CodEX Machina Podcast
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codexmachina.bsky.social
CodEX Machina Podcast
@codexmachina.bsky.social
68 followers 58 following 62 posts
Join Natalia, Bethany, and Laura as they delve into the world of #publishing, #bookhistory, and #books. Available wherever you listen. Latest blog: https://strangelandbooks.com/2025/09/27/banned-and-challenged-books-discussions/
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codexmachina.bsky.social
🎙️ New episode! We discuss The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami, and boy, what a discussion. Like Piranesi, it’s a book that keeps you thinking. 📖
A picture of the book The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami. Pictured is an orange outlined rectangular void, with a very small woman standing before it in the lower right corner. The title of the book is at the top, author’s name at the bottom and underneath it says “Pulitzer Prize finalist”. Reading top down on the right side it says “A Novel”
November 6, 2025 at 11:06 PM
codexmachina.bsky.social
On our latest episode, we interview Dr. Jennifer Gouck, University of Münster, about her research on banned and challenged books and her participation in the Banned Books Network Münster, where she gave a lecture on The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.

youtu.be/FZnko-mPeek?...
These books were discussed by Banned Books Network in Münster, Germany. Two flyers with red backgrounds: the top one is for Universität Münster "Banned Books in Conversation: Book Talk and Workshop" Thursdays 18-20 Uhr SpecOps Gesellschaftzimmer 22 May And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell, Justin richardson and Henry Cole, Prof. Silvia Schultermandl 03 July The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Dr. Jennifer Gouck 23 Oct Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden Dr. Sara Pyke 11 Dec Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume Prof. Corinna Norrick-Rühl The second is Universität Münster Banned Book(s) Club. Bold books. Brave conversations. Join our monthly club to read, reflect and resist together. Just scan below to register. Oct 16 The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Nov 6 All Boys Arent Blue by George M. Johnson Dec 4 Forever by Judy Blume Jan 8 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky Thursdays 4-5 pm at SpecOps sponsored by Book Studies (in a book) living.knowledge and am studies
October 9, 2025 at 4:43 PM
codexmachina.bsky.social
It's Banned Books Week! And we are so happy to hear that @georgetakei.bsky.social is the honorary chair this year! We'll have to read his book for Strange Land Book Club! The Codex Machina team has a couple of episodes out right now that focus on banned books and scholarship of banned books.
A slide saying "read banned books" "swipe to find out" Codex Machina #60 of the 100 most frequently challenged books of the 1990s according to the ALA young adult literature, coming-of-age story 1970 beside a recent cover of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. The cover is bright pink and has Judy Blume in large letters at the bottom, with what looks like a text message saying Are You There God? It's me, Margaret followed by "God" with the three dots that show a message is being written. The most challenged book of 2006, 2007, and 2008 according to the ALA. children's book, 2005 next to the cover of the book "and tango makes three" by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell with illustrations by Henry Cole. The cover art features two adult penguins and a baby penguin on an iceberg. There is a medallion for the ASPCA Henry Bergh Children's Book Award One of the ten most-challenged books of 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021, according to the ALA novel, urban fiction, 2017 next to the cover of "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas with a medallion for the Deutscher Jugendliteratur Preis (the German young adult literature prize). The cover features a Black teenaged woman holding the title of the book.
October 9, 2025 at 4:43 PM
codexmachina.bsky.social
We’ve been remiss in posting about our latest episodes as they come out, so it’s time to catch up. In our 7th episode, join us as Bethany and Laura discuss their experiences at the Thessaloniki Book Fair.
A picture of the cover of the “International Professional Program” of the Thessaloniki Book Fair in a sepia tone. The program shows a globe hanger with a stack of books instead of the earth. There are doodles of flowers all over the program. Transcribed over the program is the text in white “Thessaloniki Book Fair 2025”
August 5, 2025 at 3:59 PM
codexmachina.bsky.social
From Merlin to mansions…the CEXM crew discusses Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier on the latest installment of Strange Land Book Club. In Making Book History, we discuss the discovery of a fragment of the Suite Vulgate du Merlin in the binding of a 16th century archival registry. #booksky #bookhistory
July 4, 2025 at 1:10 PM
codexmachina.bsky.social
Episodes 5 & 6 feature our first guest - Swara Shukla, a PhD candidate at the University of Münster. In episode 5 we talk to her about what she’s reading, in 6 she discusses her research on serialization and readers in the Wattpad book publishing ecosystem. #books #bookhistory #publishing #podcast
June 16, 2025 at 10:17 PM
codexmachina.bsky.social
In our third episode we discuss book series - with an emphasis on reader reactions vs. author responsibility re. unfinished series. We go back in time to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and catch up to the Fourth Wing. In Making Book History we discuss content ban challenges with library databases like SAGE.
The magenta/blue CodEX Machina logo with our spotify code for the episode.
May 26, 2025 at 2:54 PM
codexmachina.bsky.social
Excited to announce that Bethany and Laura will be attending the #thessbookfair2025 (Thessaloniki Book Fair) on Friday and Saturday. Looking forward to comparing notes with their experiences at the #FrankfurtBuchmesse!
An advertisement for the 21st Thessaloniki Book Fair. In red, “Created by HumA[I]ns”, the theme of the fair. To the right are the dates white on black background (08-11 May 2025), next to that the red logo (unsure what it is - several red boxes shaped together). At the bottom, in black “Guest of honor Italy”. At the top left, white on black background, “HFBC”, beside it “Hellenic Foundation for Books and Culture”. Top right, in black “TBF Thessaloniki International Book Fair”
May 7, 2025 at 2:20 PM
codexmachina.bsky.social
Episode 2 is the first one where we feature the "Strange Land Book Club" - where we briefly discuss our own reader responses to one book. We begin with Piranesi - a book that had a profound effect on each one of us. Also, in "Making Book History" we discuss Inkitt and their AI shenanigans.
Links ⬇️
May 5, 2025 at 3:09 PM
codexmachina.bsky.social
Making the logo! It took Laura @melusinagr.bsky.social a couple of months to design, carve, and print due to lupus arthritis, but she managed something we all love! Here's a quick peek at the process #linocut #logo #podcast #books #publishing #podcastaboutreading #handmade #noAI #codexmachinapodcast
May 2, 2025 at 2:26 PM
codexmachina.bsky.social
Episode 1 is a rundown of our experiences and things we learned at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2024. open.spotify.com/episode/3Fii...

#FrankfurterBuchmesse #FBF24 #books #bookfair #publishing
April 30, 2025 at 11:47 PM
codexmachina.bsky.social
Trailer!
April 30, 2025 at 4:01 PM