Reading Around the Margins

About Reading Around the Margins

In each episode of Reading Around the Margins, Naomi Washer talks with writers, readers, translators, publishers, and booksellers about how they interact with their books as objects; how their own marginalia consciously or unconsciously informs the books they come to write; and how the experience of reading brings a book into existence.

Publisher

Physical Artifact Studios

Category

arts · arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

27 May 2025

Latest episode

4 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

22 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   4 Aug 2026

   "OOO: August 2026"

   We are taking the month of August to rest, recharge, and read. We’ll be back in September with a full slate of really exciting guests, including Doireann Ní Ghríofa and Marie Darrieussecq. In the meantime, we invite you to listen to our previous episodes and to let us know what you're reading over these last summer days. Find a copy of Marginalia: an autobiography from Autofocus Books (https://autofocusbooks.com/store/p/marginalia), New York University Press (https://nyupress.org/9781957392394/marginalia/), or your local independent bookstore. Subscribe to Process Notes (https://naomiwasher.substack.com/) for further reflections on reading, subjectivity, and psychoanalysis.

2. 

   21 Jul 2026

   "Breathing a Text with Heather McCalden"

   Naomi and Heather begin their discussion by exploring Heather's recent questions about the function of criticism; how a person's nervous system interacts with an artwork; how theory interacts with a sense of trust and belief; how her movement training created a mode in which her body understands content first; how underlining in a book is an attempt to imprint the text in her brain, her respiration, her body; the methods of marginalia she uses to illustrate her own thought processes on revision; and the benefits of interdisciplinary discussion and exploration, with reference to her discussions and collaborations with her friend, the musical composer Reena Esmail (https://www.reenaesmail.com/catalog/perhaps/). Reading List + selections from Heather McCalden Heather's marginalia came from the following texts: Something Speaks to Me: Where Criticism Begins (https://bookshop.org/p/books/something-speaks-to-me-where-criticism-begins-michel-chaouli/78dad566a17ed786?ean=9780226830421&bkshp-astro=t), Michel Chaouli Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light, (https://bookshop.org/p/books/hot-cold-heavy-light-100-art-writings-1988-2018-peter-schjeldahl/c7d4262b7a03674a?ean=9781419735264&bkshp-astro=t) Peter Schjeldahl Poetry and Drama (https://tseliot.com/essays/poetry-and-drama), T.S. Elliot The Perfect Critic (https://tseliot.com/essays/the-perfect-critic), T.S. Eliot ---- The Observable Universe -- US Edition (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/723150/the-observable-universe-by-heather-mccalden/) The Observable Universe -- UK Edition (https://fitzcarraldoeditions.com/books/the-observable-universe/) Other work by Heather McCalden: "A Naturally Occurring Phenomenon" (https://www.anothermag.com/another-man/16852/fitzcarraldo-a-naturally-occurring-phenomenon-by-heather-mccalden) "On World AIDS Day What Does it Mean to Live in a Culture Defined by Virality?" (https://lithub.com/on-world-aids-day-what-does-it-mean-to-live-in-a-culture-defined-by-virality/) "Facing the Unknown with Heather McCalden" (https://www.wormsmagazine.com/psychoanalysis/facing-the-unknowable-with-heather-mccalden) Heather McCalden (she/her) is a writer and multidisciplinary artist working with text, image and movement. She is a graduate of the Royal College of Art and has exhibited at Young Space, Tanz Company Gervasi, Roulette Intermedium, Pierogi Gallery, National Sawdust, Testbed 1, and 99 Canal Street. In 2021 she won the Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize which led to the publication of her debut memoir The Observable Universe (2024). William Gibson, author of Neuromancer, called it, ‘A gifted writer’s brilliantly innovative approach to autobiographical non-fiction, syncing a narrative of profoundly personal emotion with the invention and evolution of today’s cyberspace.’ She has written for the Financial Times Weekend Magazine, LitHub, Broadcast by Pioneer Works, and Another Man Magazine. Find a copy of Marginalia: an autobiography from Autofocus Books (https://autofocusbooks.com/store/p/marginalia), New York University Press (https://nyupress.org/9781957392394/marginalia/), or your local independent bookstore. Subscribe to Process Notes (https://naomiwasher.substack.com/) for further reflections on reading, subjectivity, and psychoanalysis.

3. 

   7 Jul 2026

   "Permeable boundaries with Lindsay Lerman"

   Naomi is joined by Berlin-based novelist, philosopher, and translator Lindsay Lerman for a discussion that winds through Lindsay's experience with Perfume by Patrick Süskind and explores the physical experiences of reading, and reading as a practice of writing; how a book can open up a field that sparks the need to do or make something in response, whether it's a course, a book, a painting, or a devoted reading group; how permeability makes you a good storyteller; the necessary risks of being radically open to the world; and how the things we try to push away are the very things with which we must engage. Reading List + selected works from Lindsay Lerman Perfume (https://bookshop.org/p/books/perfume-the-story-of-murder-patrick-suskind/d60fd260ab194203?ean=9780375725845), Patrick Süskind The Knowable Unknown: "Dark Philosophy" and Fiction (https://thephilosophicalsalon.com/the-knowable-unknown-dark-philosophy-and-fiction/), Lindsay Lerman Your Life is Your Work of Art: on John Dewey's Art as Experience (https://web.archive.org/web/20220307170511/https://uncontemporaryreview.com/?p=490), Lindsay Lerman Lindsay's books (https://lindsaylerman.com/index.php/books/) Lindsay Lerman is a novelist, philosopher, and translator. Her first book, I'm From Nowhere, was published in 2019. Her second book, What Are You, was published in 2022. She has a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Her short stories, interviews, essays, and occasional poems have been published in the Los Angeles Review of Books, New York Tyrant, The Creative Independent, and elsewhere. Her work has been translated into German, French, and Greek. She lives in Berlin. Find a copy of Marginalia: an autobiography from Autofocus Books (https://autofocusbooks.com/store/p/marginalia), New York University Press (https://nyupress.org/9781957392394/marginalia/), or your local independent bookstore. Subscribe to Process Notes (https://naomiwasher.substack.com/) for further reflections on reading, subjectivity, and psychoanalysis.

Who has been a guest on Reading Around the Margins

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Deborah Shapiro
• Rebecca van Laer
• Claire Foster
• Marina Blitshteyn

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 9 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

5

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32