How Literature Can Save the World

Michelle R. Brady
  • 5.0 (6)
  • BOOKS
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Discussions and interviews with authors, scholars, and readers about the power of words, how to use that power to unite people, and what keeps readers interested and entertained enough to gain emotional perspective.

  1. FEB 12

    11 - Layers and Layers and Layers with Matt K. Parker

    Matt K. Parker has been many things in his life: a musician, a programmer, an activist, a writer, a consultant, a business owner, a husband, a father. And he's lived in many places, including Texas, New York, California, and Connecticut. But amidst all the life and career changes, and all the moving from one coast to the other and back, the one constant in his life has been reading.    Whether hiding with a book in his closet as a kid, or burying his nose in a book on a subway train, or waking up before dawn to get a quiet hour of reading done before his many boisterous children awaken, Matt has always found refuge in reading. And although his reading tastes have varied widely over his life, he has, for the last few years, increasingly settled into reading literature, from the ancient to the contemporary.    Today, Matt likes to interact with other fans of literature on Twitter, where he both sources recommendations for books from others, and also shares out his own thoughts on what he's reading. And Matt currently dreams of founding a non-profit dedicated to increasing adult literature readership by an order of magnitude, focused first on readership in the United States, but then expanding to the entire globe.   You can follow Matt on twitter at @realmattkparker.

    46 min

  2. FEB 10

    Books of Hope, Resilience, and Action with Michelle R. Brady

    Watch this episode here: https://youtu.be/5fsc-6-XpNU

    13 min

  3. JAN 29

    10 - Living Other Lives with Randy Winston

    Randy Winston, writer, Director of Fiction at The Black List, host of the podcast, Read the Acknowledgments, and former Creative Director for the Center for Fiction. Find him at RW. Watch this interview at https://youtu.be/kePiTHOhDLU

    43 min

  4. JAN 16

    9 - Poetry to Connect and Change Us with Hugh Martin

    Hugh Martin, poet and author of In Country and The Stick Soldiers, editor of War, Literature, and the Arts, professor, and veteran of the conflict in Iraq.

    57 min

  5. JAN 1

    8 - A Safe Space to Read with Joe Meno

    Joe Meno, author of Hairstyles of the Damned, Marval and a Wonder, The Boy Detective Fails, and Book of Extraordinary Tragedies; editor and professor.

    1h 23m

  6. 12/18/2025

    7 - Changing the Narrative with Natalia Theodoridou

    Natalia Theodoridou is a transmasculine writer whose stories have appeared in publications such as Kenyon Review, The Cincinnati Review, Ninth Letter, and Strange Horizons, and have been translated into Italian, French, Greek, Estonian, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic. He won the 2018 World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction, the 2022 Emerging Writer Award by Moniack Mhor & The Bridge Awards, and the Nebula Award in 2025. He holds a PhD in media and cultural studies from SOAS, University of London. Born in Greece, with roots in Georgia, Russia, and Turkey, he currently lives in the UK. His debut novel, Sour Cherry, a queer Bluebeard retelling about toxic masculinity and cycles of abuse, came out in April 2025 from Tin House (US) and Wildfire (UK).  Website: www.natalia-theodoridou.com

    44 min

  7. 12/04/2025

    6 - Dichotomies with Elizabeth Lukacs Chesla

    Elizabeth Lukács Chesla is the daughter of Hungarian refugees and a mother of three. Her award-winning fiction debut, You Cannot Forbid the Flower, was published in 2023. She writes, edits, and teaches from the suburbs of Philadelphia, where she was born and raised. Liz holds an MA in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University and certificates in Transformative Language Arts and trauma-sensitive yoga. She has taught a wide range of writing and literature courses and is an emerging literary translator. A dedicated and compassionate editor and educator, Liz serves as fiction editor for Consequence Forum and senior editor for Inch and Meter. She teaches at Gwynedd Mercy University. Find her (and purchase her book!) at ELIZABETH LUKÁCS CHESLA – author and editor.

    54 min

  8. 11/20/2025

    5 - What One Person Can Do...with Adrian Bonenberger

    Adrian Bonenberger is the author of The Afghan Post and The Road Home, a New York Times and Foreign Policy contributor, the founder of Wrath-Bearing Tree, and a combat veteran.

    49 min
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Discussions and interviews with authors, scholars, and readers about the power of words, how to use that power to unite people, and what keeps readers interested and entertained enough to gain emotional perspective.

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