Are there any book podcasts like Bat Segundo?

June 11, 2018 11:32 AM

Are there any current book podcasts like the old Bat Segundo Show?

The things I liked about Bat Segundo:

• interviews with authors of fiction (mostly "literary," sometimes other genres) were the primary focus
• the interviewee (usually) spent much more time talking than the interviewer
• the interviewer had always read each author's current book (and usually their back catalog as well)
• there was an interesting mix of authors—not just whomever the publishing flaks were flogging that week as the next big thing

Since Bat Segundo stopped updating I have not found anything as reliably interesting. Surely someone else must be doing something along these lines?

posted by enn to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Best answer: KCRW's Bookworm may hit the spot, though I wish it was given more than thirty minutes per episode. The host, Michael Silverblatt, seems to handle things well.
posted by mr. digits at 12:48 PM on June 11, 2018

Best answer: Life Stories is a podcast that interviews memoir writers. Ron Hogan, the host, hasn't updated since December, but he has a bunch more episodes to be posted soon, and there are a lot of extant ones. (Full disclosure: Ron is my husband, but truly, he is generally held to be a damn good interviewer.)
posted by holborne at 1:19 PM on June 11, 2018

Best answer: I have heard good things about Eye 94 Radio (which is also a podcast on iTunes); it tends to be Chicago-centric (being based in Chicago), but does feature more literary, under-the-radar stuff.
posted by carrienation at 1:26 PM on June 11, 2018