In 2014 Leslie Jamison established herself as one of the savviest and most soulful American essayists writing today. On this episode, she discusses the symbiotic relationship between memoir, journalism, and criticism in her latest collection, Make It Scream, Make It Burn. After the break, Megan speaks with writer and memoirist Nefertiti Austin, author of Motherhood So White: A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America (sponsored interview). Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Kwame Alexander and Dawud Anyabwile, Morgan Parker, and David McCullough.

National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson (Brown Girl Dreaming, 2014) discusses her stunning new novel, Red at the Bone. Realistic fiction at its finest, Red at the Bone thoughtfully contends with decisions, desire, consequences, gentrification, and the Great Migration, as a Brooklyn family celebrates a sonorous cotillion in their Park Slope brownstone in spring 2001. Woodson talks craft, cultural touchstones, and an artist’s debt to past and future generations. Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Carol Anderson and Tonya Bolden, Toni Morrison, and Salman Rushdie.

National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson (Brown Girl Dreaming, 2014) discusses her stunning new novel, Red at the Bone. Realistic fiction at its finest, Red at the Bone thoughtfully contends with decisions, desire, consequences, gentrification, and the Great Migration, as a Brooklyn family celebrates a sonorous cotillion in their Park Slope brownstone in spring 2001. Woodson talks craft, cultural touchstones, and an artist’s debt to past and future generations. Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Carol Anderson and Tonya Bolden, Toni Morrison, and Salman Rushdie.

New York Times bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi joins us on this week’s episode to discuss How to Be an Antiracist, a powerful primer for combatting racism. Kendi, who is founding director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, uses his own journey from racist to antiracist to show how anyone can choose their words and deeds to actively participate in building an antiracist society. And in a sponsored interview, NYT Children’s Books Editor Maria Russo joins us to discuss How to Raise a Reader, a genial guide for bibliophilic parents written with NYTBR Editor Pamela Paul. Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by David Yoon, Cara Wall, and Petina Gappah.

Writer, journalist, and educator Lauren Markham joins us on this week’s podcast to discuss the YA adaptation of The Far Away Brothers: Two Teenage Immigrants Making a Life in America. “One of the most searing books on illegal immigration since Sonia Nazario’s Enrique’s Journey” (starred review), it’s the unforgettable story of Ernesto and Raúl Flores, identical twins growing up in rural El Salvador until the threat of gang violence forces them to flee to the United States. She and Megan talk ethical storytelling, what it means to be an unaccompanied minor, and why she chose to adapt the book for young readers. Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Thanhha Lai, Ibram X. Kendi, and Carolyn Forché.

Elite cave diver Jill Heinerth joins on this week’s podcast to discuss her vivid new memoir, Into the Planet. It’s a deep dive into the formative experiences that taught her to face and harness fear, enabling her to build a remarkable career that has taken her to the literal ends of the earth. Heinerth shares the narrative arc of a dive, what it’s like to explore places on earth less traveled than the face of the moon, and the responsibilities that come along with being the Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s first-ever Explorer in Residence. Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Shannon Hale (ill. LeUyen Pham), Rainbow Rowell, Ian Urbina, and Bruce Holsinger.

Reports of death of the book may be greatly exaggerated. English professor and book historian Leah Price joins us on this week’s podcast to discuss What We Talk About When We Talk About Books, a series of essays chronicling the evolution of the book, from codex through paperback and .pdf. She and Megan talk shifting reading habits, bookish myths, and the fact that a “golden age of reading” may never have existed. Then our editors join with their reading recommendations for the week, including books by Brandy Colbert and Mara Rockliff.

In Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century, Georgetown University professor Charles King chronicles the lives of cultural anthropology founder Franz Boas and the female scientists he encouraged to explore civilizations around the globe, including Ruth Benedict, Ella Cara Deloria, Zora Neale Hurston, and Margaret Mead. Charles and Megan talk cultural relativism, how anthropology differs from other disciplines, Hurston’s work in Jamaica and Haiti, and the struggle to debunk theorists who would divide the world into “us” and “them.” Then our editors offer their weekly reading recommendations, with books by Mo Willems, Stacey Lee, Howard Stern, and Taffy Brodesser-Akner.

Force of nature Candace Bushnell revolutionized our understanding of 20th-century dating and mating in Sex and the City. Her latest book isn’t *exactly* a sequel but a companion: following a new group of fifty-something female friends as they deal with divorce, online dating, and sex. Candace and Megan talk menopause, profound loss, fresh starts, and Candace’s signature blend of sharp, funny fiction inspired by her own life. And in a sponsored interview, Megan speaks with singer-songwriter Rhett Miller about the inspiration for his debut picture book, No More Poems! A Book in Verse that Just Gets Worse. Then our editors offer their weekly reading recommendations, with books by Daria Peoples-Riley, Katie Henry, and Jennifer Weiner.

This week we’re thrilled to welcome New York Times-bestselling romance novelist Sarah MacLean, whose artistry and activism are helping to push the genre in exciting new directions. Her latest book, Brazen and the Beast (“Bareknuckle Bastards” series, book two), is the story of Henrietta “Hattie” Sedley, a voluptuous, business-savvy, Victorian-era noblewoman with ambitious plans to claim her due in business and in pleasure. Sarah and Megan talk body positivity, women’s empowerment, genre-specific vocabulary, and more. Then our editors offer reading recommendations for the week, including books by Gail D. Villanueva, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (adapted by Jean Mendoza, Debbie Reese), and Elizabeth Gilbert.