The Caro Episode

Diabolical Lies

The Caro Episode

0:00

-1:42:09

The Caro Episode

The artist, her art, and whether the twain shall meet!

Katie Gatti Tassin and caro claire burke

Apr 05, 2026

Order Yesteryear if you like nice things, have good taste, or don’t want Katie to firebomb your house.1

What does it feel like to spend 10 years of your life pursuing an uncertain dream when the chances of breakthrough success are one in a million?

What does it feel like to—finally, at long last—be “the one”?2

Caro Claire Burke, one-half of your favorite podcast, is publishing her debut novel this Tuesday, April 7. Yesteryear is mouthy, thrilling, important, ambitious, and, as one of my favorite reviews said, “moves like a freight train.”

Sound like anyone else you know?3

Today, I finally get the opportunity to talk to caro claire burke about:

whether publishing your debut novel is a dream come true or a nightmare
who she was before she wrote Yesteryear
her seemingly endless years writing clickbait for a paycheck in the content coal mines of various aggregators4
how she felt when we met 🥰
how I felt when we met 👹
the psychological experience of feeling like everyone’s looking at you (Professionally™️) and knowing the precise dates and times when your life’s work will be dissected for sport in public lol
to what extent it’s fair to infer someone’s politics from their fiction (a la this piece)
her Official Stance on separating the art from the artist (compelling tbh)
a spoiler-frenzied discussion of the Next Great American Novel
and a very personal, very special update for Caro5