EPISODE · Feb 24, 2026 · 27 MIN
74. Writers Debate: Must You Read Novels to Write Them?
from MEOW: A Literary Podcast for Cats · host The Meow Library
Debate rages across Twitter as professor and novelist Aaron Gwyn insists that his college-level fiction writing students can't name a single novelist, living or dead. Are we in a literacy crisis? Not necessarily: Many have rushed to his students' defense, purporting to be professional authors who "don't read for pleasure," and who see reading fiction as an ablest bourgeois pose. Do writers really need to be able to read? You know The Meow Library's answer. We invite you to meow along as you listen to this podcast, which is not about literature, and buy our books, which are not books.The finest literature on the planet is in The Meow Library, where every word is "meow." Aaron Gwyn's work is available wherever books are sold.
What this episode covers
Debate rages across Twitter as professor and novelist Aaron Gwyn insists that his college-level fiction writing students can't name a single novelist, living or dead. Are we in a literacy crisis? Not necessarily: Many have rushed to his students' defense, purporting to be professional authors who "don't read for pleasure," and who see reading fiction as an ablest bourgeois pose. Do writers really need to be able to read? You know The Meow Library's answer. We invite you to meow along as you listen to this podcast, which is not about literature, and buy our books, which are not books.The finest literature on the planet is in The Meow Library, where every word is "meow." Aaron Gwyn's work is available wherever books are sold.
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74. Writers Debate: Must You Read Novels to Write Them?
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