Some Things Considered with Sean Murphy

About Some Things Considered with Sean Murphy

Sean Murphy, a cultural critic and rebel advocate covering the world, one story at a time. murphlaw.substack.com (https://murphlaw.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Sean Murphy

Category

arts · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Jul 2024

Latest episode

30 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

56 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Jun 2026

   Season 6 Episode 1 | Teddy Wayne | Obsession, Insecurity, and Opportunity

   A few things became clear in my conversation with Teddy Wayne. First: literary success is far more fragile than most people imagine. One acclaimed book doesn't guarantee the next one. A glowing review doesn't pay the mortgage. Even celebrated writers often live with a nagging fear that their best work may already be behind them. Second: the economics of writing continue to worsen. Fewer reviews. Fewer readers. Fewer teaching positions. More competition for attention. The path that sustained previous generations of writers is increasingly difficult to find. And yet people keep writing. That's part of what makes Teddy's new novel, The Au Pair, so compelling. Beneath the thriller plot lies a deeper story about ambition, status, insecurity, desire, and the costs of needing to be seen. We also talked about adaptation, screenwriting, Anatomy of a Fall, literary fame, and why the best fiction resists easy moral conclusions. One of the most honest conversations I've had recently about what it means to build a creative life today. 📚🎙️ #WritingLife #Books #LiteraryFiction #Publishing #AmReading #SomeThingsConsidered #TeddyWayne Get full access to Sean Murphy at murphlaw.substack.com/subscribe (https://murphlaw.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

2. 

   17 Mar 2026

   Season 5 Episode 12 | Laurie Sheck | Exploring AI, Art, and Empathy

   What happens when one of the most intellectually fearless writers working today sits down to talk about: * Dostoyevsky’s dialogic voice * Frankenstein as misunderstood creation myth * AI and the future of creativity * Illness as altered consciousness * Capitalism’s grip on media and academia This conversation moves from 19th-century Russia to present-day neural networks — but the real subject is this: What does it mean to remain human when machinery dominates the narrative? We talk about: • Writers who chase status vs. writers obsessed with the work• Why “students don’t read anymore” is lazy thinking• Why Frankenstein isn’t about a monster — it’s about responsibility• Why AI can replicate information but not vulnerability• Why empathy may be the last defensible human advantage Laurie’s work — from A Monster’s Notes to Cyborg Fever — doesn’t simplify consciousness. It stretches it. This episode is demanding. It’s ambitious. It’s not light fare. But it insists on something radical in 2026: Interior life still matters. MORE ABOUT LAURIE SHECK Laurie has written two hybrid fictions and five books of poems, one of which, The Willow Grove, was a finalist of the Pulitzer Prize. Her essays have appeared online in The Paris Review, Granta, and The Atlantic; she has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, and has twice been awarded fellowships from the NEA. She is also a recipient for a Creative Capital (https://creative-capital.org/projects/cyborg-futures-poems-and-essay-poems/) Award in 2023 and is currently a member of the core MFA Writing Faculty at the New School and lives in New York City. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriesheck/ Website: https://lauriesheck.com/ ABOUT SOME THINGS CONSIDERED Award-winning author Sean Murphy in conversation with creative thinkers, spanning the literary, music, art, politics, and tech industries. As a cultural critic, professor, founder of a literary non-profit, Sean is always looking to explore and celebrate the ways Story is integral to how we define ourselves, as artists and human beings. This Substack newsletter and weekly podcast peels back the layers of how creativity works, why it matters, how our most brilliant minds achieve mastery. Join us to explore how our most successful and inspired storytellers engage by discussing craft, routines, brand, and mostly through authentic and honest expression. ABOUT HOST SEAN MURPHY Website: seanmurphy.net (https://seanmurphy.net/)Substack: seanmurphy.live (https://seanmurphy.live/)X: @bullmurph (https://twitter.com/bullmurph)Instagram: @bullmurph (https://instagram.com/bullmurph)Facebook: facebook.com/AuthorSeanMurphy (https://facebook.com/AuthorSeanMurphy)LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sean-murphy-4986b41 (https://linkedin.com/in/sean-murphy-4986b41) Get full access to Sean Murphy at murphlaw.substack.com/subscribe (https://murphlaw.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

3. 

   10 Mar 2026

   Season 5 Episode 11 | Walt Hunter | Teaching, Poetry, and Refusing to Lower the Bar

   On this episode of Some Things Considered, I spoke with Walt Hunter — senior associate dean at Case Western Reserve University, professor of 20th- and 21st-century literature, poetry editor at The Atlantic, and author of the poetry collection Some Flowers. The conversation began with the Atlantic essay that prompted the invitation: “Stop Meeting Students Where They Are.” It’s a provocative title — but the thesis is bracing rather than punitive. Hunter argues that in an era defined by devices, distraction, AI, and cultural impatience, educators must resist the impulse to lower expectations in the name of accessibility. Instead of asking what students already consume, he asks what they might rise to. Sometimes “meeting students where they are” really means: don’t risk difficulty. Don’t demand depth. Don’t make anyone uncomfortable. We’re living in a moment of ambient anti-intellectualism — where if something doesn’t monetize, scale, or optimize, it’s treated as ornamental. The arts are expected to justify themselves in ways business or athletics never are. Walt’s pushback is simple but disruptive: Raise the bar. Don’t assume students can’t handle complexity. Don’t pre-digest poetry because you’re afraid they won’t “get it.” Don’t panic about AI before reconsidering whether your assignments are worth doing. If a student doesn’t understand calculus on the first day, we don’t scrap calculus. We teach it. Why do we treat poetry differently? The deeper issue isn’t devices. It’s belief. Belief that difficulty is formative.Belief that rigor is respect.Belief that students can rise. Poetry, Walt argues, is an analog act in a culture obsessed with optimization. It tracks what matters — not to improve our efficiency, but to deepen our humanity. MORE ABOUT WALT HUNTER Walt Hunter is senior associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of 20th- and 21st-century literature in the department of English at Case Western Reserve University. Hunter is fiction and poetry editor for The Atlantic. In addition to two books of literary criticism, Hunter is also the author of a collection of poetry, Some Flowers. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/althunter/?hl=en (https://www.instagram.com/althunter/?hl=en) Website: https://walthunter.com/ ABOUT SOME THINGS CONSIDERED Award-winning author Sean Murphy in conversation with creative thinkers, spanning the literary, music, art, politics, and tech industries. As a cultural critic, professor, founder of a literary non-profit, Sean is always looking to explore and celebrate the ways Story is integral to how we define ourselves, as artists and human beings. This Substack newsletter and weekly podcast peels back the layers of how creativity works, why it matters, how our most brilliant minds achieve mastery. Join us to explore how our most successful and inspired storytellers engage by discussing craft, routines, brand, and mostly through authentic and honest expression. ABOUT HOST SEAN MURPHY Website: seanmurphy.net (https://seanmurphy.net/)Substack: seanmurphy.live (https://seanmurphy.live/)X: @bullmurph (https://twitter.com/bullmurph)Instagram: @bullmurph (https://instagram.com/bullmurph)Facebook: facebook.com/AuthorSeanMurphy (https://facebook.com/AuthorSeanMurphy)LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sean-murphy-4986b41 (https://linkedin.com/in/sean-murphy-4986b41) Get full access to Sean Murphy at murphlaw.substack.com/subscribe (https://murphlaw.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4)

Who has been a guest on Some Things Considered with Sean Murphy

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

• Paula Whyman
• Shawn DuBravac
• Ryan Flahive
• Will Boast
• Jason Zinoman

Reach and audience

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

YouTube views

3,481

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 51 / 100

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

Quality

76

Social presence

0

YouTube

68

Engagement

0

Contact Some Things Considered with Sean Murphy

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.