DPW Podcast #221: How To Get Readers Into Classic Literature

Three frightened people with a giant War and Peace book behind them in a war-torn city.

Meet
Our Hosts

Caleb James K.

Caleb James K. is the former Editor-in-Chief of the literary journal, Drunken Pen Writing, and the host of the DPW Podcast. He’s also a fiction writer, poet, and aspiring novelist.

Spencer Church

A former aspiring comic book artist, Spencer is the cohost of the DPW Podcast as well as a short story writer and avid reader.


We begin today’s episode with some poor writing updates. After that, we discuss how to get casual readers interested in tackling more challenging classic literature. We also give our recommendations of what books we think would be best to start readers on their classic literature journey.

A Murakami Minute: 1Q84 Book One – Drunken Pen Writing Podcast

We're back with a brand new episode of our hit mini-series, A Murakami Minute! This time around, we tackle Haruki Murakami's nearly 1200-page monster of a sci-fi, magical realism, and romance novel, 1Q84.  In this first episode, we discuss book one of three (the novel is broken down into three books). Our conversation focuses less on the story and more on Murakami's writing style, the translation (and its issues), what we like and dislike about the books so far, and the cultural differences between Japanese fiction and Western writing. You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @dpwpodcast You can check out Caleb's work at http://www.calebjamesk.com. 
  1. A Murakami Minute: 1Q84 Book One
  2. DBS #141: Discussing The Best Non-Superhero Comics Of The 2020s
  3. #228: Keeping The Pace
  4. BOTM #25: Revisiting Blood Meridian
  5. #227: Examining The Illiteracy Crisis

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