The Case for Contemporary Fiction

Welcome back to Sylly, a podcast for the curious and critical. We’re your hosts, Mbiye Kasonga and Tembe Denton-Hurst. In episode 21, we’re sharing our Fall/Winter 2026 reading plans, the books we’re pre-ordering and hoping to get to before the end of 2026. We talk about why curiosity and criticism are two sides of the same coin, Mbiye’s “Oprah theory of the internet,” and why pre-orders matter more to publishers (and the bestseller list) than you might think. We also trade notes on what we’re reading right now, from Kindred to Butter to East of Eden, and make the case for an Irish writing visa for Hollywood.If you love Sylly, tell us! Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.For the full list of books we discussed, subscribe to Sylly on Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Sylly, a podcast for the curious and critical. We’re your hosts, Mbiye Kasonga and Tembe Denton-Hurst. In episode 20, we dig into criticism as a practice and what actually separates a critique from a review, a hot take, or a close reading, using Tembe’s review of Marlon James’s The Disappearers for Vulture as our jumping-off point. We talk about Saidiya Hartman’s concept of critical fabulation, why Toni Morrison’s work gets read as “horror,” and why we think fiction needs more unapologetically racist characters. We also get into the growing panopticon around what we read in public, the literary world’s collision with celebrity culture, and close out with Octavia Butler, Lucille Clifton, and a few thoughts on what freedom actually requires.If you love Sylly, tell us! Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Sylly, a podcast for the curious and critical. We’re your hosts, Mbiye Kasonga and Tembe Denton-Hurst.Today’s episode looks back at a conversation that I (Mbiye) had with Sierra Greer, the author of Annie Bot. Annie Bot is a book that has haunted me since I read it. It tells the story of Annie, a robot companion purchased by Doug, a human male. The book explores several themes, but the one I’m most interested in is the idea of the female cyborg and the intersection of gender and technology. While reading Annie Bot, I was reminded of Anne Balsamo’s book, Technologies of the Gendered Body, which centers on the ways that women’s bodies are increasingly mediated by technology. If you love Sylly, tell us! Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.Check out the full list of books we discussed on our Substack Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Sylly, a podcast for the curious and critical. We’re your hosts, Mbiye Kasonga and Tembe Denton-Hurst. In episode 18, we’re talking about the books that have actually captured our attention this summer, and what we’re hoping to finish before summer ends. We talk about why we’ve both sworn off reading blurbs and watching trailers, what it means to read outside your own identity without losing sight of whose stories you’re prioritizing, and why Tembe thinks we’ve entered a second Romantic period in fiction.If you love Sylly, tell us! Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Books We Talked AboutGood Morning Means I Love You by Kendra AllenThe Disappearers by Marlon JamesThe Wedding by Dorothy WestButter by Asako YuzukiHooked by Asako YuzukiKitten by Stacy YuPool House by Mary H.K. ChoiPure Men by Mohamed Mbougar SarrThe Most Secret Memory of Men by Mohamed Mbougar SarrTranscription by Ben LernerEast of Eden by John SteinbeckGoliath by Ronald Lee Robertson (mentioned as a companion read to East of Eden)Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia WoolfPlaying in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination by Toni MorrisonChain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-BrenyahOn Eating: The Making and Unmaking of My Appetites by Alicia KennedyThe Book of Chuck by Latoya WatkinsThe True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha PhilyawThe Veiled Prophet: Secret Societies, White Supremacy, and the Struggle for St. Louis by Devin Thomas O’SheaTake What You Can by Naema CostaSoft Spots by Layla ReneeTranscendent Kingdom by Yaa GyasiKrik? Krak! by Edwidge DanticatPerformances of Spiral Time by Leda Maria MartinsPalo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World by Malcolm Harris Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Sylly, a podcast for the curious and critical. We’re your hosts, Mbiye Kasonga and Tembe Denton-Hurst. In episode 17, we’re thinking about freedom using Gathering Blossoms Under Fire as a primary text. The journals of Alice Walk offer us insight into what it means to be a free woman, and a free Black woman at that. Tembe and I discuss how people misinterpret freedom, confusing it with power and domination. We round out the conversation by discussing books that center liberated women.Books We Talked AboutGathering Blossoms Under Fire by Alice WalkerOn Eating by Alicia KennedyNew Skin by Sarah WangPermanence by Sophie MackintoshThe Pearl by John SteinbeckEast of Eden by John SteinbeckThe Neapolitan Novels Boxed Set by Elena FerranteThey All Fall in Love at the End by Haili BlassingameParable of the Sower & Parable of the Talents Boxed Set by Octavia ButlerMatilda by Roald DahlHeavy by Kiese LaymonSugar by Bernice McFaddenSula by Toni MorrisonThe Color Purple by Alice WalkerFat Swim by Emma Copley Eisenberg Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Sylly, a podcast for the curious and critical. We’re your hosts, Mbiye Kasonga and Tembe Denton-Hurst. In this episode, I (Mbiye) sat down with acclaimed writer Kiese Laymon to talk about his novel Long Division, among other things.Kiese and I had a wide-ranging conversation, using Long Division as our primary text, alongside the fable of the City Mouse and the Country Mouse, to think through questions of origin, ambition, and self-love. We also get into the mechanics of Kiese’s process: how sound and rhythm came before sentences for him, how hip-hop taught him more about craft than his classrooms did, and why he believes in revision as an ethos.Books & authors mentioned:Long Division and Heavy by Kiese LaymonHomebodies by Tembe Denton-HurstFree Girls by Kristen McCallumFrindle by Andrew ClementsThe Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey by J.D. SalingerPimp by Iceberg SlimThe Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha PhilyawWe Are A Haunting by Tariq WhiteThe Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.Goliath by Ronald Lee RobertsonDominion by Addie Citchens Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Sylly, a podcast for the curious and critical. Today’s episode is a solo with just me, Mbiye, and I come bearing a gift: a summer playlist. Tune in to the episode to hear me chat about the highlights of my summer so far, which include watching DRC’s national team play in the World Cup soccer and reading as widely and voraciously as I can while still being as outside as possible. Check out the playlist on Spotify: The Sylly Summer SoundtrackAs always, if there’s anything you want us to talk about on the pod during our office hours, email us at: [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Sylly, a podcast for the curious and critical. We’re your hosts, Mbiye Kasonga and Tembe Denton-Hurst. In episode 14, we’re coming to you with our annual summer reading special. Before we get to the books, we take stock of summer as a season and a feeling: the joy, the pressure, the ennui, and why August is, as Tembe puts it, “the Sunday of the year.” We also get into the song of the summer debate (is it Drake’s? Is it ever anyone’s anymore?), the lineage of Corinne Bailey Rae, Denise Williams, and Minnie Riperton, and why the Congolese national team’s airport fits deserve their own conversation.Then we get to the actual reading matrix: sexy vs. banal, short story vs. epic, and share our picks for the season, which range from a gorgeous Rastafari memoir to a 727-page Argentine horror novel, with stops at Zadie Smith, James Baldwin, and a very surprising debut. We also make a case for summer as the right time to read something devastating, something transportive, and yes, something sexy.We round things out with some relationship advice nobody asked for, and a reminder from Tembe that we owe each other everything.As always, if there’s anything you want us to talk about on the pod during our office hours, email us at: [email protected] Summer Reading ListHow to Say Babylon by Safiya SinclairOur Share of Night by Mariana EnriquezOn Beauty by Zadie SmithIf an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor NagaLeave Your Mess at Home by Tolani AkinnolaAnother Country by James BaldwinOther Books We DiscussedThe Sisters by Jonas Hassen KhemiriSong of Solomon by Toni MorrisonSeven Days in June by Tia WilliamsThe Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke EmeziHomebodies by Tembe Denton-HurstPool House by Mary H.K. Choi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Sylly, a podcast for the curious and critical. We’re your hosts, Mbiye Kasonga and Tembe Denton-Hurst. In episode 13, we’re making the case for contemporary fiction and engaging with the present. Our culture is obsessed with nostalgia, and it often feels like we’re stuck in a loop of reboots and sequels. In the literary world, that nostalgia manifests in a reflexive distrust of contemporary novels or an insistent belief that books are getting worse.To counter that narrative, we created a list of 10 excellent contemporary novel recommendations, just in time for summer reading. You’re welcome.Listen to the full episode on Spotify or Apple.Subscribe to Sylly on Substack Ten Great Books From The Last Ten YearsThe Vanishing Half by Brit BennettOffice of Historical Corrections by Danielle EvansThe Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha PhilyawHeads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-SpiresNickel Boys by Colson WhiteheadThe Rachel Incident by Caroline O’DonoghueTranscendent Kingdom by Yaa GyasiPatsy by Nicole Dennis-BennMartyr! by Kaveh AkbarNecessary Fiction by Eloghosa Osunde Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Sylly, a podcast for the curious and critical. We’re your hosts, Mbiye Kasonga and Tembe Denton-Hurst. In episode 12, we’re taking stock of 2026 so far, and it’s been a disrespectful ass year, to say the least. Jerome Powell revised jobs numbers and told us what we already knew: there are no jobs. White ladies are playing majhong (again) and celebrating the Lunar New Year. Watching the movie Her feels like watching a documentary (what did Spike Jonze know?!). Watching Ex Machina feels like watching Melania. And through it all, someone online is telling you that your nervous system needs to be reset.We don’t really have any answers in this episode, but we do have a lot of jokes. Subscribe to Sylly on Substack As always, if there’s anything you want us to talk about on the pod during our office hours, email us at: [email protected]. Thanks for listening, and we’ll be back with a new episode in a couple of weeks!Books We Talked AboutSeduction Theory by Emily AdrianLoved One by Aisha MuharrarThe Wedding by Dorothy WestSugar by Bernice McFaddenBest Woman by Rose DommuWhat I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.