Backlisted podcast hits 100th episode
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London, UK—Backlisted, the book podcast hosted by Unbound’s co-founder John Mitchinson and writer-editor Andy Miller, author of the biblio-memoir, The Year of Reading Dangerously, released its 100th episode on Monday 2nd September.
The milestone episode features Sir Philip Pullman discussing one of his favourite books – Robert Burton’s 1621 1,400-page bestseller, The Anatomy of Melancholy. The discussion was recorded in Pullman’s kitchen, near Oxford.
This episode will also see the podcast pass 1 million plays since it was launched in November 2015.
Backlisted was devised by the pair who first worked together at Waterstone’s 30 years ago. It is produced by Nicky Birch, who works for BBC R&D and is the founder of Rosina Sound. The format – getting guests (usually writers) to choose old books to talk about rather than new ones – has proved popular and the podcast is a regular fixture in the iTunes Literature chart’s Top Ten. Last weekend it was featured in the Sunday Times’ list of 100 Best Podcasts and it has been chosen as Podcast of the Week by many newspapers and magazines including the New York Times and the Radio Times.
The eclectic nature of the selections is demonstrated in the top ten most popular episodes which include books by Charles Dickens, Toni Morrison, Anthony Powell, Tove Jansson, Penelope Fitzgerald and Jilly Cooper.
Andy Miller comments: “One of the joys of doing Backlisted has been discovering some amazing books that are new to us, sharing that enthusiasm with one another and then passing it on to listeners. It’s an absolute privilege. We are very lucky.”
John Mitchinson comments: “It’s a simple formula. We both believe that the act of reading and reflecting on a book that has stood the test of time – in a world too often dominated by snap judgements and re-tweeted one-liners – actually makes us wiser, more tolerant human beings.”
Praise for Backlisted:
“Absorbing and delightful… nearly every time Backlisted features a book I’ve never read and every single time I end up wanting to read or reread it, and half a dozen other things beside. They love books, they love talking about books, they have excellent guests, and they throw in humour and literary gossip as well as intelligent and passionate appraisals. I LOVE THIS PODCAST.”
Richard in Ham, iTunes UK
“Easily the podcast I most look forward to listening to … a bit like listening in on a good pub conversation or book group discussion, an entertaining, informative and interesting one.”
Book Nibbler, iTunes UK
“Extraordinary! Picture yourself seated at a kitchen table with smart, funny, well-read friends. I’ve been caught guffawing as I listen in the car, and I’ve shed the odd tear too. I’ve gotten to relive old favorite books, and have been introduced to ones I can’t believe I haven’t read yet. I learned about this podcast at a dark time in American history, and am reminded of the power of literature to transcend time and place.”
41011 Liz, iTunes US
“This is my favorite podcast. I have discovered (and re-discovered) many wonderful books and writers. The hosts and guests are funny, knowledgeable and highly entertaining. It’s like sitting around with your best read chums talking books - what could be better?”
Tayvallich, iTunes US
Backlisted has its own website: Backlisted.fm and is available on Soundcloud, iTunes and Spotify and most other platforms, and you can follow it on @BacklistedPod and Facebook.
This is a press release which we link to from Podnews, our daily newsletter about podcasting and on-demand. We may make small edits for editorial reasons.