However you prefer to read books, it’s likely you’re always in the market for another friend to talk to about your latest reads. If you’re looking for a more robust reading community in general, or you just can’t get enough of hearing people talk about books, you may want to check out book podcasts. These are great tools for learning about new books, getting super-specific recommendations, and hearing from authors in their own words.
If you aren’t sure where to start with finding the right book podcast for you, don’t fret. We’ve curated a list of the 20 best book podcasts out there, including ones that focus on specific identities and genres.
The Big Gay Fiction Podcast
If you’re a fan of queer or trans fiction, you should be listening to The Big Gay Fiction Podcast hosted by Jeff Adams and Will Knauss. In each episode, they explore queer and trans pop culture through book recommendations from a wide variety of publishers, as well as author interviews.
New episodes are released every other Monday and you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, and more.
Bitches On Comics
Bitches On Comics seeks to make comics more welcoming to new readers, particularly LGBTQIA+ people and women. Hosted by Sara Century, S.E. Fleenor, and Monika Estrella Negra, with sound editing by Kate Warner, the podcast features interviews with women and queer folks in the comics, fiction, and pop culture spheres.
New episodes are released every other Wednesday and you can listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or at Realm.fm.
Book Friends Forever
Book Friends Forever is hosted by real-life best friends Grace Lin, an award-winning author and illustrator, and Alvina Ling, editor-in-chief at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Together, they take you inside the children’s book publishing industry as they talk about all things kid lit, including their relationship as author/illustrator and editor.
New episodes are released weekly, on alternating Thursdays and Fridays. You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Books & Boba
Books & Boba is a podcast and book club that spotlights titles by authors of Asian descent. Hosts Marvin Yueh and Reera Yoo pick a new book by an Asian or Asian American author to read each month, then discuss it on the podcast. They also interview authors and talk about publishing news, including new releases and recent book deals.
New episodes are released each week and you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
BULAQ | بولاق
BULAQ | بولاق is an English-language podcast hosted by Ursula Lindsey (in Amman, Jordan) and M Lynx Qualey (in Rabat, Morocco) that focuses on contemporary books from and about the Middle East and North Africa. It’s named after the first active printing press established in a neighborhood in Cairo, Egypt, in 1820.
New episodes are released monthly, and you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Comic Book Couples Counseling
Most comic book couples are dysfunctional at best, but there are at least a handful who stand out for their stellar communication and beautiful romances. Every week on Comic Book Couples Counseling, real-life married couple Brad Gullickson and Lisa Gullickson break down the dynamics of comic book relationships throughout the medium, as well as pop culture more broadly.
You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Debutiful
If you want to know what’s happening in the debut side of publishing, look no further than Debutiful, hosted by critic and journalist Adam Vitcavage. Each episode features an in-depth interview with a debut author about their first book, as well as why they got into writing and what keeps them moving.
In addition, each Monday a new episode of the First Taste reading series is released, featuring debut authors reading short selections from their books. You can listen to Debutiful on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey YA!
Hey YA! is the young-adult-focused book podcast by Book Riot, hosted by Tirzah Price and Erica Ezeifedi. Each week they discuss all things YA, from new releases to classic reads, on-screen adaptations, news, and more.
New episodes are released Wednesdays and you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
If Books Could Kill
If Books Could Kill is a new-ish podcast hosted by journalist Michael Hobbes and lawyer Peter Shamshiri. In each episode, they break down “airport bestsellers” and the junk science in most of them, including why these books blew up and what makes them so ridiculous.
New episodes are released every other Thursday and you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
It’s Lit! [Unabridged]
It’s Lit! [Unabridged], hosted by former Mary Sue writer Princess Weekes, is the sister podcast to the PBS YouTube series It’s Lit!. This 10-episode podcast features author interviews, discussion about influential novels, and issues in the publishing and literary spheres.
You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men
If diving into the X-Men comics terrifies you, we highly recommend jumping into Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men first. This fan-supported, long-running podcast explores and explains every plot line involving Marvel’s merry mutants, including the retcons, alternate timelines, and every other complication you can imagine.
New episodes are released weekly and you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Learning the Tropes: A Podcast for Romance Novel Veterans and Virgins
Learning the Tropes: A Podcast for Romance Novel Veterans and Virgins does exactly what it says on the tin: Each week, romance novel “veteran” Erin Leafe walks her friend Clayton, a romance novel “virgin,” through the best and worst tropes of the genre. They explore a new book in every episode, including titles from a wide variety of publishers and authors.
New episodes are released Wednesdays and you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
LeVar Burton Reads
If you simply want to hear LeVar Burton read you a story, Stitcher has just the podcast for you. Every episode of LeVar Burton Reads features the titular star and former Reading Rainbow host reading a new story set to atmospheric soundscapes. Genres range from sci-fi to historical fiction, and episode lengths vary according to the chosen story.
New episodes are released on Tuesdays and you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Libro.fm Podcast
The official Libro.fm Podcast features monthly interviews with authors, audiobook narrators, and members of the Libro.fm team. You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Novel Pairings
Novel Pairings is hosted by friends Sara and Chelsey, and in each episode they discuss a classic book, then make contemporary recommendations that feature similar themes. Sara and Chelsey are candid about what they like and dislike, and they aren’t particularly academic, which makes this particularly listenable.
New episodes are released every other Tuesday and you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
NPR’s Book of the Day
Do you need a recommendation for your next read? Feel like you can’t keep up with new releases? NPR’s Book of the Day has you covered. Daily episodes dive briefly into new releases through snippets of conversation with authors and publishing professionals so you can add to your TBR and then move on with your day.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or NPR One.
Poetry Unbound
Poetry Unbound is a short, episodic podcast hosted by Irish poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama. In each episode, you dive into a single poem and simply sit with it—or go further by exploring the poetry community of On Being Studios.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Stacks
The Stacks host Traci Thomas cultivates a one-stop shop for everything books in this weekly podcast. In two-part interviews with authors, publishing professionals, film and TV stars, and community leaders, Thomas asks about her guests’ reading lives, then changes gears to discuss that month’s Book Club pick. These discussions are not only about the books themselves but about those books fit into and reflect society and culture.
New episodes are released each Wednesday, with mini-episodes released every other Monday. You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Storykeepers Podcast
Storykeepers Podcast focuses exclusively on Indigenous books, authors, publishers, and booksellers. In each episode, hosts Waubgeshig Rice and Jennifer David discuss one or more books, chat with guest hosts, or interview industry professionals. They support and promote Inuit, Métis, and First Nations authors and books.
New episodes are released monthly and you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Well-Read Black Girl
Well-Read Black Girl founder Glory Edim expands the community she began building in 2015 through her podcast, which features candid conversations with authors of color, WRBG Book Club members, literacy advocates, and Black booksellers about what they’re reading and writing, as well as what it means to them to be “well-read.”
There are 27 episodes available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher, and we hope there will someday be more.
(featured image: Learning the Tropes; NPR; Libro.fm; Comic Book Couples Counseling; Pushkin Industries; Book Friends Forever; Bitches On Comics; On Being Studios; If Books Could Kill; Books & Boba / The Mary Sue)
