Episodes

  • Episode 65: On Being an Academic Who Writes Popular Books w/ Noah Isenberg

    Episode 65: On Being an Academic Who Writes Popular Books w/ Noah Isenberg
    Dec 15 2025
    We’re talking with film historian Noah Isenberg, the Charles Sapp Centennial Professor and former Chair of the Department of Radio-Television-Film at The University of Texas at Austin. Isenberg is the author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller, We’ll Always Have Casablanca: The Legend and Afterlife of Hollywood’s most Beloved Movie, and several other books about film. We talk about why and when we might drop theory from our writing; finding a literary agent; the excitement of finding your audience and readers through community events; making the most of our research through multiple publications; the backlash and stigma academics can face when they “go popular,” and how academics help academic presses by writing more accessible books. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact
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    59 mins
  • Episode 64: Reinventing the Traditional Academic Journal

    Episode 64: Reinventing the Traditional Academic Journal
    Dec 1 2025
    We’re speaking with founding and current editors of In Geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies, about what it means to establish a new journal. Founded in 2015, In Geveb partook in the decade's ethos of disruption in technology by seeking to reimagine the academic journal. Aspiring to be the “N+1 of Yiddish studies, the journal is completely online, and contains sections on pedagogy and translation, as well as a blog, and has remained accessible to readers outside of the academy. Our guests, Jessica Kirzane, Saul Noam Zaritt, Sarah Zarrow, and Dalia Wolfson, tell us about the skills and knowledge they acquired about things ranging from fundraising and the financial side of a journal, to managing others and cultivating a collaborative and supportive working environment. We also talk about what working on the journal has allowed them to do in their professional lives, that had not been possible, otherwise. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact
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    1 hr
  • Episode 63: How to Get Grant Money with Raphael Folsom

    Episode 63: How to Get Grant Money with Raphael Folsom
    Nov 17 2025
    We’re talking with history professor Raphael Folsom (Oklahoma), who wrote the book,, How to Get Grant Money in the Humanities and Social Sciences(Yale University Press) about why it’s important to think big for grant writing; recommendation-letter writing; being encouraged by our failures; why it does make sense to be a giver in academia; and the good energy that comes from supporting others. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact
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    45 mins
  • Episode 62: Writing Family History with Elizabeth Graver

    Episode 62: Writing Family History with Elizabeth Graver
    Nov 3 2025
    We’re speaking with novelist and academic Elizabeth Graver about writing about her Sephardic family’s history as fiction, even as she incorporated facts and archival finds. Graver also talks about maintaining a creative process, alongside her academic position, and about moving between fiction and non-fiction genres. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact
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    51 mins
  • Episode 61: Writing The Book about Katrina with Andy Horowitz

    Episode 61: Writing The Book about Katrina with Andy Horowitz
    Oct 20 2025
    We’re speaking with UConn Associate Professor of History Andy Horowitz, who also serves as the Connecticut State Historian. We talk about Andy’s first book, Katrina: A History, 1915-2015 (https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674271074) (Harvard University Press, 2020) which won a 2021 Bancroft Prize in American History, and was named the 2021 Humanities Book of the Year by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, and a 2020 Best Nonfiction Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly. He has also written for The Atlantic, Time, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, and the New York Times. We talk about what it means to write about disasters and about the place where you live; writing about people who are currently alive; being a presentist historian; and what it means to write “important books.” Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact
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    46 mins
  • Episode 60: Why Our Public Persona Matters to the Stories We Write with Jim Loeffler

    Episode 60: Why Our Public Persona Matters to the Stories We Write with Jim Loeffler
    Oct 6 2025
    We’re speaking with Jim Loeffler, Felix Posen Professorship in Modern Jewish History at Johns Hopkins University about how our public persona affects the stories we tell and pitch to editors. We talk about Loeffler’s publishing experience with academic presses, academic-trade, and why moving to trade press has been so different. We talk about some of the challenges involved in Loeffler's forthcoming book about antisemitism and free speech, which includes contemporary material about Charlottesville 2017, which Loeffler experienced as a UVA Jewish Studies professor, a Jewish community member, and then as a reporter, who covered the Charlottesville trial for the Atlantic. We also discuss the challenges of changing institutions, and the benefits of editing an academic journal and gaining a wider perspective on readers’ reports. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact
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    54 mins
  • Episode 59: When dissertations do not become tenure books & research becomes NYT Op-eds with Miriam Udel

    Episode 59: When dissertations do not become tenure books & research becomes NYT Op-eds with Miriam Udel
    Sep 22 2025
    We’re talking with Emory Professor Miriam Udel about lessons from a career full of writing highs and challenges, beginning with the realization that the dissertation will not become the first book. We talk about learning how to understand the gradations of rejection letters; the value of pitching editors in person; why spending time on works of translations may be highly worthwhile even when they do not count for tenure and promotion; when hiring a book publicist is useful for academics; writing Op-Eds; mentoring younger scholars; and having a memoir-in-progress in the drawer. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact
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    58 mins
  • Episode 58: Finding Joy in Writing After Burn-Out with Samantha Baskind

    Episode 58: Finding Joy in Writing After Burn-Out with Samantha Baskind
    Sep 8 2025
    We’re talking with Distinguished Professor of Art History at Cleveland State University about building a scholarly foundation for future historians of art through writing and then moving in a new direction with more popular writing. We talked about writing for Smithsonian Magazine; writing about artists who are still alive; how to surmount the challenges of getting your editor to include images in your book; and when cold-calling really pays off. Don't forget to rate and review our show and follow us on all social media platforms here: https://linktr.ee/writingitpodcast Contact us with questions, possible future topics/guests, or comments here: https://writingit.fireside.fm/contact
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    40 mins