The Dark Academicals

The podcast where we delve into the mythos of dark academia one book at a time.

Episode 10.7: In Conversation with Kat Dunn, author of ‘Hungerstone’
Apr 29, 2025 – 00:50:35
Episode 10.6: ‘The Coven’ by Harper L Woods
Apr 15, 2025 – 00:48:03
Episode 10.5: ‘Vita Nostra’ by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko
Apr 1, 2025 – 00:53:41
Episode 10.4: ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ by Joan Lindsay
Mar 18, 2025 – 37:54
Episode 10.3: ‘Hungerstone’ by Kat Dunn
Mar 4, 2025 – 00:44:56
Episode 10.2: ‘An Academy for Liars’ by Alexis Henderson
Feb 18, 2025 – 00:47:13
Episode 10.1: ‘Darkly’ by Marisha Pessl
Feb 4, 2025 – 01:09:49
Episode 9.7: In conversation with M L Rio (Graveyard Shift, If We Were Villains, Hot Wax)
Dec 24, 2024 – 00:56:33
Episode 9.6: ‘A Great and Terrible Beauty’ by Libba Bray
Dec 10, 2024 – 00:56:33
Episode 9.5: ‘The Four’ by Ellie Keel
Nov 26, 2024 – 00:49:48
Episode 9.4: ‘Foxglove’ by Adalyn Grace
Nov 12, 2024 – 00:50:09
Episode 9.3: ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier
Oct 29, 2024 – 00:47:09
Episode 9.2: ‘The Centre’ by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
Oct 15, 2024 – 00:49.:48
Episode 9.1: ‘Immortal Dark’ by Tigest Girma
Oct 1, 2024 – 00:58:06
Episode 8.6: ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt - Revisited!
Aug 6, 2024 – 00:47:33
Episode 8.5: ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ by Patricia Highsmith
Jul 23, 2024 – 00:42:24
Episode 8.4: ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley
Jul 9, 2024 – 00:40:10
Episode 8.3: ‘Stoner’ by John Williams
Jun 25, 2024 – 00:45:14
Episode 8.2: ‘Bacchae’ by Euripides
Jun 11, 2024 – 00:59:49
Episode 8.1: ‘Black Chalk’ by Christopher J Yates
May 28, 2024 – 00:58:23
Bonus Episode: Fate and Destiny with Katy Hays, author of ‘The Cloisters’
Apr 2, 2024 – 00:50:09
Episode 7.6: ‘I Have Some Questions for You’ by Rebecca Makkai
Mar 19, 2024 – 00:53:52
Episode 7.5: ‘An Education in Malice’ by ST Gibson
Mar 5, 2024 – 00:44:11
Episode 7.4: ‘Prep’ by Curtis Sittenfeld
Feb 20, 2024 – 00:48:09
Episode 7.3: ‘Belladonna’ by Adalyn Grace
Feb 6, 2024 – 00:50:09
Episode 7.2: ‘Curious Tides’ by Pascal Lacelle
Jan 23, 2024 – 00:48:56
Episode 7.1: ‘A Deadly Education’ by Naomi Novik
Jan 9, 2024 –
Bonus Episode: ‘Gilmore Girls’
Dec 12, 2023 – 01:19:23
Episode 6.6: ‘A Study in Drowning’ by Ava Reid
Nov 28, 2023 – 00:50:53
Epsiode 6.5: ‘Summer Sons’ by Lee Mandelo
Nov 14, 2023 – 00:39:05
Episode 6.4: ‘She is a Haunting’ by Trang Thanh Tran
Oct 31, 2023 – 00:42:12
Episode 6.3: ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ by Shirley Jackson
Oct 17, 2023 – 00:51:42
Episode 6.2: ‘Gothikana’ by RuNyx
Oct 3, 2023 – 00:55:46
Episode 6.1: ‘The Magicians’ by Lev Grossman
Sep 19, 2023 – 00:58:53
Episode 5.6: ‘How We Fall Apart’ by Katie Zhao
Aug 8, 2023 – 00:39:20
Episode 5.5: ‘The Cloisters’ by Katy Hays
Jul 25, 2023 – 00:39:26
Episode 5.4: ‘Brideshead Revisited’ by Evelyn Waugh
Jul 11, 2023 – 00:58:39
Episode 5.3: ‘The Ruins’ by Phoebe Wynne
Jun 27, 2023 – 00:52:10
Episode 5.2: ‘Hell Bent’ by Leigh Bardugo
Jun 13, 2023 – 00:57:43
Episode 5.1: ‘Babel’ by RF Kuang
May 30, 2023 – 01:00:03
Episode 4.6: ‘My Dearest Darkest’ by Kayla Cottingham
Apr 18, 2023 – 00:49:29
Episode 4.5: ‘The Things We Do to Our Friends’ by Heather Darwent
Apr 4, 2023 – 01:07:25
Episode 4.4: ‘Interview With the Vampire’ by Anne Rice
Mar 21, 2023 – 00:53:36
Episode 4.3: ‘Mexican Gothic’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Mar 7, 2023 – 00:54:01
Episode 4.2: ‘A Lesson in Vengeance’ by Victoria Lee
Feb 21, 2023 – 00:50:35
Episode 4.1: ‘The Whispering Dark’ by Kelly Andrew
Feb 7, 2023 – 00:52:11
Episode 3.6: ‘The Swallows’ by Lisa Lutz
Dec 13, 2022 – 00:29:07
Episode 3.5: ‘Vicious’ by VE Schwab
Nov 29, 2022 – 00:44:40
Episode 3.4: ‘The Song of Achilles’ by Madeline Miller
Nov 15, 2022 – 00:50:42
Episode 3.3: ‘A Lesson in Thorns’ by Sierra Simone
Nov 1, 2022 – 00:38:42

Recent Reviews

Chris Machnacki

Great bookish podcast

Love the podcast and subject matter. Any chance you will be doing “Engleby” by Sebastian Faulks? Reading it now and it seems right up your alley.
readinginthesouth

Slow

Why do these two have a podcast? They sound miserable and uninformed about the books. I won’t waste my time on this.
Chachados

Speed It Up

I’ve listened to this podcast, which can be so much better, but it’s painful. It’s filled with a lot of long pauses and spaces where they seem to be “giving each other strange stares” like-“You know what I’m saying…” The sound needs to be improved because it’s like they are either far away from the mic or super close. It seems like they are freestyling a conversation with no outline. Start by writing out good and bad points of the book. Explore then give your opinion. Don’t drop your “Well, I didn’t like the book” then talk about it for 30 minutes.