Speaker 1: Hi, Staniel James here. Two years ago, some of our
Speaker 1: colleagues had the idea to start a show about books
Speaker 1: and the people behind them. It would be a show
Speaker 1: for book tragics, for people who wanted to know how
Speaker 1: the stories they love came to be, who were curious
Speaker 1: about the process of writing great literature, but also about
Speaker 1: the lives that inform the stories our great writers tell.
Speaker 1: It would actually be a show with many of the
Speaker 1: hallmarks of a great book absurdity, tragedy, comedy, and family.
Speaker 2: My grandmother, in some ways, even though we were close
Speaker 2: and had a fairly open relationship, she was also quite
Speaker 2: secretive and in some ways quite mysterious. She had a
Speaker 2: tatoo of a broken heart on her shoulder that she
Speaker 2: would never speak about how or why she got it
Speaker 2: or when she got it.
Speaker 1: Read This was named for the enthusiasm and the light
Speaker 1: that comes from pushing your favorite book into your friend's hands.
Speaker 1: Read this so we can talk about it. Read this
Speaker 1: because I know you'll love it. At seven am and
Speaker 1: we tell a lot of stories about all the things
Speaker 1: that go wrong in the world. But read this as
Speaker 1: an antidote to all that. It's a pleasure to listen
Speaker 1: to a favorite podcast of ours and for thousands of
Speaker 1: listeners around the world. It's the type of show that
Speaker 1: makes orange juice tastes like champagne as you listened to it.
Speaker 1: And the thing that really makes read this special is
Speaker 1: its host, Michael Williams. I'm going to be completely honest.
Speaker 1: If I visit your house, I'm one hundred percent having
Speaker 1: a furtive berth at what's on your bookshelves. Michael is
Speaker 1: the book Tragic's tragic. He reads hundreds of books a year,
Speaker 1: and he's a champion of the people who write them.
Speaker 1: Whether he's speaking with national treasures like Alexus Wright, Tim
Speaker 1: Winton or Helen Ghana, or international superstars like George Saunders
Speaker 1: and Enwright, Colson Whitehead or Roxane Gay, or whether he's
Speaker 1: introducing you to an emerging writer. He may be talking
Speaker 1: about their work publicly for the very first time. Michael
Speaker 1: brings his empathy, his charm, and his humor the conversations
Speaker 1: that are revealing and surprising. Sincerity is comedy minus time.
Speaker 1: Oh that's great.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I got to write that one down.
Speaker 1: First of all, my agent said, I'm begging you not
Speaker 1: to write a book in the second person. I can't sell.
Speaker 1: Your agent's a coward. I'm going to say it right now, Chris,
Speaker 1: if you're listening, please don't find me. There's a level
Speaker 1: that I feel underappreciated, soladly, poor, poor, underappreciated, and you
Speaker 1: have no idea how I suffer. Honestly, it's become a
Speaker 1: little tiresome to hear writers say some version of this
Speaker 1: in every episode. That's a beautiful question, mate, you know,
Speaker 1: that's such a good question. Truly, those are a great questions.
Speaker 1: Good question, good question, such a writer's question. That's a
Speaker 1: beautiful question. What a good question.
Speaker 2: Choose my words carefully here, that's a great question.
Speaker 1: That's such a brilliant, strong question to open up with
Speaker 1: a really lovely question. I don't think I've been asked
Speaker 1: that before. Writers who have spent years thinking about and
Speaker 1: carefully crafting their stories often find them I was thinking
Speaker 1: about their work in new ways. Well, I've never thought
Speaker 1: of it like. That's very interesting you say that, that
Speaker 1: was a really interesting idea. I don't think I've ever
Speaker 1: thought about it in quite those terms. Read This has
Speaker 1: been produced by Clara Ames, with editing by Clara and
Speaker 1: Sarah mcvee. It's been mixed by Travis Evans, and the
Speaker 1: beautiful compositions featured on the show are made by Zoltnfeccho.
Speaker 1: Each of these people have bought their creativity and their
Speaker 1: care and to Read This over the past two years,
Speaker 1: particularly Clara, who has led the show since almost the
Speaker 1: beginning and is thoughtful, creative and incredibly kind. Schwartz Media
Speaker 1: has made the decision to stop producing Read This. It's
Speaker 1: a sad byproduct to the sale of seven AM and
Speaker 1: their decision as a company to get out of audio
Speaker 1: all together. But Read This is beloved, has a loyal
Speaker 1: audience and will hopefully find a new home. We at
Speaker 1: seven AM will be listening to Read This wherever we can,
Speaker 1: because we love it. In the meantime, there are almost
Speaker 1: one hundred brilliant barring for funny and timeless episodes waiting
Speaker 1: for you wherever you listen to podcasts. Bring on the
Speaker 1: next hundred. We were in an Apple store the other
Speaker 1: day and my fourteen year old went to all the
Speaker 1: devices in the shop and subscribed to Read This on
Speaker 1: the podcast app on them and did automatic download just
Speaker 1: to get the numbers up. That's what he's done for me.
Speaker 1: What have you done lately,