Close Reads

Close Reads is a book-club podcast for the incurable reader. Hosted by David Kern and featuring Tim McIntosh and Heidi White, alongside a couple of other occasional guests, we read Great Books and talk about them. This is a show for amateurs in the best sense. We’re book lovers, book enthusiasts. This is not an experts show and it’s barely literary analysis in the way that literary analysis is commonly understood. Instead it’s a show about experiences with literary urge. Join us!


Close Reads is presented by Goldberry Studios.


A NOTE ABOUT OLDER EPISODES: Since most podcast apps don't go further back than 100 episodes, you'll need to click here to listen to anything further back than that. And our first 32 episodes can be found here, on the original CiRCE Institute feed.

David Kern

David is the producer of the Close Reads Podcast Network, and host of the flagship show, as well as The Daily Poem and Libromania. He is the editor-in-chief of FORMA, a journal that offers classical thought about contemporary culture, the director of CiRCE Books for the CiRCE Institute, and the strategic coordinator for CiRCE. He and his wife, Bethany, have four children and they live in NC.

Heidi White

Heidi White is a teacher, writer, consultant, and speaker. She teaches literature at The Journey School in Colorado Springs. She is the Managing Editor of FORMA Journal and a contributing writer at the Circe Institute. She is a weekly contributor on fiction, poetry, and Shakespeare on The Close Reads Podcast Network. She writes fiction, poetry, and essays and speaks about literature, education, and the Christian imagination. She lives in Colorado with her husband and children.

Tim McIntosh

Tim McIntosh has been a tutor at Gutenberg College since 2008. He received his B.A. from Bryan College (TN) and his M.A. in Theology from Reformed Theological Seminary. In addition to teaching writing to Gutenberg freshman and sophomores, he is a playwright, screenwriter, and actor. His play Son of Abraham received a "Best New Play" award, and the film of his screenplay Mandie was released by Kalon Media in spring 2009.