The Secret Library Podcast

#47 Cory Doctorow on Walkaway and the Future of Publishing


Listen Later

Cory Doctorow not only writes about the future, he's also advocating for a better one in reality.

As I get more familiar with the world of Science Fiction, it strikes me that most writers in this area are also secretly activists of some form or another. Cory Doctorow, author of numerous books, including the forthcoming Walkaway, is also the co-editor of BoingBoing and a technology activist. He is a special consultant to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (eff.org), a non-profit civil liberties group that defends freedom in technology law, policy, standards and treaties. He holds an honorary doctorate in computer science from the Open University (UK), where he is a Visiting Professor; he is also a MIT Media Lab Research Affiliate. In 2007, he served as the Fulbright Chair at the Annenberg Center for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California.

What this means for this episode? I was eager to talk about Cory's latest book, which feels incredibly relevant in the wacky times we are living in throughout the world, but I was also eager to talk about technology as a whole and the impact he sees our crazy times having on publishing and on writing books in general. One of the beautiful things about Science Fiction is that it tends to present a possible future. We are able to think deeply about how we would like our future to look when reading about one potential outcome. If we want that future to be different, we can look at the course the world is taking right now and respond differently. I was inspired to ask these kind of questions while reading Walkaway, and as I spoke to Cory. I hope you will be similarly inspired.

Full show notes with links | This episode sponsored by Scrivener


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.book-alchemy.com/subscribe
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Secret Library PodcastBy Caroline Donahue

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

85 ratings


More shows like The Secret Library Podcast

View all
The Book Review by The New York Times

The Book Review

3,855 Listeners

The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers by Joanna Penn

The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers

613 Listeners

Helping Writers Become Authors by K.M. Weiland

Helping Writers Become Authors

985 Listeners

The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience by Kelton Reid

The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience

214 Listeners

Writing Excuses by Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler

Writing Excuses

1,297 Listeners

Backlisted by Backlisted

Backlisted

580 Listeners

Writer's Routine by Dan Simpson

Writer's Routine

304 Listeners

The Shit No One Tells You About Writing by Bianca Marais, Carly Watters and CeCe Lyra

The Shit No One Tells You About Writing

761 Listeners

Taskmaster The Podcast by Avalon

Taskmaster The Podcast

711 Listeners

We Can Do Hard Things by Glennon Doyle and Audacy

We Can Do Hard Things

41,337 Listeners

Astrology of the Week Ahead with Chani Nicholas by CHANI

Astrology of the Week Ahead with Chani Nicholas

612 Listeners

Writers on Writing by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett and Marrie Stone

Writers on Writing

77 Listeners

Down to Astro by CHANI Productions

Down to Astro

173 Listeners

No Write Way with V. E. Schwab by V. E. Schwab (Author)

No Write Way with V. E. Schwab

67 Listeners

What Did You Do Yesterday? with Max Rushden & David O'Doherty by Keep It Light Media

What Did You Do Yesterday? with Max Rushden & David O'Doherty

215 Listeners