Literary Friction

Literary agent Carrie Plitt and writer Octavia Bright hosted Literary Friction on NTS Radio for a full decade, building one of the most beloved literary podcasts in the UK before wrapping up in December 2023. Each episode was built around a theme, such as friendship, masculinity, or the novella as a form, with an author interview, book recommendations, music, and the kind of lively back-and-forth that only comes from two people who genuinely enjoy talking to each other about books. The guest list over those ten years reads like a who's who of contemporary literature: Naomi Klein, Ocean Vuong, Lorrie Moore, Curtis Sittenfeld, and many more. What set Literary Friction apart was the combination of intellectual rigor and real warmth. Plitt and Bright are smart and opinionated, but they never made listeners feel excluded from the conversation. The thematic structure gave each episode a coherence that free-form book chat often lacks, and the musical interludes added texture without feeling like filler. With 158 episodes, the archive is a treasure trove for anyone looking to catch up on a decade of literary conversation. The show earned a 4.8-star rating from 184 reviews, and fans were understandably disappointed when it ended. Then, in December 2025, the hosts returned with a surprise year-in-review special, hinting that the story might not be entirely over. For now, this is a completed body of work that holds up beautifully on relisten.