Podcasts, Audiobooks, and Podiobooks

Talk by Matthew Rubery, Professor of Modern Literature, Queen Mary, University College London.

This presentation examines podcasting’s impact on contemporary literary culture. Since its emergence at the beginning of the twenty-first century, podcasting has evolved from a niche way to share sound files into a widely used means of distributing spoken word recordings for public consumption.  The talk will trace how the podcasting boom is shaping the contours of prominent sonic art forms including audiobooks as well as an emerging one known as “podiobooks,” a hybrid format that capitalizes on the distinctive qualities of podcasting as a literary medium.   

Professor Rubery’s research focuses on modern literature, media, and reading practices.

His books include:

• The Novelty of Newspapers: Victorian Fiction after the Invention of the News (Oxford, 2009)
• The Untold Story of the Talking Book (Harvard University Press, 2016)

Other books that he has edited or co-edited include:

• Audiobooks, Literature, and Sound Studies (Routledge, 2011)
• Secret Commissions: An Anthology of Victorian Investigative Journalism (Broadview, 2012)
• Further Reading (Oxford, 2020)

His latest book is titled Reader’s Block: A History of Reading Differences (Stanford, 2022).