The Stacks

It is The Stacks Book Club day and we're discussing  The Lilac People  by Milo Todd. Our guest for today's conversation is editor and author, Denne Michele Norris. The Lilac People follows a trans man and his partner as they attempt to survive Nazi Germany and the aftermath of the Allies’ takeover post-war. Together, we discuss the ways Milo Todd uses history to ground the book and its c...

Today on The Stacks we are joined by former Vice President, Kamala Harris. She is here to discuss her brand new book 107 Days , which chronicles her historic run for the presidency in 2024. In our conversation we cover her biggest regrets from Biden to Gaza, how she balanced her instincts with the political polling, and what she sees as the path forward for America. The Stacks Book Club pick for S...

*Patreon and Substack-only bonus episode teaser,  click here for the full episode * In this bonus episode, we’re heading down south to Jackson, Mississippi to join friends of the pod, Jason Reynolds and Hanif Abdurraqib, at the  Mississippi Book Festival ! Together, we celebrate each other's work, fight over the greatest band of all time, and then debate the state of music and liter...

This week on the Stacks, we’re talking literary suspense with Cleyvis Natera and her newest book,  The Grand Paloma Resort , which takes place at a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic. Cleyvis explains what drew her to writing about the tourism industry, why she wanted to include the history of the Dominican Republic in her “beach read,” and how she explored sex work in its many form...

Maggie Smith and Saeed Jones join us this week on the Stacks to discuss their anthology, The People’s Project: Poems, Essays, and Art for Looking Forward . With original work from twenty-seven authors exploring hope in times of difficulty, Maggie and Saeed discuss what inspired them to start the book and how they picked contributors for this project. We also spend some time sharing what keeps us f...

This week on The Stacks we are joined by Denne Michele Norris, the editor and chief of Electric Literature. She is the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication. She is also behind two 2025 books, her debut novel,  When the Harvest Comes  and the anthology  Both/And: Essays by Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Writers of Color . Today, we discuss he...

It's The Stacks Book Club Day, and we're talking about the plant world and nature with this month’s pick,  Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants   by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The wonderful journalist and author Alexis Madrigal is back for this conversation on this modern nonfiction classic. We discuss the influence this book has had on write...

*Patreon and Substack-only bonus episode teaser,  click here for the full episode * Another bonus episode this month? Heck yes! We're doing a deep dive into oral history with friend of the pod, journalist, and oral historian, Garrett M. Graff. He has written three stellar books of oral history:  The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic...

Debut novelist, Addie E. Citchens, joins us this week to discuss her book,  Dominion —a Black Southern family drama told through the eyes of two women. Addie talks about how growing up in the church in Mississippi inspired her writing, and why she feels like she’s been writing this story her whole life. We also talk about humor, a writing teacher who stifled her style, and how the ending...

This week on The Stacks, essay writer and culture critic, Tre Johnson, joins us to discuss his debut book,  Black Genius: Essays on an American Legacy , which examines how black American culture has driven American ingenuity. Tre shares how his grandfather inspired him to write Black Genius and how the book has evolved over the years. We also talk about the struggle of balancing a 9-5 job and...

*Patreon and Substack-only bonus episode teaser,  click here for the full episode * This month you're getting a  bonus  bonus   episode of The Stacks Unabridged. Because we love summer and books, Sara Hildreth of Fiction Matters is here to talk about summer reading guides. We hand out a few literary superlatives like, best book to read on an airplane and most dramatic. Plus we...

Journalist, Alexis Madrigal, joins the Stacks to discuss his debut book,  The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City —the “American city” in question being Oakland, CA. Today, Alexis gives us insight into why he wanted to tell the story of Oakland in particular, and why it matters in broader national and global context. He also explains how COVID...

It’s The Stacks Book Club Day, and we're discussing Toni Morrison's  God Help the Child  with Dana A. Williams, author of Toni at Random . Together, we talk about the themes that show up in God Help the Child that have echoes from Morrison's earlier work—generational trauma and racialized beauty. We also discuss why Toni Morrison wanted to write a contemporary novel, the great names...

Haley Cohen Gillian, the director of the Yale Journalism Initiative, joins us this week to discuss her new book,  A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children ,  which chronicles the grandmothers who searched for their children and grandchildren who were disappeared by Argentina's brutal dictatorship. In t...

This week on the Stacks, journalist Megan Greenwell joins to discuss her debut book,  Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream . She breaks down the ins and outs of private equity, how it works, why it harms communities, and if there is an ethical path for the industry. The Stacks Book Club pick for July is  God Help the Child  by Toni Morrison. We will discus...

*Patreon- and Substack-only bonus episode teaser,  click here for the full episode * For this month’s bonus episode, we’re mixing things up a little—this time, Traci is the one being interviewed! The fine folks at LARB Radio Hour , Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman, speak with Traci to discuss the impact of social media on publishing, the content creator life, and the way readers discover boo...

Mandii B and WeezyWTF, the co-hosts of the  Decisions, Decisions  podcast, join us today to discuss their New York Times Best-selling book,  No Holes Barred: A Dual Manifesto of Sexual Exploration and Power . They talk about the challenges of staying sex positive while writing about their own shame and which parts of the book they were most nervous about having published. We al...

This week on the Stacks, we are joined by author and African-American literature professor, Dana A. Williams. She has written a brand new book called  Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship , which   chronicles Morrison's time as an editor at Random House. Dana shares with us the behind the scenes story of how her book title came to be, her favorite Morrison book,...

It’s The Stacks' Book Club Day, and we are joined once again by Ceara O’Sullivan to discuss  The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel. The book explores the ethos of Stéphane Bréitwieser—the titular art thief in question—who stole and kept over two billion dollars worth of art. Together, we discuss Finkel's portrayal of Bréitwieser, the myri...

*Patreon- and Substack-only bonus episode teaser,  click here for the full episode * We’re halfway through 2025 so this month on The Stacks Unabridged, we've got a literary check-in with friends of the pod, Sara Hildreth and Cree Myles! Together, we discuss the books that blew us away during the first half of the year, the titles we're most looking forward to for the second half of 2025. Plus...

Mia McKenzie is on the show this week discussing her newest book, These Heathens , a coming of age story set in 1960s Georgia. She talks about how she approached fictionalizing real figures from the civil rights movement, the importance of queer representation in her work, and how her grandmother inspired the protagonist in the novel. The Stacks Book Club pick for June is  The Art Thief: A Tr...

This week on the Stacks, we are joined by New York Times bestselling crime fiction author, S.A. Cosby, to talk about his brand new book, King of Ashes . Cosby gives us insights into being a self-proclaimed lazy writer, and his approach to violence on the page. We also talk about why he considers reading an integral part of his writing process, and what the genre of “Southern noir” means to him.&nb...

This week on the Stacks, we are joined by Saturday Night Live writer, actor, and host of the Petty Crimes podcast, Ceara O’Sullivan. Ceara talks about how writing for TV has impacted her TV watching life, the importance of editing in storytelling, and what it’s like to read a memoir by a person you know.  The Stacks Book Club pick for June is  The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime,...

It’s the Stacks’ Book Club Day, and we’re discussing  Devil in a Blue Dress  by Walter Mosley with returning guest, Kara Brown. We share our thoughts on the story’s twists and turns, especially the big reveal. Then we dive deeper to discuss the significance of this book on the literary landscape, and what about the novel does and doesn’t hold up when viewed through a modern-day lens. The...

This week on the Stacks, we are joined by author and essayist, Frederick Joseph, to discuss his newest book (and his first foray into YA fiction), This Thing of Ours . He shares with us about how he’s able to write every day without writer’s block, and why he decided not to sell his books in Target. We also spend time exploring Frederick’s favorite and least favorite book classics. The Stacks Book...