Twenty years after a scrappy newsroom team hacked together a framework to ship stories fast, Django remains the Python web framework that ships real apps, responsibly. In this anniversary roundtable with its creators and long-time stewards: Simon Willison, Adrian Holovaty, Will Vincent, Jeff Triplet, and Thibaud Colas, we trace the path from the Lawrence Journal-World to 1.0, DjangoCon, and the DSF; unpack how a BSD license and a culture of docs, tests, and mentorship grew a global community; and revisit lessons from deployments like Instagram. We talk modern Django too: ASGI and async, HTMX-friendly patterns, building APIs with DRF and Django Ninja, and how Django pairs with React and serverless without losing its batteries-included soul. You’ll hear about Django Girls, Djangonauts, and the Django Fellowship that keep momentum going, plus where Django fits in today’s AI stacks. Finally, we look ahead at the next decade of speed, security, and sustainability.

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Links from the show

Guests
Simon Willison: simonwillison.net
Adrian Holovaty: holovaty.com
Will Vincent: wsvincent.com
Jeff Triplet: jefftriplett.com
Thibaud Colas: thib.me

Show Links
Django's 20th Birthday Reflections (Simon Willison): simonwillison.net
Happy 20th Birthday, Django! (Django Weblog): djangoproject.com
Django 2024 Annual Impact Report: djangoproject.com
Welcome Our New Fellow: Jacob Tyler Walls: djangoproject.com
Soundslice Music Learning Platform: soundslice.com
Djangonaut Space Mentorship for Django Contributors: djangonaut.space
Wagtail CMS for Django: wagtail.org
Django REST Framework: django-rest-framework.org
Django Ninja API Framework for Django: django-ninja.dev
Lawrence Journal-World: ljworld.com
Watch this episode on YouTube: youtube.com
Episode #518 deep-dive: talkpython.fm/518
Episode transcripts: talkpython.fm
Developer Rap Theme Song: Served in a Flask: talkpython.fm/flasksong

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#518: Celebrating Django's 20th Birthday With Its Creators

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#518: Celebrating Django's 20th Birthday With Its Creators