to explore his plays, novels, short stories, screenplays, along with many delightful/wild/thrilling  facts and stories that made Isherwood a true ICON! 

This week, meet the remarkable bohemian author Sanmao who made an incredible impact on the world (very literally - she visited over 50 countries throughout the course of her life!). She changed the literary game with her striking writing, but also empowered women in the way she led her life, resisting societal norms as a true independent spirit. 

We're headed to the Pacific Northwest as Jon takes over this week to present on the incredible author, activist, poet laureate, and change maker, Carlos Bulosan. He discusses the impact of Bulosan's work on communities around the United States and across the decades. 

This week,  in recognition of Jewish American History Month, we honor the legacy of Anne Frank and her extraordinary diary. We hope to further Anne's dream of being recognized as an author and the impact that her words had and continue to have on generations of people around the world. Although not 'American', her diary has deeply impacted American Jews and their understanding of the Holocaust. 

We're taking a dive into the complex legacy of Rudyard Kipling. Join us in challenging the traditional cannon and learn more about the youngest Nobel Prize Winner in literature, with side bars in Vermont, Japan, Canada, and England! Also ft. engineering! 

This week, we're featuring an extraordinary playwright, novelist, diarist, and Keeper of the Robes - Fanny Burney! In addition to these titles, she can also be counted in: Jane Austen's inspirations and the woman who helped advance medical science by documenting her own mastectomy without anesthesia. You read that correctly - this woman was truly amazing! 

H.D. doesn't ring a bell? Hilda Doolittle, maybe? Regardless of how familiar she might be to you, you'll definitely enjoy this week's episode! We cover ALL the details of this extraordinary poet, translator, novelist, playwright, actress, and editor's life from her entanglements in both love and literature! 

This week, Get Lit celebrates its 4th birthday! We celebrate by giving some superlative awards (Most likely to star in a reality TV series, #MCM/#WCW, etc...), hear advice from your favorite authors and recount our own famousbirthdays.com data! Many thanks to everyone who supported us on the way to this milestone and for always keeping it lit! 

Jump aboard the USS Get Lit as we journey to the depths of the earth, center of the sea and orbits of the moon through the adventurous life of Jules Verne, one of the founding fathers of Science Fiction. Verne's work laid out concepts for new technology and science as he sought to unit his passions for literature, science, history, and facts - but not really law... Bon voyage! 

This week's hot take: we should all want to be Sylvia Beach when we grow up... Learn more about the founder of Shakespeare and Company, translator, editor, author, and patron saint of booksellers as we jet off to Paris in celebration of her ongoing impact on the literary world! 

Just in time for extended St. Patrick's Day festivities, we're celebrating Irish author James Joyce, author of Ulysses, The Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and more! We interview Jon DiSavino, the actor behind the 'Short Story Today' podcast who is also featuring Joyce this week. Filled with some fantastic stories that seem like his fiction, we hope you enjoy this special episode!