The Stacks

Author, activist and podcaster Aubrey Gordon talks to us today about her brand new second book - "You Just Need to Lose Weight": And 19 Other Myths about Fat People . She addresses the challenge of writing a book for both fat and thin people, and explains why she was initially apprehensive about "myth-busting." We also discuss what's wrong with how we frame fatness, why BMI is unreliable, and the...

Comedian and Emmy-nominated TV and film writer Chelsea Devantez joins our first Stacks episode of 2023. Her Celebrity Book Club podcast breaks down celeb memoirs with a roster of Chelsea's funniest friends. We get into how Chelsea started the show, and why she wants to spend time lifting up the stories of the rich and famous. We also ask ourselves why we love to hate these books so much. The Stack...

For our final book club pick of 2022, Greta Johnsen is back to discuss True Biz by Sara Nović, a novel about the teachers and students of a boarding school for the Deaf. We ask who the audience is for this book, and whether the Deaf community should have to teach hearing people about themselves. We also get into the topic of consent with children and parents, especially when it comes to medical de...

NPR Arts Desk reporter and Book of the Day podcast host Andrew Limbong joins The Stacks to count down his five favorite books of 2022. Traci shares her own list, making it our official top ten of the year. We also get into the trends we saw throughout 2022, and what we're looking forward to in 2023. The Stacks Book Club selection for December is True Biz by Sarah Nović. We will discuss the book on...

Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa join The Stacks to discuss their book His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice . We talk about giving George Floyd the "presidential" biography treatment, and why they chose to tell his story now. They reveal how they tackled writing such a massive book with over 400 interviews, and what the fact-che...

Today we're joined by Greta Johnsen, host and producer of the Nerdette podcast from WBEZ Chicago, at host of HBO's House of the Dragon recap podcast . We get into Greta's positive approach to reviewing books and how she currates all things nerd. We also hold a grilled cheese debate and discuss the art of balancing book criticism with never having written a book. The Stacks Book Club selection for...

Today anti-violence activist and author Mariame Kaba returns to discuss Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms by Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law for The Stacks Book Club. We highlight the depth of knowledge that this book provides about the history and current state of criminalization, and unpack the idea that prison is something that ties us all together. We ask why...

Journalist and academic Steven W. Thrasher joins the show to discuss his eye-opening new book The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide . Steven explains the idea of the viral underclass - those most societally vulnerable to disease transmission - and the criminalization of the sick. We also discuss his comparison of COVID-19 and HIV responses throughout the book and...

Today Jonathan Abrams joins The Stacks to discuss his third book The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop . In unpacking the massive undertaking, the NYT staff writer and sports reporter addresses what goes into crafting a good oral history, and why he wanted to tell this particular story now. Plus, we get into the best diss tracks and rap beefs of all time. The Stacks Book Club selecti...

Renowned sports journalist Jemele Hill joins the show to discuss her powerful new book Uphill: A Memoir . We talk about how she organized and thought about telling her story, how she cultivated he sources as a journalist. Jemele also reveals how she navigates the challenging relationship between her own identity as a Black woman and the world of sports. The Stacks Book Club selection for November...

Today we welcome Mariame Kaba - activist and author of the book We Do This 'Til We Free Us : Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice , and her latest, No More Police: A Case for Abolition , which she cowrote with Andrea J. Ritchie. In discussing her lifelong devotion to anti-violence, we learn why Mariame doesn't center herself in the work toward abolition, and why she does not consider h...

Today professor and author Anthony Christian Ocampo returns to unpack the memoir Fairest by Meredith Talusan. The book is about Talusan's childhood in the Philippines, immigration to the US, experiences at Harvard, and eventual transition. Traci and Anthony discuss the subjective nature of beauty, and what it means to have an author reckon with their past in a memoir. They differ considerably on t...

Today we welcome Pakistani-British writer Kamila Shamsie, author of the new novel Best of Friends and past The Stacks Book Club pick, Home Fire . We discuss the shifting of global political climates, the idea of 'girl fear' and Kamila stresses the importance of giving new writers a chance to mature, and we tackle the question, "How do you write after success?" The Stacks Book Club selection for Oc...

Actor, activist and Traci's very dear college friend Brandon Kyle Goodman joins The Stacks to talk about their new book You Gotta Be You: How to Embrace This Messy Life and Step Into Who You Really Are . Together, we ponder its central question: "Who would I be if society never got its hands on me?" We also discuss manipulative friendships, chosen family, pronouns and Brandon's experiences coming...

This episode, we speak with Anthony Christian Ocampo, Ph. D - sociology professor and author of Brown and Gay in LA : The Lives of Immigrant Sons , an homage to second-generation gay men of color. We discuss the delicate art of writing as an academic while making the work accessible to laypeople, and why Anthony puts himself in his work. We also cover talking bad about books, and current renaissan...

Today, publisher Lisa Lucas returns to help us break down the 2021 crime novel The Trees by Percival Everett. In discussing the page-turning thriller, we admire the brilliance of the humor and history on every page, and the mastery Percival Everett himself. We also ask questions around the future, past, and present of the United States in the face of palpable political tensions. There are spoilers...

Today we speak with Saeed Jones - award-winning author of the new poetry collection Alive at the End of the World . Our conversation covers the art of embracing chaos and finding humor, and how Saeed considers his poems in relation to the reading and the performance of poetry. Saeed also explains why he thinks of all his poems as traps.  The Stacks Book Club selection for September is  ...

Andrea Elliott joins us to discuss her investigative reporting career and her Pulitzer Prize winning book Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City . We go over how this remarkable story came to be, and how it shifted from what Andrea first anticipated. We also get into what can and should change about the ethics of journalism, and the challenge of protecting children from...

Lisa Lucas, Senior Vice President at Pantheon and Schocken, is our first ever book publisher to join the podcast. We discuss the path that led Lisa to her current role and how she sees book purchasing as integral to the push for diversity in publishing. We also talk about what inclusivity does and should mean in the world of books. The Stacks Book Club selection for September is The Trees by Perci...

Author Ingrid Rojas Contreras joins us again to talk about our book club selection How to Write An Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee. Our discussion of this essay collection covers the artists' relationship to critical reviews, and how much day jobs and everyday life inform art. We also ask, how important is truth to fiction, and what constitutes a life well-lived?  You can find everyt...

Award-winning novelist Mohsin Hamid joins this episode of The Stacks to talk about his newest book The Last White Man . We discuss what inspired the story, his exploration of how whiteness works through fiction, and the ongoing conversation between a reader and the author. We also get into Mohsin's monastic writing rituals, his elite professors, and how his writing fills a need in his understandin...

Today we're joined by entrepreneur and author Marisa Renee Lee, whose book Grief is Love: Living with Loss offers a framework for healing after tragedy. We discuss grief's connection to capitalism and white supremacy, and how our relationship with love is connected to our relationship with loss. We also ask, how can we help people who are grieving, and why are Americans so bad at it?  The Sta...

Emmy Award winner W. Kamau Bell and bestselling author Kate Schatz visit The Stacks to discuss their joint effort Do the Work!: An Antiracist Activity Book . They break down how the process of co-writing, how they decided to write for white audiences, and explain why we need an adult activity book for antiracism in the first place. We also ask, what do we do when we mess up; what makes a good apol...

We're joined today by novelist and essayist Ingrid Rojas Contreras, whose new book The Man Who Could Move Clouds combines memoir with rich storytelling and an excavation of family and Colombian history. We discuss magical realism as a nonfiction genre, why it's useful to believe in ghosts, and ask the question, what responsibility do we owe to our pasts? The Stacks Book Club selection for August i...

It's The Stacks Book Club day, and we're discussing the classic Sudanese novel, Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih. We're joined again by Elamin Abdelmahmoud, author of Son of Elsewhere , to break down this novel that explores the tensions at the heart of colonialism. We also discuss the ways we project current events onto classic literature, how important an author's own biography is...