Best Mark B Writing Podcasts (2025)

1
Mary Beth Willard, "Why It's Ok to Enjoy the Work of Immoral Artists" (Routledge, 2021) 1:08:14

Play Pause

10h ago1:08:14

1:08:14

The #metoo movement has forced many fans to consider what they should do when they learn that a beloved artist has acted immorally. One natural thought is that fans ought to give up the artworks of immoral artists, but according to Mary Beth Willard, it’s hard to find good reasons to do so. In Why It's OK to Enjoy the Work of Immoral Artists (Routl…

1
Wendell Marsh, "Textual Life: Islam, Africa, and the Fate of the Humanities" (Columbia UP, 2025) 53:46

1h ago53:46

53:46

Textual Life: Islam, Africa, and the Fate of the Humanities (Columbia University Press, 2025), is a groundbreaking book that recasts the role of knowledge in the making of a colonial and postcolonial nation. It makes a case for a new literary and intellectual-historical approach to Islam in Africa. The Senegalese Muslim scholar Shaykh Musa Kamara (…

1
Rebekah Pierre: Writing records with care 1:05:03

1h ago1:05:03

1:05:03

Send us a text In this episode Hannah and Matt are joined by Rebekah Pierre, care-experienced author, social worker, campaigner and Deputy Director of Article 39. Hannah and Matt chat to Rebekah about Free Loaves on Fridays, the work of Article 39, and Rebekah's recommendations for local authorities in supporting care experienced people in accessin…

1
Yu Zhang, "Going to the Countryside: The Rural in the Modern Chinese Cultural Imagination, 1915–1965" (U Michigan Press, 2020) 57:41

3d ago57:41

57:41

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, modern Chinese intellectuals, reformers, revolutionaries, leftist journalists, and idealistic youth often crossed the increasing gap between the city and the countryside, which made the act of "going to the countryside" a distinctively modern experience and a continuous practice in China. Such a spatial…

1
GD Wright: A Weird Way of Getting Published. | Mark Stay's Creative Differences Episode 13 51:50

4h ago51:50

51:50

GD Wright is the author of the bestselling AFTER THE STORM and INTO THE FIRE, and he’s genuinely one of the nicest guys in the business with an extraordinary tale to tell: he was a copper, then due to health issues had to retire aged 30, and if you know Gary at all you’ll know that he’s had a few challenges this year… but he’s come through and was …

1
Bradley A. Gorski, "Cultural Capitalism: Literature and the Market After Socialism" (Northern Illinois UP, 2025) 1:01:25

3d ago1:01:25

1:01:25

Bradley Gorski, a literary and culture scholar, examines the breakneck commercialization of Russian book publishing and of Russian literature more broadly – in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the early 1990s, thousands of new publishers emerged, up from a mere two hundred at the Soviet Union’s end. The notion of the “bestseller” qu…

1
Mae Martin (Wayward / Feel Good / Handsome Podcast) • Friday Rewind 1:02:00

3m ago1:02:00

1:02:00

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip! This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Mae Martin, originally episode 314 from 2020-02-26. Original writeup below: A tremendous meetup of Pip and Mae, and dare I say a long overdue one at that… You’ll get to hear all about Mae in the greater s…

1
EP 434 - Held Over Passion Projects with John Gaspard 1:07:06

2h ago1:07:06

1:07:06

Mark interviews John Gaspard about his book HELD OVER: HAROLD AND MAUDE AT THE WESTGATE THEATER. Prior to the interview Mark shares a personal update and a word about this episode's sponsor. This episode's sponsor: This episode is sponsored by an affiliate link to Manuscript Report. Use code MARK5 at checkout and save $5.00 off your own personalize…

1
Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, "The Three Ravens Folk Tales: New Tellings of Half-forgotten Stories from England's 39 Historic Counties" (The History Press, 2025) 52:29

4d ago52:29

52:29

Do you know the legends of the giants who ruled England before the first human kings? What about the demon dog Black Shuck who terrorized sixteenth-century Norfolk? Or the many times the Devil has tried to get his way before being outwitted by everyday people? England’s historic counties are overflowing with folklore, and this collection of 39 stor…

1
156 Recall This B-Side #1: Merve Emre on Natalia Ginzburg’s “The Dry Heart” 15:38

4d ago15:38

15:38

RtB loves the present-day shadows cast by neglected books, which can suddenly loom up out of the backlit past. So, you won’t be shocked to know that John has also been editing a Public Books column called B-Side Books. In it, around 50 writers (Ursula Le Guin was one) have made the case for un-forgetting a beloved book. Now, there is a book that co…

1
Peter Rowan: The Bluegrass Buddha's Tex-Mex Roots, ep. 327 1:08:54

6m ago1:08:54

1:08:54

Legendary Massachusetts-born, California-based musician Peter Rowan is best known for his bluegrass roots. A practicing Buddhist, he did time in Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys as well as in the short-lived and epically important Old & In the Way with Jerry Garcia and David Grisman. However, his latest album 'Tales of the Free Mexican Airforce' celeb…

1
Dominic Davies and Candida Rifkind, "Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics" (Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2025) 57:48

6d ago57:48

57:48

Graphic Refuge: Visuality and Mobility in Refugee Comics (Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2025) by Dr. Dominic Davies & Dr. Candida Rifkind is the first in-depth study of comics about refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, and detainees by artists from the Global North and South. Co-written by two leading scholars of nonfiction comics, the book expl…

1
SPA Girls Podcast – EP518 – Interview with Sarra Cannon (Classic Replay) 1:01:15

1h ago1:01:15

1:01:15

Feel like a hamster on a wheel trying to get ALL THE THINGS accomplished but never quite managing to do the important stuff? This is your episode! A classic replay from 2023 that’s well worth a relisten! Self-publishing since 2010, Amazon top 100 best-selling Amazon author with 1million books sold, Sarra writes magical contemporary fantasy novels w…

1
SPA Girls Podcast EP518 - Sarra Cannon talks organisation for authors 1:01:15

3h ago1:01:15

1:01:15

Feel like a hamster on a wheel trying to get ALL THE THINGS accomplished but never quite managing to do the important stuff? This is your episode! A classic replay from 2023 that's well worth a relisten! Self-publishing since 2010, Amazon top 100 best-selling Amazon author with 1million books sold, Sarra writes magical contemporary fantasy novels w…

1
Chris & Pip's Staylist for CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably • link in shownotes) #636 1:12:40

19m ago1:12:40

1:12:40

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip! This week Pip is joined by the Hardcore Listing homie and everyday life homie CHRIS GLASSEN! You might have heard the pre-show shouts from Pip over the past few weeks, regarding a tie-in with CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably). CALM are trying to raise funds to ma…

1
Writing for Passion, Not Platforms with John Gaspard - #305 39:49

4h ago39:49

39:49

Matty Dalrymple talks with John Gaspard about WRITING FOR PASSION, NOT PLATFORMS, including why he chose to write a passion project instead of a market-driven book, how research into HAROLD AND MAUDE AT THE WESTGATE THEATER turned into a richly visual history, what indie authors can learn about marketing from a cult film’s unlikely success, and why…

1
Mark Seligman, "AI and Ada: Artificial Translation and Creation of Literature" (First Hill Books, 2025) 37:20

5d ago37:20

37:20

Taking recent spectacular progress in AI fully into account, Mark Seligman's AI and Ada: Artificial Translation and Creation of Literature (Anthem Press, 2025) explores prospects for artificial literary translation and composition, with frequent reference to the hyperconscious literary art of Vladimir Nabokov. The exploration balances reader-friend…

1
Mark Goble, "Downtime: The Twentieth Century in Slow Motion" (Columbia UP, 2025) 55:11

8d ago55:11

55:11

Slow motion is everywhere in contemporary film and media, but it wasn't always so ubiquitous. How did slow motion ascend to the dubious honor of becoming our culture's least "special" effect? And what does slow motion — a trick secured paradoxically through the camera's ever-racing speeds of capture — tell us about the temporalities and trajectorie…

1
The Care Leaders Fellowship: Creating lasting impact with Luke Rodgers 59:48

15h ago59:48

59:48

Send us a text We are back for Series 4 after our summer break! In this episode Matt and Hannah are joined by Luke Rodgers, founder at CEO at The Care Leaders to talk about The Care Leaders Fellowship. This episode explores what The Care Leaders Fellowship is, and some of the amazing innovations which have been supported through this. Thank you for…

1
Amir Moosavi, "Dust That Never Settles: Literary Afterlives of the Iran-Iraq War" (Stanford UP, 2025) 28:47

9d ago28:47

28:47

Lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, the Iran-Iraq War was the longest conventional war fought between two states in the twentieth century. It marked a period that began just after a revolutionary government in Iran became an Islamic Republic and Saddam Hussein consolidated power in Iraq. It ended with both wartime governments still in power…

1
Matthew Benjamin Cole, "Fear the Future: Dystopia and Political Imagination in the Twentieth Century" (U of Michigan Press, 2025) 1:48:38

10d ago1:48:38

1:48:38

Are we already living in some kind of fascist or technocratic dystopia? How do we avert the AI dystopia? These are the types of things that you'll see thrown about in op-eds and analysis pieces all over the net and the press. Dystopia is doing some kind of work in our political vocabulary that goes beyond a reference to those iconic dystopian novel…

1
EP 433 - Affordable Multi-Voice Audiobook Narration from Spoken with Phil Marshall 1:08:59

4h ago1:08:59

1:08:59

In this episode Mark interviews Phil Marshall, the author of the recently released science fiction novel Taming the Perilous Skies and the founder of Spoken, a platform that removes numerous audiobook production barriers for indie authors and small publishers. Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments, a personal update, and a word about this ep…

1
Rose Casey, "Aesthetic Impropriety: Property Law and Postcolonial Style" (Fordham UP, 2025) 52:20

3d ago52:20

52:20

Aesthetic Impropriety: Property Law and Postcolonial Style (Fordham UP, 2025) analyzes vanguard legal actions and literary innovations to reveal contemporary reforms to property law that are undoing law’s colonial legacies. Casey traces precise legal histories across distinct jurisdictions throughout the anglophone world, revealing the connection b…

1
Karl Pilkington (Ricky Gervais XFM Show / An Idiot Abroad / Derek) • Friday Rewind 1:09:30

19m ago1:09:30

1:09:30

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip! This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Karl Pilkington, originally episode 306 from 2020-01-08. Original writeup below: While some see Karl as the grumpy one of the original podcast trio consisting of him, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, a…

1
Darcie Deangelo et al., "Demilitarizing the Future" (Anthem Press, 2025) 50:25

7d ago50:25

50:25

Demilitarizing the Future (Anthem Press, 2025) draws from art, anthropology, and activism to investigate the entrenchment of militarism in everyday lives and consider novel imaginaries of its dissolution--of peacemaking, community, and shared equitable futures. This book will be published in October of 2025. In this episode, Rebecca Kastleman, Darc…

1
SPA Girls Podcast – EP517 – Interview with Mark Leslie: The Realities Of Being An Author Today 1:02:35

2h ago1:02:35

1:02:35

Mark Leslie (Lefebvre) is an author, professional speaker and bookseller with more than thirty years of experience in the publishing and bookselling business. In this episode, he brings a wealth of experience and reassurance to those of us somewhat battered by the realities of author life! This is more than a “mindset” episode, it’s a reality check…

1
SPA Girls Podcast - EP517 - The Reality Of Being An Author Today - with Mark Leslie 1:02:36

13h ago1:02:36

1:02:36

Mark Leslie (Lefebvre) is an author, professional speaker and bookseller with more than thirty years of experience in the publishing and bookselling business. In this episode, he brings a wealth of experience and reassurance to those of us somewhat battered by the realities of author life! This is more than a “mindset” episode, it’s a reality check…

1
Mark Steel: making gold with tragedy and comedy (The Leopard In My House / The Mark Steel Lectures / Vive La Revolution) #635 1:32:05

13d ago1:32:05

1:32:05

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip! This week Pip is joined by the legendary comic MARK STEEL! It's entirely likely you'll have been listening to and watching the work of Mark for decades now - he's been hard at work for a minute, and the fanbase is strong indeed. As you'll hear, Pip's been on board for y…

1
From Beta Readers to Better Story with Michael La Ronn - #304 44:38

4h ago44:38

44:38

Matty Dalrymple talks with Michael La Ronn about FROM BETA READERS TO BETTER STORY, including how authors can use alpha readers, beta readers, and ARC teams to strengthen their manuscripts and connect with their audience. They discuss when to bring in beta readers, how to choose the right people, and the differences between feedback from writers ve…

1
Kevin J. Hayes, "Understanding Hunter S. Thompson" (U South Carolina Press, 2025) 43:55

2d ago43:55

43:55

Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005) pushed the boundaries of storytelling. While the writer is most recognized for the genre-bending work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1972), in Understanding Hunter S. Thompson (University of South Carolina Press, 2025), Kevin J. Hayes provides a broad and nuanced analysis of Thompson's multifaceted career and unique …

1
Brian Duff, "Restaurant" (Bloomsbury, 2025) 43:02

3d ago43:02

43:02

In the last few decades, restaurants and food culture have achieved extraordinary cultural presence. Chefs are heroes and thought leaders, well-executed entrées go viral, dining out has become theater, plating has become art and ubiquitous Instagram content. But in recent years restaurants have faced crisis upon crisis. Restaurant (Bloomsbury, 2025…

1
EP 432 - Creativity, Connection, and Community with Police Officer and Author A.L. Wahdel 1:08:27

10d ago1:08:27

1:08:27

Mark interviews A.L. Wahdel, a crime thriller writer brings Toronto’s soul to life in his fiction. They talk about his new book TOO DARK FOR THE LIGHT, about his writing, about police work, and about the importance of community, connection, and creativity.\ Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update and a word about this episode's sponso…

1
Bénédicte Meillon, "Ecopoetics of Reenchantment: Liminal Realism and Poetic Echoes of the Earth" (Bloomsbury, 2022) 53:59

4d ago53:59

53:59

Ecopoetics of Reenchantment: Liminal Realism and Poetic Echoes of the Earth (Bloomsbury, 2022) tackles the reenchantment process at work in a part of contemporary ecoliterature that is marked by the resurfacing of the song of the earth topos and of Gaia images. Focusing on the postmodernist braiding of various indigenous and ecofeminist ontologies,…

1
Lolly Adefope (The Franchise / Ghosts / Shrill) • Friday Rewind 1:09:55

4d ago1:09:55

1:09:55

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip! This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Lolly Adefope, originally episode 254 from 2019-02-20. Original writeup below: ...what better way to begin than by Pip dreaming of Lolly the previous night? All shall be revealed and certainly not spoiled…

1
Rissi Palmer & Miko Marks: "Buckle Bunny," No Cringe, and My Black Country, ep. 326 1:07:02

5d ago1:07:02

1:07:02

This time on Basic Folk, we are checking in with country singer-songwriter and Color Me Country radio host Rissi Palmer and Americana country artist Miko Marks. The two close friends both came up as Black women in country music in the early part of the 21st century where they experienced gatekeepers and discrimination in the industry, but undeniabl…

1
Leon J. Hilton, "Counter-Cartographies: Neurodivergence and the Errancies of Performance" (U Minnesota Press, 2025) 56:10

6d ago56:10

56:10

What if we embraced neurodivergent ways of being not as deviations to be corrected but as vital ways of inhabiting the world? What new realities might emerge? Bringing a much-needed humanistic perspective to the study of autism and other forms of neurodivergence, Counter-Cartographies: Neurodivergence and the Errancies of Performance (U Minnesota P…

1
Flannery Burke, "Back East: How Westerners Invented a Region" (U Washington Press, 2025) 36:18

8d ago36:18

36:18

Just as easterners imagined the American West, westerners imagined the American East, reshaping American culture. Back East: How Westerners Invented a Region (University of Washington Press, 2025) by Dr. Flannery Burke flips the script of American regional narratives. In novels, travel narratives, popular histories, and dude ranch brochures, twenti…

1
Grandmaster Flash: further adventures on the wheels of steel #634 32:58

6d ago32:58

32:58

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip! This week Pip is joined by Hip Hop legend GRANDMASTER FLASH! Y'say... Y'say... Y'say / y'say / y'say (etc) and if you're not carrying that scratch sentence on in your head you have some SERIOUS homework to do. We flashback to the 20-teens to the era of the Beatdown radi…

1
SPA Girls Podcast - EP516 - Selling Film Rights with Michele Scott (Classic Replay) 54:06

14d ago54:06

54:06

Like most of our guests, NYT Bestseller Michele Scott's success didn’t happen overnight and there were huge ups and downs. She shares her journey towards finding the right agent, having books optioned, marketing plans, upskilling yourself and writing in different genres. This is a classic replay, well worth a relisten for Michele's fantastic advice…

1
SPA Girls Podcast – EP516 – Interview with NYT Bestseller, Michele Scott (Classic Replay) 54:06

14d ago54:06

54:06

A classic replay of our interview with the awesome Michele Scott, originally published in August 2022. It was our great pleasure to interview Michele Scott, a NYT, Wall Street Journal and Amazon bestselling author of over forty novels and the CEO/owner of equestrian sports medicine company Professional’s Choice, Inc. Michele has written in various …

1
Midlist Success with Jane Friedman - #303 35:55

7d ago35:55

35:55

Matty Dalrymple talks with Jane Friedman about MIDLIST SUCCESS, including how traditional publishers are shifting focus to support mid-list authors over a longer timeframe, what indie authors have long done to keep backlist titles selling, why building a sustainable career can be more effective than chasing a breakout bestseller, and practical step…

1
Aliyah Khan, "Far From Mecca: Globalizing the Muslim Caribbean" (Rutgers UP, 2020) 45:03

8d ago45:03

45:03

Muslims have lived in the Caribbean for centuries. Far From Mecca: Globalizing the Muslim Caribbean (Rutgers University Press, 2020) examines the archive of autobiography, literature, music and public celebrations in Guyana and Trinidad, offering an analysis of the ways Islam became integral to the Caribbean, and the ways the Caribbean shaped Islam…

1
Susana M. Morris, "Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler" (Amistad Press, 2025) 54:42

17d ago54:42

54:42

A magnificent cultural biography, Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler (Amistad, 2025) charts the life of one of our greatest writers, situating her alongside the key historical and social moments that shaped her work. As the first Black woman to consistently write and publish in the field of science fiction, Octavia Butler w…

1
Ḥannā Diyāb, "The Book of Travels" (NYU Press, 2022): A Conversation with Johannes Stephan 51:22

21d ago51:22

51:22

The Book of Travels Ḥannā Diyāb: A Conversation with Johannes Stephan The Book of Travels is Ḥannā Diyāb’s remarkable first-person account of his travels as a young man from his hometown of Aleppo to the court of Versailles and back again, which forever linked him to one of the most popular pieces of world literature, the Thousand and One Nights. D…

1
Diana Souhami, "No Modernism Without Lesbians" (Head of Zeus Book, 2020) 38:35

23d ago38:35

38:35

Diana Souhami talks about her new book No Modernism Without Lesbians, out 2020 with Head of Zeus books. A Sunday Times Book of the Year 2020. This is the extraordinary story of how a singular group of women in a pivotal time and place – Paris, between the wars – fostered the birth of the Modernist movement. Sylvia Beach, Bryher, Natalie Barney, and…

1
Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit / Black Light Burns / Big Dumb Face) • Friday Rewind 1:28:44

11d ago1:28:44

1:28:44

emocleW, emocleW, emocleW to the Distraction Pieces Podcast with Scroobius Pip! This is your bonus FRIDAY REWIND episode! Today, we catch up with Wes Borland, originally episode 25 from 2015-03-18. A very cool early episode featuring the guitarist of Limp Bizkit and many other groups besides. This was about 6 months into the evolution of Distractio…

1
EP 431 - An Interview with Writer, Producer, and Celebrity Publicist William J Bruce III 1:00:50

18d ago1:00:50

1:00:50

Mark interviews writer, producer, and celebrity publicist William J Bruce III. Prior to the interview, Mark shares a personal update, comments, and a word about this episode's sponsor. This episode's sponsor: This episode is sponsored by an affiliate link to Manuscript Report. Use code MARK5 at checkout and save $5.00 off your own personalized repo…

1
Victoria Young, "Translation and the Borders of Contemporary Japanese Literature: Inciting Difference" (Routledge, 2024) 56:21

22d ago56:21

56:21

Translation and the Borders of Contemporary Japanese Literature: Inciting Difference (Routledge, 2024) examines contemporary debates on such concepts as national literature, world literature, and the relationship each of these to translation, from the perspective of modern Japanese fiction. By reading between the gaps and revealing tensions and bli…

1
Vibe Coaches: Maya de Vitry, Ethan Jodziewicz, Joel Timmons, & Shelby Means, ep. 325 1:12:09

15d ago1:12:09

1:12:09

Maya de Vitry, Ethan Jodziewicz, Joel Timmons, and Shelby Means are on Basic Folk today talking about their new collaborations. Maya produced both Shelby and Joel's debut solo albums this year; Joel and Ethan play in Maya's band; and the two couples (Joel & Shelby are married and Ethan & Maya are partners) are all very close friends. They met in Na…

1
Anders M. Greene-Crow, "Austerity Measures: The Poetics of Food Insecurity in Early Modern English Literature" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025) 1:04:33

27d ago1:04:33

1:04:33

My guest today is Anders M. Greene-Crow. Anders teaches at the Woods College of Advancing Studies and is a former Professor of English at Boston College. More recently, Anders has been preparing for the New York state bar exam, while also co-hosting the podcast “Say Podcast and Die!,” about R.L. Stine’s book series, Goosebumps. Today, we are discus…