Smarty Pants

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Tune in every week to catch interviews with the liveliest voices from literature, the arts, sciences, history, and public affairs; reports on cutting-edge works in progress; long-form narratives; and compelling excerpts from new books. Produced and hosted by Stephanie Bastek.

Have suggestions for projects you’d like us to catch up on, or writers you want to hear from? Send us a note: podcast [at] theamericanscholar.org


Episode List:

Filling in the Fragments

Diane Rayor on translating the poetry of Sappho

by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, March 17, 2023

Reading the Trail Trees

Alexander Nemerov on his efforts to resurrect the spirits of our lost woods

by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, March 10, 2023

Chaucer’s Leading Lady

Marion Turner on our enduring fascination with the Wife of Bath

by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, March 03, 2023

The Comic Queen of Metafiction

Gunnhild Øyehaug talks about her twisted new collection of short stories

by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, February 24, 2023

Justice, Arrested

Joanna Schwartz on the difficulty of holding the police accountable

by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, February 17, 2023

Past is Present

Marie Arana on how violence, exploitation, and religion have ruled Latin America’s history—and might portend its future

by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, February 10, 2023

The Promised Land of the Pampas

Javier Sinay on the forgotten history of the first Jewish immigrants in Argentina

by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, February 03, 2023

Medieval Madams

Eleanor Janega on the overlooked lives of ordinary women

by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, January 27, 2023

The Sensual Sargent

Paul Fisher on the restless life of an American great

by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, January 20, 2023

Lost in Smog

Darren Byler on translating the fiction of Uyghur writer Perhat Tursun

by Stephanie Bastek | Friday, January 13, 2023
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