EP80. Happy HaLEIGHween! A Spooky Satire Special with Leigh Stein

EP80. Happy HaLEIGHween! A Spooky Satire Special with Leigh Stein

From Smith & Waugh Talk About Satire by Talk About Satire

October 30, 2025 · 1h 29m · Season 8 · Episode 5

About this episode

Jo and Adam celebrate Halloween with Leigh Stein, discussing her new novel and the impact of TikTok on satire and publishing.

It's all treat and no trick this SpoOooky Season, as Jo and Adam welcome back Best Friend of the Pod, acclaimed novelist Leigh Stein, for a bumper Halloween special (rustle rustle). Together they discuss the origins and development of Leigh's new novel, IF YOU'RE SEEING THIS IT IS MEANT FOR YOU, a gothic satire set inside a TikTok hyper house. Leigh also fills us in on life as TikTok's resident expert on satire, pulling off her own viral satirical hoax and what Tiktok has done to publishing and the way we read more generally. Jo also updates us on the Brontë Parsonage Shirley Read-a-Long (Shirley, Charlotte Brontë's second novel, which is definitely satirical) and Adam tells us what he learnt about satire and alcohol during his most recent international escapade at the University College Dublin.

People in this episode

Hosts: Jo, Adam

Guest: Leigh Stein

Topics covered

  • Halloween
  • satire
  • TikTok
  • publishing
  • gothic literature

Keywords

  • IF YOU'RE SEEING THIS IT IS MEANT FOR YOU
  • Brontë Parsonage
  • Shirley
  • Charlotte Brontë

Mentioned in this episode

Products: IF YOU'RE SEEING THIS IT IS MEANT FOR YOU

Books & works: Best Friend, the Brontë Parsonage, Shirley

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