Workers' Lit

9/11, Hamlet, the Statue of Liberty, Segismundo, Zoroastrianism, Puerto Rican Independence, Bananas: If you hear all those terms and think, “wow, this sure does sound like the building blocks of a great book,” then congrats, you’re award-winning author Giannina Braschi.We are joined by brilliant writer and host of Podside Picnic, Karlo Yeager Rodríguez, to discuss Braschi’s 2011 postmodern novel, “The United States of Banana.” This book gets real weird with it, so follow along as we spring Segismundo from his prison beneath the Statue of Liberty’s skirt, fight an American occupation with coconuts and witticisms, and set sail to liberate Puerto Rico!Go read Karlo’s newest short story, “Blanquitos,” here!Go listen to Podside Picnic here!

We are officially one year into Donald Trump’s second term. How’s everybody feeling?This week we discuss the nightmare 365 days that have passed, the battles to come, and the framework that’ll beat Trump for real.Also, we congratulate Usha Vance and her pool boy on their soon-to-be-born child.(We had some technical issues on sound today, so sorry about that!)Articles quoted from in today’s episode:https://zeteo.com/p/our-year-from-hell-trump-first-drafthttps://zeteo.com/p/trump-robbery-285-days-to-stop

It’s time to get real old-sportyThis week we narrowly avoided death-by-pool to deliver you a discussion of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 gilded age masterpiece, “The Great Gatsby.” Joining us is Joshua Ilon, voice actor on The Penumbra Podcast (Juno Steel, Mr. Serling, Jacob, Sir Tristan the Cold) to discuss just how ridiculously relevant Gatsby has become in 2026, our own fraught gilded age.Listen to the Penumbra Podcast here!Listen to Kevin and Harley of Penumbra’s episode of Workers’ Lit about “The Secret History”

It's time to break the ICE.Jen and Jacob discuss the dramatic week that's passed since the murder of Renée Nicole Good, the latest stats on ICE, Trump, and Congress' popularity, and the campaigns in motion to hold these fascists to account.Read Renée's poem here:https://poets.org/2020-on-learning-to-dissect-fetal-pigsSources cited in the episode:https://www.filesforprogress.org/datasets/2026/1/dfp_ice_shooting_minneapolis.pdfhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jan/04/ice-2025-deaths-timelinehttps://zeteo.com/p/keith-ellison-minnesota-ice-trump-vancehttps://www.cnn.com/polling/approval/trump-cnn-poll-of-pollshttps://news.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspxhttps://substack.com/home/post/p-184378952

April is the cruelest month, but it’s January so we should be good.Today we’re discussing T.S. Eliot’s 1922 modernist poetic masterpiece, “The Wasteland.” We also discuss Eliot himself…who’s a lot less cool than his poem.Joining us as we wander the wasteland is Chris Richards, AKA The Eclectic Radical. You can check out his work here!

Author and Executive Director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, Vijay Prashad, returns to the show to discuss the United States' kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro and Cilia Flores, Trump's claim that the United States now owns Venezuela's oil industry, and American foreign policy in the age he calls "hyperimperialism." We also get into Venezuela's unique and tumultuous history as it struggles to build socialism despite US aggression.Is all the discussion of Venezuela, Maduro, sanctions, international law, and all that jazz a little confusing? Vijay breaks it down perfectly.Also, stick around to hear Vijay's thoughts on the American education system in one of our best tangents ever.Check out the Tricontinental Institute here!The episode art is Vijay with Nicolas Maduro himself.

It's crime time.We're ringing in 2026 with James Ellroy's 1990 work of nasty neo noir, "LA Confidential." And we're mad about it! Why are there so many bizarre little policemen running around in this book???Joining us is Brian Wishart of "Moviepod: A Reclaimed Cinema Podcast" to unpack the weird freak that is James Ellroy, get exasperated over this absurd book, and occasionally acknowledge parts that are good.Check out Brian's podcat here!Learn about LA Police Gangs (in real life) here.Episode art is from the novel's second edition cover.

We took a weeklong break from talking about the news, but it's time to get back into the doings of the United States government...namely, starting new wars.Today we discuss Trump's Christmas strikes on Nigeria, the bombing of a Venezuelan port, and preparations being made inside Venezuela itself for siege and war. Also, we mention our favorite holiday movies.Articles referenced in this episode:https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/nigerian-residents-of-jabo-are-rattled-after-close-u-s-airstrikes-made-their-homes-shake-and-the-sky-glow-redhttps://www.democracynow.org/2025/12/29/nigeria_strikeshttps://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/30/trump-bombs-venezuelan-land-for-first-time-is-war-imminenthttps://substack.com/home/post/p-182894927?source=queue

IT'S TIME FOR SOME THEATER!!!We're delighted to have Andy Boyd back on the show to discuss her play, "Three Scenes in the Life of a Trotskyist." Are you looking for a show about the betrayal of the young radicals of the early 20th century in the face of their own success and a conservative culture? No? Well, you should be, and it's this play!Go buy the written version of "Three Scenes in the Life of a Trotskyist" here!Go check out Andy Boyd and her other work here!The image in the episode art comes from the play's staging at The Tank in NYC. The actors shown are Jeff Gonzalez and Charlie Hurtt.

Classic alert!It's Christmas...so it's time to talk about Dr. Seuss' 1957 children's classic, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."What is a Grinch? Are the residents of Whoville bourgeois? Was the Grink there? All these questions and more, answered!We hope y'all like the new theme music from the talented SoloMonk!Feeling generous? Feel free to send some of that generosity our way: https://buymeacoffee.com/workerslitCredit to the classic, "Was the Grink there?" tweet from @murrman5 for the joke we make like thirty times.