Deep Reading lists for each episode can be found at phoebe.substack.com

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Today I’m joined by New York-based novelist Angela Flournoy, whose highly anticipated second book The Wilderness explores the evolving friendships of four Black women over the span of two decades.

In our conversation, Angela and I discuss what it means to come of age in uncertain times, how friendship can serve as a strategy for survival, and why Los Angeles and New York — the twin backdrops of her novel — carry such symbolic weight. We also talk about writing through motherhood, the shifting markers of adulthood, and the influence of writers like Toni Morrison and Mike Davis on Angela’s work.