Lauren Root – Staff Writer
When Dr. Linda Morra first pressed record during the pandemic, she had no idea her podcast, “Getting Lit with Linda,” would soon gain an international following—and make her a finalist for a prestigious Women in Podcasting award. This international honour is just one of many major accomplishments for Dr. Morra, who began her podcast, “Getting Lit with Linda” in 2020. Originally meant as a tool for her students, the international outreach of Dr. Morra’s podcast has been extremely impressive.
The Women in Podcasting award that Dr. Linda Morra is currently a finalist for means that her podcast, “Getting Lit with Linda” is among the top three podcasts in the world in terms of education. Prior to this honour, when the awards for her podcast began, Dr. Morra said: “it’s a sharp reminder that you’re responsible to and engaged with a much larger audience” and that she was no longer podcasting in her closet. While her podcast has grown to heights she never imagined, she now feels more confident in herself, and uses these awards as a reminder that she is accountable to her audience.
“Getting Lit with Linda” was an idea born in 2020, after Dr. Morra read a draft of 25 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started My Podcast, written by her good friend Marco Timpano. During this time, Dr. Morra was grieving from the passing of her parents and wanted to start a podcast to reach out to her students and family during the pandemic. Her podcast served as a way to work through literature and to process what had happened in her personal life. Literature helped her comprehend the emotions of her grief and relate them back to various texts. This idea is beneficial for all listeners, since the podcast touches upon general subjects, such as forgiveness, and how it is shown in literature. When her podcast began to reach more people, Dr. Morra realised this medium was a fantastic way of connecting with people around the world. As Dr. Morra states in her podcast: “Just doesn’t bear upon literature, it bears upon life.”
Dr. Morra’s podcasts have primarily benefited English students since she uses them to speak about the Canadian and Indigenous literature that she teaches. She specialises in these topics, so podcasting on this subject allows her to instruct people around the world, extending her outreach and exposing people to literature they may not know much about. The latest step in Dr. Morra’s extraordinary journey will happen by the end of October, when the Women in Podcasting winners will be named.
The Campus 