The Dark Academicals
Episodes
12.5: ‘The Incandescent’ by Emily Tesh
31 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It’s time for one of our most anticipated books of the season: Emily Tesh’s ‘The Incandescent’. A magic school? Check. Demons? Check. An entir...
Episode 12.4: ‘Boys With Sharp Teeth’ by Jenni Howell
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We’re heading to Huntsworth Academy for this episode of the podcast, and returning to YA, with Jenni Howell’s Boys With Sharp Teeth. Seventeen-yea...
Episode 12.3: ‘The Monk’ by Matthew Lewis
03 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Back in season three we dove in Mona Awad’s ‘Bunny’ with no idea what we were getting into, and even less idea how foundational a text it would ...
Episode 12.2: ‘We Love You, Bunny’ by Mona Awad
17 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Back in season three we dove in Mona Awad’s ‘Bunny’ with no idea what we were getting into, and even less idea how foundational a text it would ...
Episode 12.1: ‘Katabasis’ by RF Kuang
03 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Season twelve is here and we’re kicking off the season with one of the biggest releases of the latter half of 2025: RF Kuang’s dark academia fanta...
Episode 11.6: ‘And He Shall Appear’ by Kate van der Borgh
09 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s already time for the finale of season eleven! This season has truly flown by and we’re hoping to send it off with another brilliant 2025 rele...
Episode 11.5: ‘Spoilt Creatures’ by Amy Twigg
26 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode of the podcast has been an evolution. If you’re a reader of our Substack (if not, um why?) then you’ll probably be confused that ‘S...
Episode 11.4: ‘Voice Like a Hyacinth’ by Mallory Pearson
12 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It was the cover of ‘Voice Like a Hyacinth’ that initially caught our attention, but as soon as we realised it was a tricksy novel about female fr...
Episode 11.3: ‘Arcana Academy’ by Elise Kova
29 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’re both suckers for fantasy romance so when that intersects with dark academia? Just give it to us. This season is really delivering on making us...
Episode 11.2: ‘Northanger Abbey’ by Jane Austen
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s that time of the season - dark academia adjacent time! Our adjacent title for this season is a book from one of my literary heroes and one of m...
Episode 11.1: ‘Blood Over Bright Haven’ by ML Wang
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Season 11 of The Dark Academicals! We’ve got a heck of a season coming up for you this summer and our first title of the season is a boo...
Episode 10.7: In Conversation with Kat Dunn, author of ‘Hungerstone’
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Wildly, it’s becoming a bit of tradition to see out the end of the season with a podcast episode dedicated to speaking to an author and Season 10 sa...
Episode 10.6: ‘The Coven’ by Harper L Woods
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A book pitched as ‘dark academia romantasy’? Say less. This promises some potential for morally grey taboo romance, a real villain and a fun time,...
Episode 10.5: ‘Vita Nostra’ by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko
01 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
‘Vita Nostra’ has lingered on our masterlist of dark academia titles since the conception of The Dark Academicals and after we tackled a novel abo...
Episode 10.4: ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ by Joan Lindsay
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
While I feel like I’ve known about the existence of ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ by Joan Lindsay for so very long, it even has a film adaptation, bu...
Episode 10.3: ‘Hungerstone’ by Kat Dunn
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Both Sarah and I have big buzzwords outside of dark academia, and several of them are vampires and ‘Carmilla’ retelling and we added ‘Hungerston...
Episode 10.2: ‘An Academy for Liars’ by Alexis Henderson
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We explore 'An Academy for Liars'; twisty, dark and academic... But is it Dark Academia? We go through our defined tropes and hold it up against the f...
Episode 10.1: ‘Darkly’ by Marisha Pessl
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With ‘Special Topics and Calamity Physics’ and ‘Night Film’ both catapulting Marisha Pessl into the realms of early BookTube and book internet...
Episode 9.7: In conversation with M L Rio (Graveyard Shift, If We Were Villains, Hot Wax)
24 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This will forever go down as a Podcast highlight for us. Being given the opportunity to talk with the one and only M L Rio about Dark Academia, her ne...
Episode 9.6: ‘A Great and Terrible Beauty’ by Libba Bray
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This historical fantasy is from the realms of classic YA and we’re both super excited to revisit this novel that we both read around 10 years ago fo...
Episode 9.5: ‘The Four’ by Ellie Keel
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This debut novel has been everywhere all year and it’s about time we got around to reading it. ‘The Four’ by Ellie Keel sounds super dark and it...
Episode 9.4: ‘Foxglove’ by Adalyn Grace
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We read the first book in this series, ‘Belladonna’, back in season seven and we’re so excited to revisit Signa at Thorn Grove following the cli...
Episode 9.3: ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our dark academia adjacent title for this season is one of Sophie’s favourite books. ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier is a masterclass in Gothic s...
Episode 9.2: ‘The Centre’ by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our second episode of this season takes us to London, Karachi and New Dehli in Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi’s debut novel, ‘The Centre’.This one leapt...
Episode 9.1: ‘Immortal Dark’ by Tigest Girma
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Season 9 of ‘The Dark Academicals’ is HERE - we’re back! - and we’re starting off with a huge debut that is being marketed as dark academia Bl...
Episode 8.6: ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt - Revisited!
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s finally happening! We’re going back to the beginning and re-examining ‘The Secret History’ with 8 seasons of the podcast behind us and th...
Episode 8.5: ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ by Patricia Highsmith
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Donna Tartt herself cited Patricia Highsmith’s ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ as a book that was important to her when writing ‘The Secret HIstory’...
Episode 8.4: ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
'Frankenstein' is a literary staple. Everyone has heard of it, and most discerning reader will have either read it or have it on their TBR. Groundbrea...
Episode 8.3: ‘Stoner’ by John Williams
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
‘Stoner’ is a classic campus novel that has been on my (Sophie’s TBR) for years and years - it’s one of those novels that is almost universall...
Episode 8.2: ‘Bacchae’ by Euripides
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ancient literature? Yeah, we’re going there!‘Bacchae’ is the play, the source material, the inspiration, for the adventures and dangers that Hen...
Episode 8.1: ‘Black Chalk’ by Christopher J Yates
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to season 8 of The Dark Academicals!We’re kicking off with ‘Black Chalk’ by Christopher J Yates, a psychological thriller campus novel f...
Bonus Episode: Fate and Destiny with Katy Hays, author of ‘The Cloisters’
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this extra special episode of The Dark Academicals, we have Katy Hays, author of 'The Cloisters' discussing fate, destiny, dark academia and more. ...
Episode 7.6: ‘I Have Some Questions for You’ by Rebecca Makkai
19 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Can you believe it’s already the season seven finale of ‘The Dark Academicals’? We can’t!For this final episode we’ve got a dark academia th...
Episode 7.5: ‘An Education in Malice’ by ST Gibson
05 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s Sarah’s first time reading S.T. Gibson, while Sophie has already read ‘A Dowry of Blood’ and so there are already some expectations and i...
Episode 7.4: ‘Prep’ by Curtis Sittenfeld
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s time for our dark academia adjacent title for season seven and we’re tackling Curtis Sittenfeld’s classic campus novel, ‘Prep’.Sophie r...
Episode 7.3: ‘Belladonna’ by Adalyn Grace
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to The Dark Academicals, the podcast where we delve into the mythos of dark academia one book at a time. Especially when that one book has a ...
Episode 7.2: ‘Curious Tides’ by Pascal Lacelle
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to The Dark Academicals, the podcast where we delve into the mythos of dark academia one book at a time. Have you ever come across lunar mag...
Episode 7.1: ‘A Deadly Education’ by Naomi Novik
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to the SEVENTH season of The Dark Academicals! We kick off with a big one. The TikTok favourite 'A Deadly Education'. It has received a lot o...
Bonus Episode: ‘Gilmore Girls’
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There is one TV show that we have discussed, referenced and alluded to throughout the history of The Dark Academicals. It’s ‘Gilmore Girls’. ...
Episode 6.6: ‘A Study in Drowning’ by Ava Reid
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve reached the finale of season 6! Already! There seems to be a curse within ‘The Dark Academicals’ for the finale books, but we’re confi...
Epsiode 6.5: ‘Summer Sons’ by Lee Mandelo
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
‘Summer Sons’ by Lee Mandelo is taking us to Vanderbilt and we are so excited about this one!This sounds like everything that we love in a novel a...
Episode 6.4: ‘She is a Haunting’ by Trang Thanh Tran
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Happy Halloween!To add a little haunting into your day, we’ve got a brand new episode for you! ‘She is a Haunting’ by Trang Thanh Tran has been ...
Episode 6.3: ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ by Shirley Jackson
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our dark academia adjacent book for Season 6 is a classic horror novel from the Queen of the Southern Gothic, Ms Shirley Jackson, and one of Sophie’...
Episode 6.2: ‘Gothikana’ by RuNyx
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s episode features a book like nothing we’ve featured before: a spicy TikTok dark romance that the BookTok girlies are shouting from the...
Episode 6.1: ‘The Magicians’ by Lev Grossman
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’re back for season six (!) of ‘The Dark Academicals’ and we’ve got a line-up full of spooks and scares for the best reading season of the y...
Episode 5.6: ‘How We Fall Apart’ by Katie Zhao
08 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s time for the finale of season five already and we can’t believe it! What a season we’ve had.We’re closing out the season with ‘How We F...
Episode 5.5: ‘The Cloisters’ by Katy Hays
25 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
‘The Cloisters’ was one of our most anticipated debuts of 2022 but we’ve been saving it to feature on the pod and we are both SO excited to fina...
Episode 5.4: ‘Brideshead Revisited’ by Evelyn Waugh
11 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s time for our dark academia adjacent title for season 5! We’re heading back to the world of modern classics to discuss a title that is often c...
Episode 5.3: ‘The Ruins’ by Phoebe Wynne
27 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We discussed Phoebe Wynne’s debut novel, ‘Madam’, in the very first season of the podcast and it’s a favourite book of both of ours. The vibes...
Episode 5.2: ‘Hell Bent’ by Leigh Bardugo
13 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We are tackling a sequel for the first time on the podcast this week, because who can deny the world a trip to Hell with Leigh Bardugo. It’s time to...
Episode 5.1: ‘Babel’ by RF Kuang
30 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s happening. We’re finally doing it. The book launching Season Five (!!) of ‘The Dark Academicals’ is RF Kuang’s huge 2022 release, ‘B...
Episode 4.6: ‘My Dearest Darkest’ by Kayla Cottingham
18 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
‘My Dearest Darkest’ seems to have flown a little under our dark academia radar and it’s one of those novels that I’ve seen people haul, but n...
Episode 4.5: ‘The Things We Do to Our Friends’ by Heather Darwent
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This debut is one of our most anticipated books of the year and we jumped at the chance to get it on the line-up for season 4. I mean, have you see th...
Episode 4.4: ‘Interview With the Vampire’ by Anne Rice
21 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s already time for our dark academia adjacent title for season 4! And we’re going in BIG. Confession time: Sophie had somehow got to the ripe...
Episode 4.3: ‘Mexican Gothic’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a completely beloved author of sumptuous, historical novels so maybe you’re wondering why we’re tackling one of her novels...
Episode 4.2: ‘A Lesson in Vengeance’ by Victoria Lee
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Our second episode of the season tackles a book that has been on our radars for a really long time - ‘A Lesson in Vengeance’ by Victoria Lee. Th...
Episode 4.1: ‘The Whispering Dark’ by Kelly Andrew
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’re back for season 4! You’ve missed us, right? We’ve missed recording the podcast so we’re so pleased to be back. Our first title this se...
Episode 3.6: ‘The Swallows’ by Lisa Lutz
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the finale of Season 3 of ‘The Dark Academicals’ and we’re hoping to end on a dark academia induced high. Now don’t be put off by the ...
Episode 3.5: ‘Vicious’ by VE Schwab
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
‘Vicious’ in the first book in a much-loved duology by and even more loved author, VE Schwab, and we’re super excited to tackle it for ‘The Da...
Episode 3.4: ‘The Song of Achilles’ by Madeline Miller
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Oh, this book. Are our hearts ready for the dark academia adjacent title for season 3? Unsure, but we’re doing it anyway. We put the book for this ...
Episode 3.3: ‘A Lesson in Thorns’ by Sierra Simone
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week we have something a little different for ‘The Dark Academicals’: dark academia…smut? Yep. ‘A Lesson in Thorns’ is the first book i...
Episode 3.2: ‘Bunny’ by Mona Awad
18 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We are both so excited and so nervous to dive into this weird and wonderful novel for the podcast. ‘Bunny’ by Mona Awad is our second pick for thi...
Episode 3.1: ‘Ninth House’ by Leigh Bardugo
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We’re back! It seems like we only closed out Season 2 with the wonderful ‘The Raven Boys’ only days ago, but it’s been seven weeks! Autumn i...
Episode 2.6: ‘The Raven Boys’ by Maggie Stiefvater
16 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The season 2 finale is upon us and we’re rounding off the season by revisiting a favourite of both of ours, the first book in Maggie Stiefvater’s ...
Episode 2.5: ‘The Mary Shelley Club’ by Goldy Moldavsky
02 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If a book gets tagged as ‘Dark Academia’ then heck yes we’re going to scope it out. That goes for YA titles like Goldy Moldavsky’s ‘The Mary...
Episode 2.4: ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde
19 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s that time in the season where we explore what we call a “Dark Academia Adjacent” title. For season 2 of The Dark Academicals, that’s Osca...
Episode 2.3: ‘The Maidens’ by Alex Michaelides
05 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Alex Michaelides took both BookTok and Bookstagram by storm with 'The Silent Patient', and now with 'The Maidens' the "Dark Academia" buzz that has su...
Episode 2.2: ‘Sleepwalking’ by Meg Wolitzer
21 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The second episode of season two heads to Swarthmore College with Meg Wolitzer’s debut novel, ‘Sleepwalking’. While Wolitzer is more famous for...
Episode 2.1: ‘The Atlas Six’ by Olivie Blake
07 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We’re back! And we’re starting off with a bang with dark academia TikTok fave ‘The Atlas Six’ by Olivie Blake. This book has been all over yo...
Episode 1.7: ‘Catherine House’ by Elisabeth Thomas
19 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The season one finale of ‘The Dark Academicals’ sees us exploring ‘Catherine House’ by Elisabeth Thomas about a forboding university full of s...
Episode 1.6: ‘Ace of Spades’ by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s episode of ‘The Dark Academicals’ took us to an exclusive private school with an anonymous texter attempting to bring down the schoo...
Episode 1.5 ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald
22 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we explore F. Scott Fitzgerald's most famous book 'The Great Gatsby'. This American Classic is being featured as a 'Dark Academia Adja...
Episode 1.4: ‘Madam’ by Phoebe Wynne
08 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to The Dark Academicals. The podcast that delves into the mythos of Dark Academia, one book at a time.Episode information and transcriptInstag...
Episode 1.3: ‘If We Were Villains’ by ML Rio
22 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to The Dark Academicals. The podcast that delves into the mythos of Dark Academia, one book at a time.Episode information and transcriptInstag...
Episode 1.2: ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Donna Tartt’s ‘The Secret History’ is synonymous with the term ‘Dark Academia’. It was the beginning. And if you did not realise that before...
Episode 1.1: An Introduction to Dark Academia
25 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to The Dark Academicals. The podcast that delves into the mythos of Dark Academia, one book at a time.Full episode transcripts and text listIn...
Podcast Trailer and Intro!
04 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to The Dark Academicals. The podcast that delves deep into the mythos of Dark Academia, one book at a time.
Coming Soon…
25 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Dark Academicals - the podcast where we delve into the mythos of dark academia one book at a time.