Do you follow any blogs or podcasts about literature, writing, or individual books or authors?
I don't know if I "follow" any of these but they are in my rotation for whenever I feel like listening to a podcast.
Also if anyone else has recs, I'd love to hear them
Podcasts about books:
Overdue is "a podcast about the books you've been meaning to read." Every episode the hosts take turns to read a book that they've been meaning to get around to and tells the other about it. The non-reading host does research about the author and the context in which the book was published, etc. I like it because they read a wide range of genres and years of publication and etc and they have interesting and fun conversations about it.
The Worst Bestsellers is reading the popular books that suck and talking about them. They have branched out and started reading non shitty books sometimes, and also every once in a while they surprise themselves actually enjoying the books, which is always fun.
Unresolved Textual Tension is three hosts reading and reviewing the same book. I like it because they go a bit more in depth than most reviewers and even if I disagree with them, they give me a better idea of whether I'll like the book or not. Or they may help me realize things about a book I've already read. Linked to their Patreon but they put their episodes up on YouTube and podcast feeds for free.
Podcasts about writing or publishing:
Rite Gud they are kind of the "contrarian" podcast to the mainstream speculative fiction industry and community. They've introduced me to great literary magazines and I find their analysis to be well thought out and insightful most of the time
Publishing Rodeo is less about writing and more about the traditional publishing industry. The two hosts published their debut novels with the same publisher, but one of them got a huge advance (and her career exploded) and the other got a tiny one (and his career stagnated) it's an interesting look at how different parts of this industry work, especially because it's such a secretive industry.
Missing Pages is mostly famous publishing industry drama. Like people faking their identity, scammers, etc.
Start With This is no longer releasing new episodes but they have a good backlog. It's pretty much a creative writing class by the guys that did Welcome To Nightvale and Alice Isn't Dead. It's aimed at creating audio narrative but by no means do they limit themselves to talk about podcasts. Every episode they chat about a specific thing in art and writing and they use examples from books, movies, theater, music, visual art, etc. At the end of each episode you get a two part assignment: something to read or listen to or watch. And something to create. Whenever I feel creatively stuck I go back to listen to any episode that sounds interesting and do the assignment. It usually helps.