

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 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.
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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 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 on Malcolm Cowley and the Triumph of American Literature
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

Jan 4, 2026 • 1h 30min
1016. Jim Newton on Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead, and the American Counterculture
Jim Newton, a journalist and author of 'Here Beside the Rising Tide,' dives deep into Jerry Garcia's life and the cultural impact of the Grateful Dead. He discusses how the band modeled community and creative freedom, shaped by their Acid Tests and participatory concerts. Newton shares insights into Garcia's formative years, early influences, and the duality of creative expression versus the pressures of fame. The conversation touches on the band's legacy and their role as a precursor to modern digital sharing. A fascinating look at music, community, and the human experience!

Jan 3, 2026 • 1h 31min
REPLAY: Susannah Cahalan
Susannah Cahalan, a bestselling journalist known for her works on neuroscience and psychiatry, dives into the fascinating psyche of Rosemary Woodruff Leary. They explore Susannah's own psychedelic experiences and the allure of counterculture. The conversation reveals Timothy Leary's complex legacy and how personal failures intersect with prescient ideas. Cahalan also shares stories of Leary's arrest and their life on the run, while assessing modern psychedelic research and therapeutic potential. It's a compelling blend of history, personal narrative, and cultural critique.

Jan 1, 2026 • 1h 43min
REPLAY: Amanda Yates Garcia
Original air date: August 17, 2025
A special episode featuring Amanda Yates Garcia, also known as The Oracle of Los Angeles.
Amanda is a writer, socially engaged artist, public witch, and doctoral student in the department of World Arts Cultures and Dance at UCLA. Her first book, Initiated, received a starred review from Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly and has been translated into six languages. Amanda hosts the Between the Worlds podcast, which looks at the Western Mystery traditions through a mythopoetic lens and has been downloaded over 2.5 million times, with over 1,900 five-star reviews. Amanda is the founder of Mystery Cult, a 20k strong online and in-person community on Substack dedicated to eco-somatic ritual practice and cultivating radical enchantment.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
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

Dec 31, 2025 • 1h 8min
REPLAY: What Does It Mean to Be a Minor Writer?
Original air date: October 12, 2025.
What does it mean to be a “minor writer” in a world obsessed with major success? In this episode, I talk with Jeff Alessandrelliabout his essay 'Minor, Minor, Minor Writer,' and what it has to say about literary ambition, obscurity, ego, and the quiet reality behind most books. We discuss BookScan recon, indie lit fame, the collapse of serious readership, and the stubborn hope that keeps writers going anyway.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
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.
Alessandrelli lives in Portland, OR, where he directs and co-edits the non-profit book press/record label Fonograf Editions. His latest book is And Yet (Future Tense Books, 2024). “Minor, minor, minor writer” is an excerpt from an essay that will be included in a forthcoming collection to be published by Autofocus Books in late 2027/early 2028. His new Substack is https://substack.com/@jalessandrelli. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 30, 2025 • 1h 21min
REPLAY: Ocean Vuong
Ocean Vuong is the author of the novel The Emperor of Gladness, available from Penguin Press.
Ocean's other books include the critically acclaimed poetry collections Night Sky with Exit Wounds and Time Is a Mother, as well as the New York Times bestselling novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. A recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and the American Book Award, he used to work as a fast-food server, which inspired The Emperor of Gladness. Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he currently splits his time between Northampton, Massachusetts, and New York City.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
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

Dec 28, 2025 • 1h 28min
REPLAY: Claire Hoffman
Original air date: June 10, 2025.
Claire Hoffman is the author of Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson, available from Farrar, Straus, & Giroux.
Hoffman is also the author of the memoir Greetings from Utopia Park and is a journalist reporting for national magazines on culture, religion, celebrity, business, and more. She was formerly a staff reporter for the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone. She is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz, and has an MA in religion from the University of Chicago and an MA in journalism from Columbia University. She serves on the boards of the Columbia School of Journalism, ProPublica, and the Brooklyn Public Library.
***
Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.
Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.
Subscribe to Brad Listi’s email newsletter.
Support the show on Patreon
Merch
Instagram
Bluesky
Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com
The podcast is an affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices


