Ep. 267 The Pull to Make Art with Vashti Harrison

Bestselling author and illustrator Vashti Harrison joins us to talk about Big, her new storybook educating children on growth and self-love. We discuss how Vashti explored the adultification of black girls, and how she utilized the color pink throughout the book. She also explains how she thinks about parents and kids as her target audience, and the process of linking an author to an illustrator in the world of children’s books.

The Stacks Book Club selection for May is This Boy We Made by Taylor Harris. We will discuss the book on May 31st with Nicole Chung.

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Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Vashti: Instagram | Twitter | Website
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To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.


The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

Ep. 266 We Are the Ones Who Make the World with Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Award-winning author Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah joins us for a spoiler-free discussion of his new novel Chain-Gang All Stars. He shares the pressures he’s felt ahead of releasing his second book, and his trepidation around how the book will be received in prison abolition spaces. Plus, we find out what makes revision so important to Nana, and how he thinks about employing violence in the book to help tell this story.

The Stacks Book Club selection for May is This Boy We Made by Taylor Harris. We will discuss the book on May 31st with Nicole Chung.

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Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

Photo: Alex M. Philip

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Nana: Instagram | Twitter | Website
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To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.


The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

Ep. 265 Deep Comfort Reads with Nicole Chung

Bestselling author Nicole Chung joins The Stacks to discuss her new book A Living Remedy: A Memoir. We talk about her process of writing and talking about grief in the midst and aftermath of COVID, and what it’s like as a memoirist to be publicly known for her family life. We also hear what it’s meant for Nicole to become a full-time writer, and how she uses vibes to organize her books.

The Stacks Book Club selection for May is This Boy We Made: A Memoir of Motherhood, Genetics, and Facing the Unknown by Taylor Harris. We will discuss the book on May 31st with Nicole Chung.

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Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Nicole: Instagram | Twitter | Website
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.


The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

The Stacks Book Club – May 2023

Our May book club selection is This Boy We Made: A Memoir of Motherhood, Genetics, and Facing the Unknown by Taylor Harris. It is the debut memoir from Harris, a mother of three in Charlottesville, Virginia whose writing has appeared in many publications, including O Quarterly, Time, Longreads, Parents and The Washington Post. The book is a moving examination of Black motherhood against the odds of generalized anxiety, mystery illness and our flawed, hostile health and education systems. The author recounts her life-changing experience and relentless search for truth and answers with the help of Google, perseverance and lots of prayer. This Boy We Made was released in 2022 and was a finalist for the 2023 Southern Book Prize.

We will discuss This Boy We Made by Taylor Harris on Wednesday, May 31st. You can find out who our guest will be by listening to our May 3rd episode. If you’d like even more discussion around the book, consider joining The Stacks Pack on Patreon and participating in The Stacks’ monthly virtual book club.

Order your copy of our May book on Bookshop.org and Amazon.


To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/thestacks). We are beyond grateful for anything you’re able to give to support the production of The Stacks.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed. For more information click here.

Unabridged: Making a Book of Poems with Victoria Adukwei Bulley and Matthew Hollis

On this Unabridged, we hear from poet Victoria Adukwei Bulley (Quiet: Poems) and her editor Matthew Hollis about their process in collaborating on a book of poems. They talk about the secrets shared between editors and authors, how the poems look on the page and the art of punctuation and line endings.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on patreon. To join this community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN THE STACKS PACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Amazon.

Connect with Victoria: Instagram | Twitter
Connect with Matthew: Website
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To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.


The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

Ep. 264 Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay — The Stacks Book Club (Clint Smith)

Poet and Above Ground author Clint Smith returns to discuss our April book club selection Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, a poetry collection by Ross Gay. We discuss the moment of the book’s release and why it’s important within the context of the Black Lives Matter movement. We also argue that successfully engaging with a poem doesn’t require understanding what a poem is about, and we ask how much the author’s intent actually matters in poetry.

Be sure to listen to the end of today’s episode to find out what our book club pick will be for May 2023.

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Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Clint: Instagram | Twitter | Website
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.


The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

Ep. 261 All at Once with Clint Smith

Today we welcome author Clint Smith to The Stacks to talk about his new poetry collection Above Ground, a tribute to being a parent amidst the chaos of life. We discuss how he handled the pressure to follow up the bestselling and award-winning How the Word is Passed. We also get into how parenting has animated all facets of life, and how competition has facilitated Clint’s relationship to literature.

The Stacks Book Club selection for April is Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay. We will discuss the book on April 26th with Clint Smith.

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Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Stitcher | Transcript

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Clint: Instagram | Twitter | Website
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.


The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

Unabridged: One for the Books with Rachel Lindsay and Chelsea Devantez

Here is a little abridged version of Traci’s live show “One for the Books” with LAist. This time around, it’s a conversation with friends of the show Chelsea Devantez and Rachel Lindsay. We talk about Rachel’s book, why we should care about celebrity memoirs, the Bachelor franchise and so much more.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on patreon. To join this community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN THE STACKS PACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Amazon.

Connect with Rachel: Instagram | Twitter | Website |  Higher Learning
Connect with Chelsea: Instagram | Twitter | Website | Celebrity Book Club
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.


The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

Ep. 260 Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay — The Stacks Book Club (Shanita Hubbard)

Professor and Ride or Die author Shanita Hubbard returns to discuss the 2014 book of essays Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay for The Stacks Book Club. We look back at the collection and ask, how did the book hold up? Its mix of personal memoir, political commentary and pop culture references have us examining our relationship to the text from a new perspective in this spoiler-free episode.

Be sure to listen to the end of today’s episode to find out what our book club pick will be for April 2023.

LISTEN NOW

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Stitcher | Transcript

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Shanita: Instagram | Twitter | Website
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.


The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

Ep. 259 How Innocent Are They with Joseph Earl Thomas

Writer and Philadelphia native Joseph Earl Thomas joins the show to discuss his new book Sink: A Memoir, about coming of age amid chaos and finding a way through. He talks about why he wanted to write a memoir that centers childhood without growing into adulthood, the challenge of writing his story in the face of respectability politics and the push to write about “Black joy.”

The Stacks Book Club selection for March is Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay. We will discuss the book on March 29th with Shanita Hubbard..

LISTEN NOW

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Stitcher | Transcript

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Joseph: Instagram | Twitter | Website
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.


The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.