Best Julia Quinn Podcasts (2025)

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Build the Whole Building | Troy Pryor on Ecosystems, Ownership, and Creating What’s Missing 58:27

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2d ago58:27

58:27

What happens when you stop waiting for a seat at the table—and start building the whole building? In this episode, Troy Pryor and I talk about designing creative ecosystems, the long game of legacy, and what it actually takes to create sustainable platforms for underrepresented voices in media. We also dig into the power of “showing your work,” Tro…

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Violet Moller, "Inside the Stargazer's Palace: The Transformation of Science in 16th-Century Europe" (OneWorld, 2024) 40:38

3d ago40:38

40:38

In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus declared the earth revolved around the Sun, overturning centuries of scholastic presumption. A new age was coming into view – one guided by observation, technology and logic. But omens and elixirs did not disappear from the sixteenth-century laboratory. Charms and potions could still be found nestled between glistening …

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Alice Hunt, "Republic: Britain's Revolutionary Decade, 1649–1660" (Faber and Faber, 2024) 49:51

3d ago49:51

49:51

Alice Hunt’s Republic: Britain’s Revolutionary Decade 1649-1650 (Faber and Faber, 2024) takes a chronological look at the current events, personalities, political struggles and cultural highlights of Britain’s short-lived but intense experiment in republicanism. From the deeply controversial execution of Charles I in January 1649 to the similarly c…

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Ending Of: Sex and the City 27:01

4d ago27:01

27:01

For this week’s bi-weekly scene study, Vanessa and Helen Zaltzman analyze the ending of Sex and the City! They continue to feel depressed by the film and discuss the 'compromise' of the final wedding scene. Hot and Bothered is a Not Sorry Production Find us at our website | Follow us on Instagram --- If we give you butterflies, consider supporting …

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Make It Look Expensive | Shelby Gamble on Scrappy Sets, Queer Grit, and Getting the Shot Anyway 59:28

4d ago59:28

59:28

Filmmaker Shelby “SB” Gamble joins me for a conversation about scrappy sets, strange stories, and the tension between polish and personal vision. We talk about learning to trust your instincts on shoots, the differences between commercial and narrative work, and how to stay creatively motivated when you’re wearing five hats. Shelby Gamble is a Chic…

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Mark Somos, Matthew Cleary, Pablo Dufour, Edward Jones Corredera, and Emanuele Salerno, "The Unseen History of International Law" (Oxford UP, 2025) 1:05:37

4d ago1:05:37

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The Unseen History of International Law (Oxford University Press, 2025) locates and describes almost one thousand surviving copies of the first nine editions of Hugo Grotius' De iure belli ac pacis (IBP) published between 1625 and 1650. Meticulously reconstructing the publishing history of these first nine editions and cataloguing copies across hun…

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Andreas Beyer, "Benvenuto Cellini and the Embodiment of the Modern Artist" (Reaktion, 2025) 46:53

4d ago46:53

46:53

Andreas Beyer joins Jana Byars to talk about his new book, Benvenuto Cellini and the Embodiment of the Modern Artist (Reaktion, 2025). Benvenuto Cellini was a murderer, thief, lover of all genders, rival of popes and princes, as well as an ingenious artist. In his legendary autobiography, the Vita, Cellini describes his activities vividly and in lu…

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Enrique Fernández and Darlene Abreu-Ferreira, "Death and Gender in the Early Modern Period" (Brill, 2024) 45:02

8d ago45:02

45:02

Enrique Fernández and Darlene Abreu-Ferreira, eds. Death and Gender in Early Modern Europe (Brill, 2024). In premodern Europe, the gender identity of those waiting for Doomsday in their tombs could be reaffirmed, readjusted, or even neutralized. Testimonies of this renegotiation of gender at the encounter with death is detectable in wills, letters …

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You’re Not Too Late | Julia Relova on Scarcity, Saying No, and Starting Anyway 56:43

9d ago56:43

56:43

In this episode, Julia Relova and I talk about that tender mix of creative joy and quiet comparison—what happens when you see a story close to your own finally break through, and the voice in your head says, “Does that mean I’ve missed my chance?” We get into scarcity mindset, energy tracking, and the sometimes-tricky shift from generous collaborat…

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Sex and the City 59:15

11d ago59:15

59:15

Vanessa Zoltan and special guest Helen Zaltzman meet at a resort in Mexico to record this week’s episode of Hot and Bothered, all about the Sex and the City movie. This week we discuss the politics of Carrie's wedding dress, the flatness of Louise's character, and the use of bird feathers in historical fashion. We finish the episode by talking to J…

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Nothing Big Has to Happen | Katherine Quinn on Small Stakes, Stillness, and Writing What’s True 50:07

11d ago50:07

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In this episode, Katherine Quinn and I explore what it means to tell stories that resist spectacle. We talk about choosing stillness over fuss, pacing that invites pause, and the creative rebellion of writing conflict-averse characters—on purpose. Katherine is a New York-based writer and filmmaker whose work has screened at the Long Youth Film Fest…

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51. All Of Me 1:50

11d ago1:50

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Dear Gentle Listeners. It is the last episode of Season 3, but is it also the last we will hear from Lady Whistledown? Colin has been keeping his distance from Penelope since their wedding, but the real drama begins when Cressida blackmails Penelope, threatening to expose her as Lady Whistledown. Meanwhile, other Bridgertons are experiencing their …

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David de Boer and Geert H. Janssen eds.,"Refugee Politics in Early Modern Europe" (Bloomsbury Academic, 2024) 34:45

14d ago34:45

34:45

David de Boer and Geert H. Janssen, eds. Refugee Politics in Early Modern Europe (Bloomsbury, 2024). This book is available as an open source publication here. Refugees have existed since ancient times but it was in the early modern era that they first became a distinct social and political category. This open access book maps the early modern 'inv…

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Make It Yours or Don’t Bother | Ryan Satterfeal on Acting, Audacity, and Why Specificity Wins 51:13

16d ago51:13

51:13

Ryan Satterfeal is a multi-award-winning actor, writer, and musician whose curiosity led him from garage bands to community theater—and eventually, to screen roles in Chicago Med, commercials, and indie films like Life Unexpected, Poser, and Clown Shoes. In this conversation, we talk about why he still reads scripts with both his actor and writer b…

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Quinn Slobodian and Philip J. Stern on Political Economy 1:03:52

16d ago1:03:52

1:03:52

• Philip J. Stern, Empire, Incorporated. The Corporations That Built British Colonialism (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press in 2023), by. • Quinn Slobodian, Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy (Penguin, 2023). Adam Smith wrote that, “Political economy belongs to no nation; it is of no country: it …

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Ending Of: Mamma Mia! 22:31

18d ago22:31

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For this week’s bi-weekly scene study, Vanessa and Hannah analyze the ending of Mamma Mia! They discuss Rosie crawling after Bill, Harry coming out as gay, and Sophie's shifting relationship to the concept of fatherhood. Hot and Bothered is a Not Sorry Production Find us at our website | Follow us on Instagram --- If we give you butterflies, consid…

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Staying Seen Without Selling Out | Ruth Kaufman on Saying No, Showing Up, and Still Loving the Work 1:01:08

18d ago1:01:08

1:01:08

Actor, author, voiceover artist, improv performer—Ruth Kaufman has worn a lot of hats. In this conversation, we talk about what it means to stay present and committed in a saturated industry, even when the wins are hard to see. From casting breakdowns and shifting expectations to how self-tapes changed the emotional math of auditioning, Ruth shares…

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Kathleen Miller, ed., "Doctrine and Disease in the British and Spanish Colonial World" (Penn State UP, 2025) 36:24

18d ago36:24

36:24

Kathleen Miller talks about her new edited volume, Doctrine and Disease in British and Spanish Colonial World (Penn State University Press, 2025). In the sixteenth century, unprecedented migration caused diseases to take hold in new locales, turning illness and the human body into battlegrounds for competing religious beliefs as well as the colonia…

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Build What You’d Want to Come Back To | Colin Parker on Taste, Chemistry, and Leading with Intention 55:32

23d ago55:32

55:32

Some projects come together in a rush. Others take years of quiet build-up, trust, and timing. In this episode, Mishu and Colin unpack what it takes to move a project from an idea to the finish line—without burning out your team or yourself. They talk about clear communication on set, why structure matters even in creative chaos, and how to stay fl…

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Jana Dambrogio and Daniel Starza Smith, "Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter" (MIT Press, 2025) 45:48

23d ago45:48

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Before the invention of the gummed envelope in the 1830s, how did people secure their private letters? The answer is letterlocking—the ingenious process of securing a letter using a combination of folds, tucks, slits, or adhesives such as sealing wax, so that it becomes its own envelope. This almost entirely forgotten practice, used by historical f…

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Julia McClure, "Empire of Poverty: The Moral-Political Economy of the Spanish Empire" (Oxford UP, 2025) 42:51

24d ago42:51

42:51

Empire of Poverty: The Moral-Political Economy of the Spanish Empire (Oxford University Press, 2024) by Dr. Julia McClure examines how changing concepts of poverty in the long-sixteenth century helped shape the deep structures of states and empires and the contours of imperial inequalities. While poverty is often understood to have become a politic…

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Mamma Mia! 54:32

25d ago54:32

54:32

Vanessa Zoltan and Hannah McGregor meet-up on a fictional greek island to record this week’s episode of Hot and Bothered, all about Mamma Mia! This week we discuss melodrama, the female gaze, and Susan Sontag's Notes on "Camp." We finish the episode by calling Carl Magnus Palm to talk to us about ABBA. --- Hot and Bothered is a Not Sorry Production…

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This Scene Could Go Sideways | Andrea Zile Bish on Tone, Trust, and the Unscripted Work of Directing 53:13

25d ago53:13

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Filmmaking doesn't always go according to plan—but for Andrea Zile Bish, that’s part of the fun. In this episode, Bish and Mishu talk about the ups and downs of directing both comedy and horror, the balance between structure and spontaneity, and the vulnerable realities of post-production burnout. They also unpack the myth of the auteur, share thou…

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Yosie Levine, "Hakham Tsevi Ashkenazi and the Battlegrounds of the Early Modern Rabbinate" (Littman Library, 2024) 41:43

25d ago41:43

41:43

My recent interview with Rabbi Dr. Yosie Levine about his book, Hakham Tsevi Ashkenazi and the Battlegrounds of the Early Modern Rabbinate (Littman Library, 2024), illuminated the dynamic interplay between Sephardi and Ashkenazi traditions-a theme that resonates deeply with our mission at the Unity Through Diversity Institute. From the outset, Rabb…

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50. Going to the Chapel 1:50

26d ago1:50

1:50

Conflict abounds in the penultimate episode of season 3: Colin confronts Penelope about her scandalous secret, Eloise is torn between her brother and her best friend, and Cressida discovers some information that could ruin everything. And, of course, there’s a wedding to attend. Featuring: Pathetic fallacy Primary v Secondary characters Scandal v g…

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Dan Sperrin, "State of Ridicule: A History of Satire in English Literature" (Princeton UP, 2025) 53:06

26d ago53:06

53:06

Satire is a funny, aggressive, and largely oppositional literature which is typically created by people who refuse to participate in a given regime’s perception of itself. Although satire has always been a primary literature of state affairs, and although it has always been used to intervene in ongoing discussions about political theory and practic…

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Quentin Skinner, "Liberty as Independence: The Making and Unmaking of a Political Ideal" (Cambridge UP, 2025) 57:23

27d ago57:23

57:23

What does liberty entail? How have concepts of liberty changed over time? And what are the global consequences? Liberty as Independence: The Making and Unmaking of a Political Ideal (Cambridge UP, 2025) surveys the history of rival views of liberty from antiquity to modern times. Quentin Skinner traces the understanding of liberty as independence f…

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Camilla Annerfeldt, "Clothing and Identity in Early Modern Rome" (Bloomsbury, 2025) 30:22

28d ago30:22

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Camilla Annerfeldt joins to discuss Clothing and Identity in Early Modern Rome (Bloomsbury, 2025). This is the first book-length exploration of the clothes worn in early modern Rome and provides novel insights into the city of Rome during one of its most fascinating periods. It also challenges the notion – well-established in dress historical resea…

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Hannah Jeans, "Reading, Gender and Identity in Seventeenth-Century England" (U London Press, 2025) 50:13

29d ago50:13

50:13

In Reading, Gender and Identity in Seventeenth-Century England (University of London Press, 2025), Hannah Jeans explores the reading habits of early modern women and the ways in which their reading became a site of identity formation and promotion. Jeans studies both contemporary prescriptions around women's reading, particularly their consumption …

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Stop Writing for the Audience—Start Telling the Truth | Jordan Tragash on Structure, Discomfort, and the Unraveling 1:03:12

1M ago1:03:12

1:03:12

What happens when a filmmaker stops writing from the outside in—and starts building stories from the subconscious out? In this episode, Jordan Tragash joins Mishu for a conversation that gets into experimental structure, emotional disorientation, and the creative tension between clarity and chaos. They explore the value of discomfort, the illusions…

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Alan Strathern, "Converting Rulers: Global Patterns, 1450-1850" (Cambridge UP, 2024) 1:21:01

1M ago1:21:01

1:21:01

Why did so many rulers throughout history risk converting to a new religion brought by outsiders? In his award-winning Unearthly Powers (2019), Dr. Alan Strathern set out a theoretical framework for understanding the relation between religion and political authority based on a distinction between two kinds of religion - immanentism and transcendent…

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Kirsten Macfarlane, "Lay Learning and the Bible in the Seventeenth-Century Atlantic World" (Oxford UP, 2024) 45:49

1M ago45:49

45:49

Early modernity has long been seen as a crucial period in the history of biblical scholarship, witnessing rapid advances in studies of Hebrew, Greek, and the ancient Jewish and Christian past. Historians have devoted much attention to how these developments were received by the academic and clerical elite, and yet there is little research on their …

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Ending Of: Forgetting Sarah Marshall 23:28

1M ago23:28

23:28

For this week’s bi-weekly scene study, Vanessa and Hannah analyze the ending of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. They discuss Peter's puppet musical, Rachel's academic future, and Sarah's future as a pet psychic. Hot and Bothered is a Not Sorry Production Find us at our website | Follow us on Instagram --- If we give you butterflies, consider supporting …

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Write the Cult, But Make It Believable | Jennie McMurtry on Story, Risk, and Rewriting the Villain 54:24

1M ago54:24

54:24

What makes a story resonate—and what’s the cost of writing one that doesn’t play it safe? In this episode, Jennie McMurtry joins Mishu to talk about screenwriting in the indie world, from crafting high-stakes pilots to rewriting cult thrillers that feel unnervingly plausible. They chat about the pressure of self-producing, learning when to ask for …

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Richard Calis, "The Discovery of Ottoman Greece: Knowledge, Encounter, and Belief in the Mediterranean World of Martin Crusius" (Harvard UP, 2025) 1:01:51

1M ago1:01:51

1:01:51

In the late sixteenth century, a German Lutheran scholar named Martin Crusius compiled an exceptionally rich record of Greek life under Ottoman rule. Although he never left his home in the university town of Tübingen, Crusius spent decades annotating books and manuscripts, corresponding with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, and interviewing Greek Orth…

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Jody Benjamin, "The Texture of Change: Dress, Self-Fashioning, and History in Western Africa, 1700-1850" (Ohio UP, 2024) 1:17:14

1M ago1:17:14

1:17:14

The Texture of Change: Dress, Self-Fashioning, and History in Western Africa, 1700 – 1850 (Ohio UP, 2024) examines historical change across a broad region of western Africa—from Saint Louis, Senegal, to Freetown, Sierra Leone—through the development of textile commerce, consumption, and dress. Indigo-dyed and printed cotton, wool, linen, and silk c…

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Ben Jackson, "Material Masculinities: Men and Goods in Eighteenth-Century England" (Manchester UP, 2025) 58:41

1M ago58:41

58:41

Material Masculinities: Men and Goods in Eighteenth-Century England (Manchester University Press, 2025) by Dr. Ben Jackson examines the material and consumer practices of over 1000 men from the middling and upper ranks of eighteenth-century society, c.1650-1850. It draws upon evidence from over 35 archives and museum collections to detail how mater…

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Emily Colbert Cairns and Nieves Romero-Diaz, "Early Modern Maternities in the Iberian Atlantic" (Amsterdam UP, 2024) 48:49

1M ago48:49

48:49

Emily Colbert Cairns of Salve Regina University and Nieves Romero-Díaz of Mount Holyoke join Jana Byars to talk about Early Modern Maternities in the Iberian Atlantic (Amsterdam University Press, 2024). It is the first volume to emphasize women's personal experiences and their life trajectories as mothers within the Peninsula and across the Atlanti…

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Rochelle Rojas, "Bad Christians and Hanging Toads: Witch Crafting in Northern Spain, 1525–1675" (Cornell UP, 2025) 45:09

1M ago45:09

45:09

Bad Christians and Hanging Toads: Witch Crafting in Northern Spain, 1525–1675 (Cornell University Press, 2025) by Dr. Rochelle Rojas tells riveting stories of witchcraft in everyday life in early modern Navarra. Belief in witchcraft not only emerged in moments of mass panic but was woven into the fabric of village life. Some villagers believed witc…

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The Edit Is Where You Lose Your Mind (and Maybe Find the Movie) | Kyle Leland on Structure, Fear, and Finishing 1:00:42

1M ago1:00:42

1:00:42

What happens when you stop trying to be Wes Anderson and start figuring out what’s actually yours to say? In this episode, filmmaker, writer and editor Kyle Leland Cullerton joins Mishu for a refreshingly candid conversation about fear, delusion, and creative self-awareness. They talk about the high-stakes neurosis of editing, the discipline of out…

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Anna Wainwright, "Widow City: Gender, Emotion, and Community in the Italian Renaissance" (U Delaware Press, 2025) 55:11

1M ago55:11

55:11

Widow City: Gender, Emotion, and Community in Renaissance Italy (University of Delaware Press, 2025) investigates the ever-evolving role of the widow in medieval and early modern Italian literature, from canonical authors such as Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, to the numerous widowed writers who rose to prominence in the sixteenth century—includin…

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Andrea Pappas, "Embroidering the Landscape: Women, Art and the Environment in British North America, 1740-1770" (Lund Humphries, 2023) 48:05

1M ago48:05

48:05

Linking histories of women, relationships to the natural environment, material culture and art, in Embroidering the Landscape: Women, Art and the Environment in British North America, 1740–1770 (Lund Humphries, 2023) Dr. Andrea Pappas presents a new, multi-dimensional view of eighteenth-century American culture from a unique perspective. This book …

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Forgetting Sarah Marshall 1:06:27

1M ago1:06:27

1:06:27

Vanessa Zoltan and Hannah McGregor meet-up at a Hawaiian resort to record this week’s episode of Hot and Bothered, all about Forgetting Sarah Marshall. This week we discuss cool girls, beta males, and Girl's Gone Wild. We finish the episode by calling Dr. Jeffrey Geiger to talk to us about the US imagination of Hawaii in cinema. --- Hot and Bothere…

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Make the Set Safe First | George Ellzey Jr. on Creative Burnout, Boundaries, and Leading with Care 1:03:07

1M ago1:03:07

1:03:07

What does it mean to direct with care in an industry that often forgets its people? In this episode, George Ellzey Jr. joins Mishu for an unflinching and heartfelt conversation about navigating burnout, building emotionally safe sets, and resisting the achievement spiral. They explore the quiet rewards of creative leadership, how to protect your jo…