Jason Blitman (he/him) is an arts professional, podcaster, and producer whose work sits at the intersection of books, theatre, and live events. He is the host and producer of Gays Reading, a spoiler-free podcast celebrating LGBTQIA+ and ally authors, ranked in the top 1.5% of podcasts globally. Guests have included Stacey Abrams, Fredrik Backman, S.A. Cosby, Roxane Gay, John Irving, Tayari Jones, Patrick Radden Keefe, Katie Kitamura, Rosie O'Donnell, Ann Patchett, Elif Shafak, Douglas Stuart, Elizabeth Strout, and Jonathan Van Ness, among many others.
 

A frequent moderator and festival producer, Jason has produced the Palm Springs Book Festival and the Palm Springs Readers' Festival, and previously produced two seasons of the two-month-long Books That Changed My Life Festival at the Lambert Center for Arts + Ideas in New York City, where he also hosted the 76West podcast. He has moderated 25+ in-person author conversations at venues including Warwick's Bookstore, BookCon, the Texas Book Festival, and the LA Times Festival of Books, with authors such as Mona Awad, Laura Dave, Andrew Sean Greer, Matt Haig, Emily St. John Mandel, Steven Rowley, Jenny Slate, Emma Straub, Chris Whitaker, and Andy Weir.
 

Before moving into the literary world, Jason spent years in professional theatre, including as Associate Artistic Director and Casting Director at TheaterWorksUSA in New York, where he cast and produced full productions and Off Broadway shows including The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical. He continues to direct and produce theatre across Southern California. Jason holds a BFA in Theatre Arts from The Theatre School at DePaul University.