Sylly, as in syllabus - a biweekly show from Mbiye Kasonga and Tembe Denton Hurst. Every other week we'll dive into a primary text, using it as a starting point for big conversations, syllabus included.
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Welcome back to Sylly, a podcast for the curious and critical. We’re your hosts, Mbiye Kasonga (https://choicecuts.substack.com/) and Tembe Denton-Hurst (https://tembe.substack.com/). In episode 21, we’re sharing our Fall/Winter 2026 reading plans, the books we’re pre-ordering and hoping to get to before the end of 2026. We talk about why curiosity and criticism are two sides of the same coin, Mbiye’s “Oprah theory of the internet,” and why pre-orders matter more to publishers (and the bestseller list) than you might think. We also trade notes on what we’re reading right now, from Kindred to Butter to East of Eden, and make the case for an Irish writing visa for Hollywood.
If you love Sylly, tell us! Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sylly/id1796242704).
For the full list of books we discussed, subscribe to Sylly on Substack (https://syllypod.substack.com/)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
30 Oct 2026
Everybody’s A Critic, Nobody’s A Critic
Welcome back to Sylly, a podcast for the curious and critical. We’re your hosts, Mbiye Kasonga (https://choicecuts.substack.com/) and Tembe Denton-Hurst (https://tembe.substack.com/). In episode 20, we dig into criticism as a practice and what actually separates a critique from a review, a hot take, or a close reading, using Tembe’s review of Marlon James’s The Disappearers for Vulture (https://www.vulture.com/article/review-marlon-james-book-the-disappearers.html) as our jumping-off point. We talk about Saidiya Hartman’s concept of critical fabulation, why Toni Morrison’s work gets read as “horror,” and why we think fiction needs more unapologetically racist characters. We also get into the growing panopticon around what we read in public, the literary world’s collision with celebrity culture, and close out with Octavia Butler, Lucille Clifton, and a few thoughts on what freedom actually requires.
If you love Sylly, tell us! Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sylly/id1796242704).
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
3 Sept 2026
Considering the Cyborg with Sierra Greer
Welcome back to Sylly, a podcast for the curious and critical. We’re your hosts, Mbiye Kasonga (https://choicecuts.substack.com/) and Tembe Denton-Hurst (https://tembe.substack.com/).
Today’s episode looks back at a conversation that I (Mbiye) had with Sierra Greer, the author of Annie Bot. Annie Bot is a book that has haunted me since I read it. It tells the story of Annie, a robot companion purchased by Doug, a human male. The book explores several themes, but the one I’m most interested in is the idea of the female cyborg and the intersection of gender and technology. While reading Annie Bot, I was reminded of Anne Balsamo’s book, Technologies of the Gendered Body (https://www.dukeupress.edu/technologies-of-the-gendered-body), which centers on the ways that women’s bodies are increasingly mediated by technology.
If you love Sylly, tell us! Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sylly/id1796242704).
Check out the full list of books we discussed on our Substack (https://syllypod.substack.com/)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.9 / 5
16 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
9 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 25 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
30
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
51
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Questions about Sylly
Who hosts Sylly?
Mbiye Kasonga and Tembe Denton-Hurst and Sylly host the show. Published by Mbiye Kasonga.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes monthly, based on its RSS feed.
Does Sylly take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
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