Episode
Season 4 Ep 2 | Emma Sarappo | On Novels, Lists, and Literary Life
- Published
- Jul 29, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 3576
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Summary
This week, I was delighted to be joined by Emma Sarappo, senior associate editor at The Atlantic , where she writes and commissions coverage on books, poetry, and literary culture. Formerly the arts editor at Washington City Paper , Emma’s work has also appeared in Preservation , Pacific Standard , Washingtonian , The Bitter Southerner , and beyond. In other words: she’s the real deal, and she’s got the literary chops to prove it. In this wide-ranging and lively conversation, we dug into everything from The Atlantic 's ambitious recent packages on The Best American Novels of the 20th Century and The Best American Poetry of the 21st Century, to the state of critical discourse, comics, canons, and the eternal (and eternally tricky) question: what makes a work “great”? Topics We Covered * The process behind curating landmark literary lists for The Atlantic * How lists can fuel discovery, conversation, and canon expansion * Why list-making is both a celebration and a provocation * Which classic (and obscure) American novels Emma is willing to throw down for * What poetry can do in an era of fractured attention and endless noise * Underground comics and their critical future * How to respond to the common complaint: “young people don’t read anymore” Favorite Moments & Takeaways Emma reminded me that serious criticism isn’t about gatekeeping; it’s about stewardship . It’s about introducing work to new audiences, reintroducing overlooked gems, and advocating for voices who deserve more space in the conversation. We also talked about how poetry might just be the perfect literary form for 2025—compressed, emotional, deeply portable, and ideal for those of us trying to carve clarity out of chaos. If you’re a writer, teacher, editor, or simply a passionate reader, this is an epis…