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Quillette Podcast

Quillettequillette.com
The Quillette Podcast is a platform for rigorous, academic discussions rooted in common sense and free inquiry. Non-dogmatic and grounded in liberal values, the podcast serves as a beacon for thoughtful conversation on science, politics, philosophy, and culture. Quillette prides itself on intellectual honesty, avoiding ideological extremism in favor of evidence-based reasoning and progress. Hosted by leading voices in academia and journalism, past guests include evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, and journalist Douglas Murray, among others. Expect candid conversations that promote common sense and challenge anti-science and conspiratorial narratives from both the far left and right.
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Episodes

The Last Straight Woman

Senior Writer and Podcast Producer Iona Italia talks to writer Phoebe Maltz Bovy about her latest book: 'The Last Straight Woman: On Desiring Men.' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 08, 202645 min

Is Fighting Antisemitism a Waste of Time?

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, who encourages Jews to focus on bolstering their community instead of lecturing right-wing bigots and progressive political extremists who can’t be reasoned with. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 02, 202632 min

Girls in an Online World

Iona Italia talks to writer Freya India about her book 'Girls: Gen Z and the Commodification of Everything.' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 23, 202650 min

Documenting a Decade of Academic Meltdowns

Podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with filmmaker Ric Esther Bienstock about her new CBC/BBC documentary, Speechless —which explores the rise of censorship and mobbings on campus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 20, 202635 min

The Search for Truth

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to author Michael Shermer about his new book, Truth: What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 09, 202650 min

The Historical Case for Israel

In a new book, U.S. District Court Judge Roy Altman traces Jews’ indigenous presence in the holy land over the last 3,231 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 05, 202634 min

The Ayatollahs' Assassins

Iona Italia talks to Roya Hakakian about her book ‘Assassins of the Turquoise Palace’ and the past and present crimes of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 27, 202645 min

When Everyone Knows Every Knows...

Iona Italia talks to cognitive psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker about his new book on Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 20, 202645 min

The Extraordinary Exploits of Agent Zo

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to historian Clare Mulley about her biography of Polish war heroine Elżbieta Zawacka, aka Agent Zo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 12, 202637 min

Will Post-Islamist Iran Get a Royal Restoration?

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with Iranian-Canadian human-rights activist Kaveh Shahrooz about whether Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of the last Shah of Iran, might rise to power as a new Prince of Persia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 06, 202635 min

Catching a Serial Killer

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Maureen Callaghan about her book American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 26, 202637 min

Why We Need to Talk About Transgender School Shooters

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with journalist Adam Zivo about the 10 February school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia—a mass murder perpetrated by a trans-identified male gunman who was initially identified by police and journalists as a woman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 22, 202649 min

Guests of the Nation

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to writer Lionel Shriver about her new novel, A Better Life, which tackles the theme of immigration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 11, 202648 min

British Columbia’s Radical Political Landscape

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with B.C. politician Dallas Brodie about why her province continues to promote dubious social-justice policies and myths—including the false claim that 215 dead Indigenous children were discovered four years ago in ‘unmarked graves.’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 09, 202652 min

The Demise of Private Life

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Tiffany Jenkins about her fascinating and provocative new history, 'Strangers and Intimates: The Rise and Fall of Private Life.' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 29, 202654 min

Understanding Journalistic Groupthink

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay talks to Graham Majin about the recent scandal at the BBC, and the need for reporters to prevent the ‘poison of narrative’ from corrupting their craft Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 17, 202635 min

Fighting for Freedom in Iran

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Iranian writer and journalist Roya Hakakian about the protests in Iran and why and how they might succeed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 08, 202615 min

How to Think Like a Human

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to psychologist David Weitzner about the differences between human cognition and artificial intelligence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 02, 202615 min

Christmas in Byzantium

Quillette ’s Jonathan Kay speaks with History of Byzantium podcast host Robin Pierson about the Christian traditions and imperial culture that took root in the eastern half of the Roman Empire . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 24, 202531 min

Sri Lankan by Birth, Tamil by Heritage, Canadian by Choice

⁠ Prisoner #1056⁠ author Roy Ratnavel discusses his journey from a prison cell in war-torn Sri Lanka to the heights of Canada’s financial industry—and the (sometimes politically incorrect) lessons about race, immigration, and multiculturalism he’s learned along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

Dec 19, 202531 min

The Genius of Jane Austen

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Jane Austen scholar John Mullan to commemorate the 250th anniversary of her birth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 17, 20251 hr 22 min

Marriage and Divorce in America

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to sociologist Nicholas Wolfinger about trends in marriage, divorce, and maternity in the US from the 1950s to the present day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 04, 202515 min

Jesse Brown’s Rude Awakening

In an interview with Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay, Canadaland publisher Jesse Brown discusses how an anti-Israel faction within his own subscriber base tried to cancel him after he began speaking out about the rise of antisemitism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 21, 202553 min

Ancient Christianities: The First 500 Years

Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with biblical scholar Paula Fredriksen, whose new book describes the theological diversity that existed among Christian communities before Nicene Christianity was adopted as Rome’s state religion in the fourth century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

Nov 13, 202537 min

Finding Humor in Dark Places

Quillette podcast host speaks with ⁠ Healing Roar⁠ founder and comedian Matthew Pettit, who candidly tells audiences about the severe childhood abuse that once propelled him into a life of sexual confusion, meth addiction, crime, and incarceration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 10, 202553 min

A Crisis of Tolerance

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to Harry Saul Markham about the increasingly acute threat of Islamism in the UK and the normalisation of virulent antisemitism among British Muslims. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 05, 202514 min

Machetes in Melbourne

Managing Editor Iona Italia talks to criminal justice researcher Andrew Bushnell about the many causes of the recent surge in crime in Melbourne. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 25, 202515 min
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