Nerdette

WBEZ Chicago

4.6 (51)
SOCIETY & CULTURE
UPDATED WEEKLY

Nerdette is a weekly interview show that helps you unwind with fun conversations, inspiring ideas, and delightful recommendations. And join us every month for the Nerdette Bookclub!

28/05/2024

Goodbye for now!

As y’all probably know, we’re calling this the “goodbye for now” episode of Nerdette because it’s our last episode while we’re employees at WBEZ. So, we thought it was the perfect time to call up Nerdette co-creator Tricia Bobeda and Nerdette Recaps co-host Peter Sagal to play our favorite game, Burden or Delight. Then, we hear from YOU about what Nerdette has meant to you for the past 11 years. We ultimately hope to find a new home for Nerdette! You can keep in touch with the team by joining our Facebook group, following Anna (@annabaumanation) and Greta (@gretamjohnsen) on Instagram, and subscribing to Greta’s newsletter. Thank you for 11 amazing years. We love you! ]]>

35 min
24/05/2024

Nerdette Book Club: More with Amor Towles, LIVE!

May’s Book Club selection is the fabulous short story collection ‘Table for Two’ by Amor Towles. It was amazing to get to talk to Amor in front of a LIVE audience in Chicago a few weeks ago. Since we were only able to share about half of that conversation in the podcast feed, we decided to bring you more from our chat and dive even deeper into the book! A programming note – this is our second to last episode as a production at WBEZ. We are ultimately looking for a new home for the show. But until we figure that out, we’ll have one more episode on Tuesday. ]]>

20 min
17/05/2024

All the books to read this summer!!!

This week, we ask voracious reader Liberty Hardy to rave about the best books coming out this summer. Liberty is the host of the Book Riot podcast ‘All the Books!’ She and Greta trade their top picks. Here are the titles in the order that they’re mentioned in the episode: ‘Fire Exit’ by Morgan Talty (6/3)‘The Ministry of Time’ by Kaliane Bradley (5/7)‘The Stardust Grail’ by Yume Kitasei (6/1)‘Oye’ by Melissa Mogollon (5/14)‘Margo's Got Money Troubles’ by Rufi Thorpe (6/11)‘The God of the Woods’ by Liz Moore (7/2) ‘Bear’ by Julia Phillips (6/25)‘Hum’ by Helen Phillips (8/6)‘The Most’ by Jessica Anthony (7/30)]]>

21 min
10/05/2024

A kitchen therapy session with Tamar Adler

This week, cookbook author and leftovers lover Tamar Adler joins us to answer YOUR questions on cooking, hosting and eating. Tamar is the author of 'The Everlasting Meal' and 'The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z.' She also writes the newsletter “The Kitchen Shrink,” where she regularly gives out culinary advice. ]]>

38 min
07/05/2024

Nerdette Book Club LIVE with Amor Towles!

This week, we are bringing you a special LIVE edition of Nerdette Book Club!!! The great Amor Towles, author of 'A Gentleman in Moscow' and 'The Lincoln Highway,' joined us in front of a live audience at the Athenaeum Theater in Chicago to discuss our May Book Club selection, his most recent book 'Table for Two!' It’s a collection of six different short stories set in New York City and a novella based on characters from his first novel, 'Rules of Civility,' set in Los Angeles during the Golden Age of Hollywood. This is a spoiler-free conversation! We’ll be back at the end of the month with more. ]]>

32 min
03/05/2024

A joyfully defiant summer playlist

This week, we’re sharing some of the best new music out this summer! Our friend Kristen Kurtis is the assistant music director and Morning Show host at WXPN in Philadelphia. We asked her to bring us some fun and maybe even a little angry songs to rock out to this summer. You can find this collection of “joyfully defiant” songs below or listen along on our Spotify playlist. Want to add to the playlist? Send us an email at nerdettepodcast@gmail.com or a dm on Instagram! “Hater’s Anthem” by Infinity Song “Change Shapes” by Lauren Mayberry “Sometimes” by Mannequin Pussy “Suffer” by Pillow Queens. “Cartagena” by Reyna Tropical “Broken Man” by St. Vincent “The Feminine Urge” by The Last Dinner Party ]]>

16 min
30/04/2024

Nerdette Book Club discusses ‘Beautyland’

Our April Book Club pick is Marie-Helene Bertino’s second novel 'Beautyland.' It tells the story of Adina, a girl born in Philadelphia in 1977, just as the Voyager I spacecraft launches from Earth in search of extraterrestrial life. As a child, Adina learns she herself is an alien, and her mission is to send her observations about humanity to her supervisors via fax machine (it is the ‘80s, after all). With that conceit, Bertino paints a gorgeous tapestry of what it means to be human, filled with poetic descriptions of the utterly mundane. This book is full of love, longing, and curiosity. We are joined by two expert readers: Mira Jacob, the author of the novel ‘The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing’ and the graphic memoir ‘Good Talk,’ and Molly McGhee, whose novel ‘Jonathan Abernathy You are Kind’ was our January Book Club selection! We discuss the book in detail, including spoilers! So if you have not read the book yet, go back and listen to our spoiler-free chat with author Marie-Helene Bertino in the feed first. ]]>

44 min
26/04/2024

CORGIS ARE DELIGHTFUL

This week, we are taking some time to reflect on the past *11 years* of Nerdette by listening to two of our all-time favorite interviews. First, Greta and Stephen King (yes, that Stephen King) bond over their shared love of corgis. Then, poet Ross Gay tells us about 'The Book of Delights,' a collection of essays about finding delight everyday. We also want to let you know that Nerdette’s last episode at WBEZ will be May 28. Thank you for all of the love and support! ]]>

20 min

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Greta Johnsen

Host

4.6

out of 5

51 Ratings

Amazing

29/03/2020

Tweedster1988

I love this podcast! Thank you so much for everything you do!
Greta and Trisha are my podcast queens

05/06/2018

Monkey_KC

I love Nerdette. Where else can you get River Song talking about alliums, Tom Hanks talking about typewriters and bassoons. All the bassoons. They’re in Chicago, I’m in Scotland, but Greta and Trisha make my morning commute so much fun for this little nerd.
Nerdettes unite!

19/02/2018

hendykitcat

A super find - smart, sassy and scintillating. Really happy I've found you.
As a happy nerd, I welcome more nerdiness.

31/05/2018

tylerandjack

Not ENTIRELY won over yet, but it is early days for me (I'm a latecomer and only a few episodes in right now). It's good, and each relatively short episode is jam-packed with fun stuff, but stops just short of being great. So far. This review may be subject to change within the next few months.

Nerdette is a weekly interview show that helps you unwind with fun conversations, inspiring ideas, and delightful recommendations. And join us every month for the Nerdette Bookclub!