Media Kit
Short Bio:
Jeff Wright is a 21st-Century Homeric Bard — an award-winning storyteller whose podcasts Trojan War: The Podcast and Odyssey: The Podcast have been streamed over 1.6 million times in more than 200 countries. His work has earned the Society for Classical Studies' Forum Prize, and he brings Homer's epics vividly to life on stage, on air, and in print.
Medium Bio:
Jeff Wright is a 21st-Century Homeric Bard — an award-winning storyteller who makes Homer's epics as gripping as the best modern drama. For over 25 years, he has performed for audiences ranging from high school auditoriums to Canada's National Arts Centre, in Oxford, England, at academic conferences, and at New York charity galas. His acclaimed podcasts Trojan War: The Podcast and Odyssey: The Podcast have been downloaded more than 1.6 million times in more than 200 countries, earning a remarkable 95% listener retention rate. In 2019, the Society for Classical Studies awarded Odyssey: The Podcast its prestigious Forum Prize—recognizing it as the best public-facing contribution to the classics, in any medium, in the previous year.
Jeff's upcoming book, The Full Disclosure Iliad (May 2026), delivers the complete Trojan War epic — mythic origins to wooden horse — in one enthralling, accessible narrative. Whether on stage, on air, or in print, Jeff brings Homer's world vividly to life for today's audiences.
Long Bio:
Jeff Wright is a 21st-Century Homeric Bard — a storyteller, educator, and performer who brings the ancient world to vivid life for modern audiences. For more than twenty-five years, Jeff has blended deep scholarship with captivating narrative craft, performing everywhere from high school auditoriums to Canada's National Arts Centre, in Oxford, England, at academic conferences, literary festivals, and New York charity galas.
His podcasts Trojan War: The Podcast and Odyssey: The Podcast have together been streamed over 1.6 million times in more than 200 countries, celebrated for their immersive storytelling and extraordinary 95% listener retention rate. In 2019, the Society for Classical Studies awarded Odyssey: The Podcast its prestigious Forum Prize—recognizing it as the best public-facing contribution to the classics, in any medium, in the previous year.
Jeff's upcoming book, The Full Disclosure Iliad (May 2026), is the culmination of decades of research and performance. Drawing on Homer's Iliad alongside the "lost" epics, ancient plays, Roman retellings, and modern scholarship, Jeff weaves the entire Trojan War — mythic beginnings to the fall of Troy — into one gripping, fully accessible narrative.
Offstage and off-mic, Jeff paddles. A lifelong canoe tripper, he performs a second repertoire of storytelling shows exploring the infinite ways love can be made...in a canoe. Through wildly entertaining, occasionally poignant, and always laugh-till-it-hurts tales of wilderness adventures and misadventures, Jeff examines our relationships with siblings, parents, partners, and children—one forgotten food barrel, one leaky tent, and one missing portage at a time.
Whether performing, podcasting, or writing, Jeff's mission remains the same: to tell stories immediate, compelling, and irresistibly alive.
Speaking Topics:
Jeff's presentations are highly adaptable—from 5-minute podcast interviews to 60-minute keynotes, and can be delivered live on stage, via Zoom, or in radio/podcast format. Each topic can be tailored to your audience and time constraints.
Homer For Today’s Audiences
A Christopher Nolan ODYSSEY Primer
The Trojan War backstory you need to know before seeing the movie—a fast-paced journey through the myths, heroes, and divine meddling that set Odysseus on his legendary voyage home.
The Odysseus Hollywood Won't Show You
Loving husband? Comic book action hero? Charmingly clever wordsmith? Or murderous baby-killer? Explore the darker Odysseus stories that never make it to the screen—and why they matter.
Why the ILIAD Is One Seriously Weird Book
And what you should know if you someday want to read it. A humorous, insightful guide to Homer's most challenging epic—and why modern readers quit after 20 pages.
The Scenes from Homer That Drive Modern Audiences Completely Nuts
From bizarre divine interventions to head-scratching heroic behavior, Jeff unpacks the moments that make contemporary readers throw their copies of Homer across the room.
The Most Heartbreaking Story in All of Greek Epic
The oceans-of-tears-inducing tale my audiences always request. Hint: the story involves a puppy. Bring tissues.
Did the Trojan War Really Happen?
Was there every really a Helen of Troy? What about that famous wooden horse? A fun-filled romp through the myth, the scholarship, and the fascinating grey areas in between.
The Craft Of Storytelling
On Being a 21st-Century Homeric Bard
The perils and pitfalls of bringing Greek epic and myth to modern audiences—what works, what bombs, and why Homer sometimes needs a translator (even in English). (Based on Jeff's provocative hour-long lecture/performance.)
How Hard Can It Be? Writing THE FULL DISCLOSURE ILIAD
"So how hard can it be, creating a comprehensive retelling of the entire Trojan War?"—I asked myself in 2021. Then spent five years learning the truth the hard way. Join me for an authorial rollercoaster through disastrous first drafts, the manuscript my wife tried to drown in a lake, a $5,000 scam that cost me six months, and finally—thank Zeus—publication in May 2026.
