The illliterati

It's almost Mother's Day, so Sam, Nat, and Madisen hop in the studio to tell you their Mothers of the Week, meaning ,the women they're obsessed with right now, and the Mothers of Their Brain's — the women writers they grew up loving and learning from.  

 It's 2026! and that is still new! The gang gets together to tell you what we think is in and what we think is OUT. Guess where these go: romance novels, movie adaptations and Nicki Minaj. 

Nat & Sam have a very intellectual conversation about the "performative male." Is he real? Is he my dad? Is my boyfriend? Am I still allowed to read The Bell Jar? 

It’s the premiere of Season 2 and school is back in session for the illliterati. The gang talks all about the books they read over summer break and even introduces you to a new member... we know you missed us. 

Over half of the Oscar nominees for this year’s Best Picture were originally books, so Joe, Nik, Sam and Dave had no choice but to chop it up about adaptations. They also give you their Oscar predictions and somehow end up ranking David Fincher films.  

It’s been quite the year here at P&T. Not only did we host some amazing writers such as Percival Everett, Kaveh Akbar, Mona Awad, we, the illliterati have read #so #many #books. Listen to find out the best books Joe, Sam, and the Troll read in 2024.

We're guessing you've had a rough couple weeks; we certainly have. So for this week's episode Nik, Sam, Madisen and the illliterati's newest member, Dave, chat about all the books that bring them comfort. 

Reading is sooooo back, and a lot of that is in part to TikTok’s literary community #booktok. For this week’s episode, the illliterati breaks down the gendered micro-genres created by booktok: hot girl books, sad girl books, weird girl books… oh my!

Literature can take you just about anywhere: Oz, Narnia, Wonderland. But not only can literature transport you, you can take literature anywhere, too. On this week’s episode,  Sam,  Mr. Buyers, Tom, and Joe discuss where they like to read and how these varying places can turn an isolating activity into a social one. 

The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet — these are just a few of the selected pieces of literature the State Board of Education assigns to high school classrooms all across America. For this week's episode, Sam, Joe, Nik, G.W, and The Troll compare their previously assigned readings and even suggest some alternatives. What would they have preferred to read? What did they wish they didn’t read? You’ll just have to listen and find out.

For our season one premiere, the identities of the illliterati will finally be revealed. Listen and meet our members — the staff of P&T Knitwear, an independent bookstore and podcast studio in NYC's Lower East Side — to get a behind the scenes look at what they do every day, what they like to read, and what they hope to accomplish in season one.