

Otherppl with Brad Listi
Brad Listi
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly books and culture podcast featuring in-depth conversations with today's leading authors. Literature, screenwriting, the creative process, pop culture, and more. Available wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the show on Bluesky and Instagram.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jan 27, 2026 • 1h 25min
1020. Kathleen Boland
Kathleen Boland is the author of the debut novel Scavengers, now available from Viking.
Boland’s fiction has appeared in Tin House, Conjunctions, Gulf Coast, and elsewhere, and she has received support from the Tin House Summer Workshop, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Vermont Studio Center. The former event director for Catapult/Counterpoint Press/Soft Skull Press, she earned her MFA from Louisiana State University, where she received the Robert Penn Warren Thesis Award.
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Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code OTHERPPL at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Support the show on Patreon
Merch
Instagram
TikTok
Bluesky
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 27, 2026 • 1h 21min
Emily Witt on ICE Raids, Protests, and the Battle for Minneapolis
Emily Witt is a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine and a native of Minneapolis. She has been reporting from the streets of her hometown over the past couple of weeks, covering the ICE raids, the killings of Rene Good and Alex Pretti, the non-fatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, and the spirited citizen response by Minneapolitans. She recently wrote about it in a piece called 'The Battle for Minneapolis,' with includes some excellent photos by Philip Cheung.
Emily Witt is the author of Future Sex (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux), Nollywood: The Making of a Film Empire (Columbia Global Reports 2017), and an award-winning memoir called Health and Safety (Pantheon). In addition to her work for The New Yorker, she has also written for n+1, The New York Times, GQ, the London Review of Books, and many other places. She has degrees from Brown, Columbia, and Cambridge, and was a Fulbright scholar in Mozambique.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code OTHERPPL at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Support the show on Patreon
Merch
Instagram
TikTok
Bluesky
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 25, 2026 • 1h 21min
1019. Brenda Navarro and Megan McDowell
Brenda Navarro is the author of the novel Eating Ashes, available now in a new translation by Megan McDowell, from Liveright Press. Official January 2026 pick of the Otherppl Book Club.
Brenda Navarro is one of the most critically acclaimed authors in the Spanish language. Eating Ashes won the Cálamo and CEGAL prizes and was a finalist for the Mario Vargas Llosa Biennial Novel Prize. Originally from Mexico, she lives in Madrid.
Megan McDowell has translated works by Samanta Schweblin and Mariana Enriquez, among others. Her translations have won the National Book Award for Translated Literature and the English PEN award.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code OTHERPPL at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Support the show on Patreon
Merch
Instagram
TikTok
Bluesky
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 22, 2026 • 1h 34min
Mira's Screaming Nude Father Scares Away Intruders
Volume 76 of Brad & Mira For the Culture...Brad's Liver King epiphany...the Indiana Hoosiers are awash in God's glory...Abella Danger's ESPN moment...Mira's sex worker friend group...Ralph Fiennes shows hog in The Bone Temple...Mira's dad experiences a home invasion in the nude...Angry Adam brings the mediocrity...The Beckham Family Feud...Posh Spice's grinding problem...the Glambot Shitstorm...Elordi and Robbie's Wuthering Heights soft-core marketing strategy...Happy 80th to Dolly Parton...& more...
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code OTHERPPL at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription."
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Support the show on Patreon
Merch
Instagram
TikTok
Bluesky
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 20, 2026 • 1h 23min
1018. Karl Ove Knausgaard
Karl Ove Knausgaard is the author of the novel The School of Night, the fourth book in his acclaimed Morning Star series. Available from Penguin Press. Translated from the Norwegian by Martin Aitken.
Knausgaard’s first novel, Out of the World, was the first ever debut novel to win the Norwegian Critics’ Prize, and his second, A Time for Everything, was longlisted for the 2010 International Dublin Literary Award. The My Struggle cycle of novels has been heralded as a masterpiece wherever it has appeared. His work is published in thirty-five languages.Martin Aitken’s translations of Scandinavian literature number some thirty-five books. His work has appeared on the shortlists of the 2017 International Dublin Literary Award and the 2018 U.S. National Book Award, as well as the 2021 International Booker Prize. He received the PEN America Translation Prize in 2019.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code OTHERPPL at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Support the show on Patreon
Merch
Instagram
TikTok
Bluesky
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 15, 2026 • 1h 30min
We Have Been Snubbed by the Golden Globes
Volume 75 of Brad & Mira For the Culture...Brad's farmer's market dilemma...Mira believes Bob Weir was murdered by John Mayer...lobbies Brad to watch The Traitors...Angry Adam returns...Beyonce never talks about money?....Spencer Pratt for mayor....Cher goes for Dax Shepard's jugular...Golden Globes recap...Brad's Fashion Corner...etc.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code OTHERPPL at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription."
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Support the show on Patreon
Merch
Instagram
TikTok
Bluesky
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 13, 2026 • 1h 21min
What Needs to Change in the Publishing Industry
Kathleen Schmidt returns to the program to discuss the current state of the publishing industry—and what needs to change.
As the Founder and CEO of Kathleen Schmidt Public Relations, Kathleen is a well-respected voice in book publishing with in-depth experience in all aspects of the industry, including as a publicist, literary agent, acquisitions editor, and ghostwriter.
Her career encompasses 30 years of creating and directing impactful and strategic global media, marketing, and branding campaigns for politicians, A-List celebrities, athletes, and high-profile personalities.
To date, she has worked on 50 New York Times bestsellers, and her clients have continuously appeared in top-tier national print, broadcast, and radio outlets such as The Today Show, Good Morning America, Vogue, Elle, Financial Times, Vanity Fair, GQ, and Sirius XM.
Schmidt, who learned to read when she was four, comes from a family of voracious readers. Inspired by the legendary book editor Jackie Kennedy Onassis, she purposely focused on obtaining a position in book publishing.
Her fast-growing Substack newsletter, Publishing Confidential, shares her wealth of inside knowledge that she hopes will help demystify the book industry.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code OTHERPPL at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Support the show on Patreon
Merch
Instagram
TikTok
Bluesky
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 11, 2026 • 1h 16min
REPLAY: Tim O'Brien on America, War, Pacifism, Fatherhood, Death, and the Illusion of Self
Today on the program, a trip into the archive and a return to Episode 616, my conversation with Tim O'Brien from December 2019.
O'Brien received the 1979 National Book Award for Going After Cacciato. Among his other books are The Things They Carried, Pulitzer Finalist and a New York TimesBook of the Century, and In the Lake of the Woods, winner of the James Fenimore Cooper Prize. He was awarded the Pritzker Literature Award for lifetime achievement in military writing in 2013.
I spoke with Tim O'Brien as he was on tour in support of his memoir, Dad's Maybe Book.
Air date: December 11, 2019.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly literary podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, etc.
Subscribe to Brad Listi’s email newsletter.
Support the show on Patreon
Merch
@otherppl
Instagram
YouTube
TikTok
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 8, 2026 • 1h 32min
Toxic Celebrity Mom Group
Volume 74 of Brad & Mira For the Culture...we're so back, baby.......Brad and Mira review their holidays...Brad threw his back out on Christmas Eve trying to do a tai-chi workout...Mira saw Marty Supreme and got a terrible UTI...the annual celebrity infestation of St. Bart's...Trump bombs Venezuela, kidnaps Maduro...the Bari Weiss destruction of CBS News continues apace...Ashley Tisdale reveals 'toxic celebrity mom group' drama in New York magazine...and more....
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code OTHERPPL at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription."
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Support the show on Patreon
Merch
Instagram
TikTok
Bluesky
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 6, 2026 • 1h 16min
1017. Gerald Howard
Gerald Howard is the author of The Insider: Malcolm Cowley and the Triumph of American Literature, available from Penguin Press.
Howard retired in 2021 as executive editor and vice president of Doubleday Books. He received the 2009 Maxwell E. Perkins Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Field of Fiction and has worked over the years with authors such as Paul Auster, Don DeLillo, David Foster Wallace, Debby Applegate, Hanya Yanagihara, Pat Barker, Sean Wilentz, and Bill Bryson. Howard’s essays and reviews have appeared in Bookforum, The New York Times Book Review, The American Scholar, London Review of Books, n+1, Slate, and other publications.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
This episode is sponsored by Ulysses. Go to ulys.app/writeabook to download Ulysses, and use the code OTHERPPL at checkout to get 25% off the first year of your yearly subscription.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Get How to Write a Novel, the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors.
Subscribe to Brad's email newsletter.
Support the show on Patreon
Merch
Instagram
TikTok
Bluesky
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices


