Today, Jason and Kevin look at profanity in books. Do bad words turn you off? Will you keep reading if a book is laced with profanity? And, does profanity matter when reading a book, especially if that book serves a purpose or holds an important place in

Literary critics have lorded over the pages of elite magazines for centuries, and in the twentieth century, magazines like the New Yorker and The Atlantic have helped make and break potential new books. But now, we’re in the 21st century. People find bo

All writers have idols, but it’s important to remember that those idols are just human beings. Is it a good move for writers and readers to take their idols off the pedestal and to examine their flaws? What if we try to write better than our idols? In

In this week’s Critical Margins podcast, Jason Braun and Kevin Eagan discuss crowdfunding and crowdsourcing for writers. How might writers implement smart strategies online to get readers involved in the process? Crowdfunding is the way in which artists

Episode 11: Burritos and Literature In this week’s episode, Jason and I talk about Chipotle’s collaboration with writers like Jonathan Safran Foer and Toni Morrison. These writers’ short stories will show up on Chipotle’s cups and bags in store in

What do computers have to do with how we understand literature? In today’s show, Jason and I talk about the promise of the Digital Humanities, a field of scholarship dedicated to using big data to discover new approaches to reading in the digital age.

In this week’s Critical Margins Podcast, Jason and Kevin talk about how to give up on reading. When is the best time to give up on reading a book? When is it better to wait for a better time to read? Goodreads conducted a poll last year about why peopl

Do we need to memorize poetry any more? Some say that in the age of text, we’ve lost the art of memorization. Spoken word and slam poets, however, keep the oral tradition of poetry alive. This week, Jason and Kevin discuss the value of memorizing poetry

Self-publishing: some writers swear by it, others treat it like it’s a dirty word. The truth is, many writers and publishers self-publish something at some point in their career. And self-publishing isn’t new, even though the tools used to self-publis

In this week’s podcast, Jason and I talk about how and why we got started as writers. Here’s the deal: writing is tough. And it’s not easy to get started. Jason and I are not “experts” on getting published or the game of publishing. But we’