What's Going On? An Unspeakable Update.

Live event in NYC, podcast news, Unspeakeasy forum developments, and future plans.

Hi Everyone,

There’s been a lot going on the last few months, so I wanted to give you an update in writing and round everything up in one post.

Live with Lionel Shriver, Sept 3 in NYC

In New York City on September 3, I’m doing a live event with novelist and critic Lionel Shriver. We’ll be talking about The Catastrophe Hour as well as many of Lionel’s books and columns for The Spectator. This is happening at The Village Underground Comedy Club at 6 pm. Tickets are $25, but if you purchase by August 1 using promo code CATASTROPHE18, they’re just $18. A bargain for NYC. So come on out!

The podcast is still here

As I explained at the beginning of the last couple of episodes, you’ve been getting a lot of content thrown at you over the last six months. First, I was releasing audio essays about the L.A. wildfires. Then my book came out, and I began dropping audio excerpts ahead of our weekly book club meetings. Then I began doing weekly livestreams and posting the recordings as content for paying subscribers.

All this time, I was still doing the regular podcast. But sometimes it got buried underneath everything else, and it was possible to get the impression that I’d stopped it altogether. But that was fake news! I’m more committed to it than ever.

That’s why, going forward, I’ll release the book excerpts and livestream recordings only to paying subscribers. Unless it’s something I just can’t resist sharing with everyone, I will no longer release free previews. For a long time, teasing everyone with free previews was considered good business practice. But now that we’re being inundated with so much content, it’s just overwhelming. The podcast is the flagship offering of this Substack and the thing I put the most work into and take the most pride in. I want you to be able to find it easily.

By the way, the podcast is on track for a glow-up. At the end of the summer, look for a new logo, new music, and, finally, an official renaming to The Unspeakeasy with Meghan Daum.

Speaking of The Unspeakeasy

This year, our retreats took us to L.A., Austin, and (soon) Cape Cod. Our final retreat of 2025 will be our most ambitious yet. Our coed “small gathering for big ideas” is October 11-12 in New York City and features an incredible lineup of speakers, including John McWhorter, Carole Hooven, Peter Moskos, Mike Pesca, and many others. The price point is high, I know. (These things cost us a lot.) But we have a limited-time promo code, NYC1800, that you can use at checkout to get you $700 off the price. Spots are limited and filling up fast, so don’t delay.

The retreat will take place from 9 am to 5 pm on both days at a private location in Soho and includes lunch. We’re also organizing optional dinner plans meant to bring people together who share common interests. More details here.

2026 retreats and courses

We’re still working on next year’s retreat and course schedule and hoping to announce it by late September. However, I can tell you that one of them will be an all-inclusive women’s writing retreat in the Catskills, probably in the spring. It won’t be “problematic” or heterodox per se, but I will be leading it, so there’s that. I’ll probably also teach a Zoom writing workshop early next year.

Online forum

Finally, the Unspeakeay women’s online forum continues to grow and thrive. We have more offerings than can be listed here, but suffice it to say they include book clubs, writing circles, politics groups, guest speakers, spontaneous Zoom hangs, member-led philosophy and literature groups, very high level Stitch ‘n Bitch meetings, and mini-courses with names like Liberalism in Crisis. (We know how to have a good time!) Plus lots of regular girl talk, local meetups, and pet photos.

One of the reasons we created the online forum was to offer something amazing at a more accessible price point, and I think members get a lot for their $250/year. Moreover, online forum members can attend and organize “living room retreats,” which are more casual and much more affordable than the “public” (yet private) retreats with all the bells and whistles. To apply to the online forum, send us an email at info@theunspeakeasy.com.

Wildfire update

Many of you have expressed well wishes and offered support since the wildfires and I remain deeply grateful. I’m glad to say I’m slowly getting back on my feet and have a new place to call home. And I didn’t have to hire movers!

If you’re wondering about Books Unburned, my initiative to help writers affected by the wildfires rebuild their book collections, I’m, uh . . . still working on it. I was a little manic in the aftermath of the fires and bit off somewhat more than I could chew. Right now, Books Unburned features just me and one other author, which is kind of ridiculous, but I plan to add more soon. Meanwhile, if you sent me a book, it turns out Thriftbooks can include a note from the sender but doesn’t actually tell you who that sender is. So to all who’ve sent books and lovely notes, I received them and thank you.

If you want to know more about the Books Unburned project, visit this link. If you are an author affected by the fires and want to BE LISTED in the project, fill out this form.

That’s it for now. Thank you for your ongoing support in these crazy days of content creation. Someday, we will be nostalgic for this monumental time in cultural history.