“Plain Life” podcast engagement

Plain Life: On Thinking, Feeling and Deciding is a collection of essays that think through central ideas of happiness, rest and relaxation, talking and allowing for silence. It captured the attention of literary author and influencer, Bri Lee.

The research behind Plain Life was supported by the Institute, and the book was published in August 2025. Following publication, the author was approached by Bri Lee with an invitation to conduct a podcast interview. The interview occurred on 21 October 2025, on the Substack platform. Bri Lee has hundreds of paid subscribers and tens of thousands of free subscribers on this platform, all of whom were able to access the live stream.

Following the interview broadcast, Bri Lee extended her engagement with the book by making it the focus of her summer posts. She staged weekly “Plain Life Prompts” (seven in total) across her networks — her main content during this time — citing salient passages from the work, and responding in writing with her own thoughts prompted by Plain Life. Paid subscribers were able to comment, and free subscribers to “like”, thereby extending engagement with, and impact of, Plain Life.