A podcast that explores the art of interpretation and the importance of words, story, and song in our quest to discover both the human and the eternal. Host Katie Marquette takes listeners through book and play studies, as well as interviews and lively debates about contemporary cultural issues. In the words of Shakespeare, “If This be Magic, Let it be an Art."
S1 EP5: Medieval Wisdom: Virtue and Vice with Dr. Grace Hamman
On this episode, scholar and writer Dr. Grace Hamman helps us understand the medieval concepts of Virtue and Vice. Through elaborate metaphor and compelling (and sometimes disturbing) art the medieval mind was constantly grappling with one's own virtues (and combatting one's own vices). Though these terms can seem abstract, Grace helps us see the eternal relevance to our own lives, today, in 2025, and we get into some personal territory as we try to understand how we can be better people today.
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Grace Hamman is a writer and independent scholar of late medieval poetry and contemplative writing. She is the author of “Ask of Old Paths” and “Jesus through Medieval Eyes.” Her work has been published by academic and popular outlets, including Plough Quarterly and The Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies.
https://gracehamman.com
Find Grace on Substack: https://gracehamman.substack.com
Old Books with Grace: https://gracehamman.com/podcast-2/
on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oldbookswithgrace/
Buy her book! https://zondervanacademic.com/products/ask-of-old-paths
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more about Katie and the podcast - www.katiemarquette.com
Substack for Bonus Content and Katie's writing:
https://bornofwonder.substack.com/
30 Oct 2025
S1 EP4: Making it as a Creative in the Age of AI with Emily Stimpson Chapman
AI is shaping every aspect of our lives - how we work, how we think, how we relate to one another. And if you're a writer and creative you are going to have to grapple with the fact that AI is now doing many of your jobs. Is there even any work to be had as a creative in 2025? Is it ethical to use AI? What has changed in the past couple decades when it comes to writing for an audience versus writing for an editor? What is this doing to our hearts, our souls? What's the goal? All these big questions and more on today's episode with writer Emily Stimpson Chapman. Hope you enjoy!
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Emily Stimpson Chapman is a best-selling Catholic author of over a dozen books, a podcast host, wife, and mother of three young children.
Order her books!
https://www.emilystimpsonchapman.com/shop
Follow her on social media:
Instagram: @emilystimpsonchapman
Substack: https://emilystimpsonchapman.substack.com/
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more about Katie and the podcast - www.katiemarquette.com
Substack for Bonus Content and Katie's writing:
https://bornofwonder.substack.com/
16 Oct 2025
S1 EP3: The Weight of Silence -Autism, Motherhood, and Art with Heather Cadenhead
When Heather's son Milo was a little behind on milestones, she tried not to worry. Boys often take longer, she would reassure herself. But eventually the markers became impossible to ignore. Heather takes us behind the scenes into her son's autism diagnosis and what it's like today, parenting a non-verbal teenager. Heather is vulnerable, raw, and honest about her life's challenges as well as its joys. She finds rest in her faith as well as writing and art. A profoundly important episode to remind us how we can value (and listen to) silence.
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Bonus question with Heather for paid subscribers!
Head over to Katie's substack to upgrade your subscription and listen in:
https://substack.com/@bornofwonder
More about Katie -- www.katiemarquette.com
Subscribe to Heather's Substack!
https://heathercadenhead.substack.com/
Fieldmoot conference:
https://fieldmoot.substack.com/
9 Oct 2025
S1 EP2: On Aslan's Side: Fighting the Good Fight with Haley Stewart
Why are we so ready to believe the tragedy? Why do sad things seem truer, more real? Is believing in miracles, or believing in God, just a delusion to get us through the day? How can good stories keep us rooted in truth and goodness, even when faced with real tragedy? These and so many other questions will guide our conversation today. Haley Stewart - children's book editor, writer, mother, traveler - discusses belief, Hope, and staying on Aslan's side. Tune in now!
Find Haley online: Instagram - @haleycarrots
Substack: https://substack.com/@haleystewart
Bonus question with Haley for paid subscribers!
Head over to Katie's substack to upgrade your subscription and listen in:
https://substack.com/@bornofwonder
More about Katie -- www.katiemarquette.com
2 Oct 2025
S1 EP1: Shakespeare Needs Us: Interview with Beth Charlebois
"We don't need Shakespeare, Shakespeare needs us!"
Shakespeare is demanding: There are so many versions, so many interpretations, so many questions. He is always in flux, and this has sometimes made us uncomfortable. Shakespeare scholar Beth Charlebois takes into the history of the Bard - who he was, his motivations, the tumultuous reality of Early Modern England, as well as his (possibly) secret Catholicism (or at least his sacramental worldview). We'll also discuss the pivotal scene from the Winter's Tale and the concept of jealousy in Shakespeare's plays as well as how Art and Shakespeare in particular can truly change lives and reassert our humanity. This is an extremely rich episode and is going to give you so much to think about! So many thanks to Beth for coming on the show.
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Beth Charlebois is Professor of English, Emerita at St. Mary's College of Maryland where she taught Shakespeare and Renaissance drama and literature for 23 years. She received her BA and MA from Georgetown University and her Ph.D. from Northwestern University.
Her early scholarly work was largely devoted to examining the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries through an historical lens, but for decades she has been most keenly interested in how performance shapes the meaning and interpretation of the plays and how teaching Shakespeare with performance at the forefront encourages students to understand the plays as living and breathing works of art that can take on new meanings on the stage that speak to our own times.
Wanting to broaden her horizons and the ways that Shakespeare can be made relevant today, she devoted three sabbatical projects teaching Shakespeare in prison as Scholar in Residence for St. Louis based Prison Performing Arts.
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Find Katie on Substack: https://bornofwonder.substack.com/
Find Katie online: www.katiemarquette.com
28 Sept 2025
Miracle or Trick? An Introduction!
Welcome to If This Be Magic! This podcast is going to explore interpretation, art, theology, and all the big questions we ask about what it means to be a human being. This episode introduces listeners to the pivotal scene from Shakespeare's "A Winter's Tale" that inspired this whole project. Can't wait to share the rest of this series with you! Spread the word!
Find Katie on Substack: https://bornofwonder.substack.com/
Find Katie online: www.katiemarquette.com
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