At The Bottom: A Podcast

Annastasia sits down with Meka James (and her pal Karmen Lee) to discuss her new sapphic romance, Love and Sportsball.

Tiny Bookshop Concerts at The Bottom are a series of live performances showcasing local talent in an intimately empowering environment. In this episode, Ty Murray details how the concert series came about and the work it takes to bring it together. The episode culminates with a performance by multi-talented artist and local musician W. James Taylor. W. James Taylor was born in April of 1949 and grew up in the Austin Homes and Lonsdale Homes areas of Knoxville as one of eleven children. Art and music are in his blood, and he says they are things he could “just always do.” Today, he uses those gifts to enrich the lives of others. He plays music in senior living facilities and for events, helps non-profits and arts organizations with graphic design needs, and uses his Geneva Galleries space to support emerging artists. Tiny Bookshop Concert Series is sponsored in part by community supporters TN Arts Commission and Sadie Pearl Records!

Annastasia and UT professor, Shaneda Destine, have a chat with Brea Baker about her book Rooted: The American Legacy of Land Theft and the Modern Movement for Black Land Ownership.

In this episode, Annastasia sits down with romance author, Jamie Wesley, to discuss her new book A Legend in the Baking. It's got everything...handsome football players, second-chance romance, and cupcakes!

Purchase the book from our online store here.

Ty Murray, Director of Art and Communications at The Bottom, pops on the podcast to discuss our time at Bonnaroo Music and Art Festival.

In this episode, The Bottom's Bookshop Director and your podcast host, Annastasia, showcases eerie, suspenseful, and timely reads by Black authors for the Halloween season for a special virtual event we hosted called Spooky Stories. You'll come away with a ton of recommendations for your TBR list.

See the slides from the event here.

Find something you like? Purchase your books in store at The Bottom our on Bookshop.org.

Rae Garringer (they/them), creator of Country Queers, joins us on the podcast for a great discussion on their oral history project that's evolved from a blog to a podcast to now a book. Follow Country Queers on Instagram @CountryQueers and at countryqueers.com. Find this book at The Bottom and through our bookshop.org online store.

Annastasia sits down with mystery author, Valerie Burns, to discuss the newly released, next book in the Baker Street Mystery series, A Cup of Flour, A Pinch of Death. Find Valerie's books in our bookshop and on bookshop.org. 

This summer, The Bottom hosted a special reading group to discuss the book South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of America by Imani Perry. Our fearless reading group leader, Dr. Rob Bland, joins us on the podcast today to give a sneak peak of what we learned and discussed. 

Our special guest this week is Founding Director of The Bottom, Dr. Enkeshi El-Amin. We'll be talking about the books we've been loving this year.