There are two sides to stories shared across any medium—digital or analog. No one knows this better than Sophie Gee and Jonty Claypole, co-hosts of The Secret Life of Books podcast. Each week Sophie, an English professor at Princeton University, and Jonty, former director of arts at the BBC dive into the, often scandalous, backstories that shaped iconic written works, including Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and even Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel Watchmen.

In our latest edition of Feedworthy, the co-hosts unpack the wide range of artists that inspire them, their favorite podcasts, and our collective need to protect the arts.

What inspires you online? Who or what is always on your mood board?

Chic bookstores, and small libraries in people’s houses we get to see because of social media. Classic books look a lot more tempting with great lighting and good paint colors. We always love Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Right now Dame Jilly Cooper is on our mood board; the show Rivals is pure 1980s joy — houses, horses, dogs, and sex. We like music that we can read to and there’s nothing better than the new wave of jazz: Kamasi Washington, Christian Scott, Ezra Collective, Alfa Mist. Frenetic is fine, just no vocals.

Who are some of your favorite creators?

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook who made The Rest is History; Backlisted and the Slightly Foxed podcast are unmissable for die-hard readers; Pandora Sykes makes books HOT; Julia Baird and Jeremy Fernandez of Not Stupid for taking poetry as a seriously as politics; Gretchen Rubin and Dan Harris make happiness and mental health everyone’s favorite thing. It’s great seeing old friends doing well: Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls’ innovative film Grand Theft Hamlet, Peter Harness’ mind-bending Constellation, Patrick Dickinson’s charming film Cottontail, Roland Allen’s magisterial book The Notebook, Mark Rosenblatt’s smash hit play Giant.

Describe your feed in three words.

Funny, brainy, classic.

What’s a favorite moment from your career?

Serendipity. Jonty and Sophie met by chance — we were both taking a break from big jobs in London and New York to spend time in Sydney. We found out we were in the same COVID quarantine hotel with our spouses and kids (cheers, Adina Apartment Hotel). Afterward, we became friends and were both looking for a new project. We wanted a podcast about great books that doesn’t take itself seriously. That’s how The Secret Life of Books got started.

What’s a social media trend you’re obsessed with right now?

The fight for freedom of expression in the arts. We’ve had divisiveness. Now we’re following that road into censorship. Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Aleksander Solzhenitsyn were all censored, but history is on their side now. Hats off to the brave people speaking up for artistic freedom.

What’s your social media ick?

Not having a sense of humor about social media — the internet is an unreliable narrator and we have to remember it’s no substitute for reality.

Who or what is your dream collaboration?

Covering classic books with Oprah or Reese, of course! We’d love to have Stephen Fry on our show – the man is a living classic. We dream of collaborating with epic lifestyle blogs like Cup of Jo, Eye Swoon, Goop so that classics are a part of everyone’s self-care regime.

What’s a song, artist, series, movie, video, podcast game, or anything digital that you cannot get enough of right now?

“Addicted to Love” by Robert Palmer; Doechii’s “Denial is a River”; Kendrick’s “Reincarnated”; the shows Slow Horses and American Primeval; and digital collections at the Metropolitan Museum and the Australian National Gallery.

To uncover more hidden stories, listen to the Secret Life of Books wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch the video version, available on YouTube.