Christy Hallberg’s podcast, Rock is Lit, has just won the 2024 American Writing Awards Podcast of the Year in the Music and Arts categories. Per the announcement email from AWA, “The competition was fierce, with exceptional shows from around the globe vying for the prestigious title of ‘Podcast of the Year.'” Rock is Lit, the first and only podcast devoted to the convergence of literature and music, aka rock novels, is in its third season and has garnered national press from such outlets as The Aquarian.

Now in its third season, Rock is Lit has gained thousands of subscribers and earned accolades from listeners and guests. As fictional works with a rock theme, including the hit television show Daisy Jones & the Six, gain popularity, Rock is Lit is poised to gain an even larger subscribership.

Rock is Lit is the first podcast devoted to rock novels. Rock is Lit takes listeners on a quest to find the best rock novels and explore the propulsive energy and raw power of these stories about music, the people who make it, and the characters who love it.

“My listeners include other writers, music lovers and bibliophiles, so I try to consider what they want to hear,” Hallberg says. “I ask questions about craft, literary and musical influences. … I’m always interested in hearing a novel’s origin story — where the germ of the idea that would become the novel came from and how it grew.”