Recent Interviews, Podcasts, and Mentions
Interviewed by NIcholas Manning “The Promise of a Personal Relevance: an Interview with Beth Blum” dans Revue française d’études américaines 2024/1 (N° 178), pages 134 à 143.
Interviewed for NPR, “(Self) Helped: Inside the Industry that Wants to Change Your Life.” WUNC91.5.
Featured in Mental Perspektiv, Norway, “Kunsten å bli et (stadig) bedremenneske” (“The Art of Becoming a [Steady] Better Person”). Norway. January 10, 2023.
Interviewed for Vox Magazine, “The Billionaire’s Guide to Self-Help,” by Whizy Kim, Friday, May 19, 2023.
Cited in Zing News. “Sách self-help và văn học đã kết hợp với nhau như thế nàoVietnam,” (“How Self-Help and Literature Got Together), March 23, 2023. Vietnam. March 23, 2023.
Discussed in Jennifer Wilson, “Sheila Heti Does it the Artist’s Way” Vulture. February 16, 2022.
Cited in “Hotline Proves Happy Endings are Still Worth Writing” by Amanda Perry, The Walrus Magazine, June 9, 2022.
Interviewed in Lavendar Au, “The Goal Keepers,” Kinfolk, Issue 42, Dec 7, 2021.
Discussed in Louis Menand, “What Our Biggest Best-Sellers Tell us About a Nation’s Soul.” The New Yorker. May 31, 2021.
Discussed in Leonardo Neiva, “A autoajuda através dos séculos.” Gama Revista (Brazil) March 28, 2021.
Interviewed for Aftenposten Innsikt (Norway), May 7, 2021.
Featured guest, THINK with Kris Boyd, KERA, Texas Public Radio, January 26, 2021.
The Times Literary Supplement Podcast, Discussion of The Self-Help Compulsion with Joanna Scutts, December 9, 2020.
Reviewed in Merete Mazzarella, “Drömmen om boken som ska förändra ditt liv.” Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden), December 21, 2020.
Reviewed in Ofri Ilany, “Self-help Books Offer Radical Teachings but Ultimately Will Make You Crazy,” Haaretz Magazine (Isreal), December, 2020.
Invited guest. “Personal Improvement Is Big Business. Can Self-Help Literature, Programs Actually Help?” “The Source”, hosted by David Martin Davies. Texas Public Radio (KSTX). Thursday, November 19th.
“Beth Blum on Self-Help from Carnegie to Today,” Interview with John Plotz, Recall this Book podcast. July 6, 2020.
Featured guest, Writ Large Podcast, Interview with Zachary Davis, recorded October 6, 2020.
“Beth Blum on Literary Self-Help.” Interview with Adam Colman, producer of Open Source: arts, ideas, and politics with Chris Lydon.
Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite, “Harvard, By the Books: Blum’s Course ‘The Harvard Novel’ Takes Students Back to Campus.” Profile in The Harvard Gazette. April 27, 2020.
Interview with Stephanie Kelley. “The Best Self-Help Novels.” Five Books: The Best Books on Everything.
Interview with Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite, “Self-Help Books, Literature, and How They Help Us Live.” The Harvard Gazette. March 10, 2020.
Invited guest. “9 AM Radio Show with Pat Williams.” WDBO FM 96.5. Thursday, February 20, 2020.
The Seminary Coop podcast, “New year. New books. New you? The Seminary Co-op’s Colin and Alena search for Self-Help in the guise (and stacks) of literature, capitalist spirituality, ancient philosophy and more on this week’s Front Table.” January 29, 2020.
Guest on Radio Open Source: arts, ideas, and politics with Chris Lydon. “A Politics of Love.” WBUR. August 1, 2019.
“When Did Self-Help Become Literary?: Beth Blum on a Debate Over Bookish Advice that Goes as Far Back as the Renaissance.” LITHUB, January 29, 2020.