The Critic and Her Publics Podcast By Merve Emre cover art

The Critic and Her Publics

The Critic and Her Publics

By: Merve Emre
Listen for free

Welcome to Season Four of The Critic and Her Publics: The Art of the Interview.

This season, host Merve Emre talks with professional interviewers of all kinds about how they get the answer they're looking for, what makes a good question, how do you listen for what's unsaid, and how hard do you have to push someone before they say something new?


Hosted by Merve Emre • Edited by Michele Moses • Music by Dani Lencioni • Art by Leanne Shapton

This season of The Critic and Her Publics is a co-production between the New York Review of Books and Lit Hub.

© 2026
Art Literary History & Criticism
Episodes
  • Orna Guralnik
    Aug 4 2026

    "Couples therapy. The words alone are enough to send many people running for the hills, but Orna Guralnik—star of Showtime's documentary series Couples Therapy—has people running to her office. Orna, a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, has become a household name: she's a watchful guide for couples as they navigate intimate and sometimes agonizing discussions, and for viewers, as they watch these couples bare their souls or refuse to do so. With her beloved dog Nico on her lap, Orna explained to me how she practices listening for the unconscious, the limits and possibilities of televised therapy, and whether the psychoanalytic interview can teach even the most adversarial pairs (like warring nations) how to make peace."

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Show more Show less
    45 mins
  • Sarah Stillman
    Jul 28 2026

    "Sarah Stillman is a staff writer at The New Yorker and one of the most decorated investigative reporters of her generation. She's won several National Magazine Awards, the Pulitzer Prize, and a MacArthur 'Genius' Grant. Her articles draw attention to the men and women forced to do the bidding of the American security state; the third-country nationals tricked into working on military bases in Iraq; the addicts coerced into serving as informants; the victims of civil asset forfeiture. Our conversation touched on every stage of Sarah's career, from her days as a student journalist to her current directorship of Yale's investigative reporting lab. As a teacher, she helps students cultivate the relentlessness and the compassion that makes her a uniquely effective reporter."

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Show more Show less
    45 mins
  • Sheila Heti
    Jul 21 2026

    "In the fall of 2022, I saw the novelist Shelia Heti give a presentation on her conversations with early AI chatbots. Their names were Eliza, Alice, and George, and they had wild, undisciplined opinions about art, selfhood, and God. Talking to them seemed to come naturally to Sheila: for several years, she had been the interviews editors at The Believer and her novels Motherhood and Pure Colour featured narrators who ask difficult questions of non-human entities like the I Ching or a leaf on a tree. A few months after OpenAI released ChatGPT-5, Sheila and I spoke about the role of the interview at a time when human thought and feeling are impinged by artificial intelligence and whether machines can help us to unlock the mysteries of consciousness." — Merve Emre

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Show more Show less
    37 mins
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet