Reads Lit for Peace: Émile Zola – Nana plus The Next Peacelands

This episode includes a brief excerpt from Émile Zola’s Nana, capturing the early stirrings of the novel’s world—its crowded rooms, shifting glances, and Zola’s careful attention to human behavior. Kitty reads only a short passage, offering a steady, quiet moment inside a story known for its vivid detail.

Each day’s reading continues to serve as reporter Kitty O'Compost’s warm-up for CTRL–AI–DISARM, the upcoming Peace Is Here series exploring truth, power, and the systems shaping our shared future.

The episode closes with The Next Peacelands, where Avis Kalfsbeek reads a real-time list of global warzones and major arms suppliers—an honest grounding in the world as it is, and an invitation to practice peace with intention.

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW?si=uszJs37sTFyPbXK4AeQvow

Kitty Reads Lit for Peace: William Thackeray – The History of Henry Esmond plus The Next Peacelands

This episode offers a brief excerpt from William Makepeace Thackeray’s The History of Henry Esmond, a reflective, gently paced novel told through a narrator looking back on his life. In this short selection, Kitty brings forward Thackeray’s quiet observational humor and the steady tone that shaped so much of his work.

Kitty O’Compost warms up her reporter voice for CTRL–AI–DISARM, the upcoming Peace Is Here series exploring truth, power, and the systems shaping our shared future.

The episode closes with The Next Peacelands, where Avis Kalfsbeek reads a real-time list of global warzones and major arms suppliers—an honest grounding in the world as it is, and an invitation to practice peace with intention.

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW?si=uszJs37sTFyPbXK4AeQvow

Kitty Reads Lit for Peace: E.B. White – The Door plus The Next Peacelands

This episode features a brief reading from E.B. White’s essay “The Door,” a quiet, wandering reflection full of his signature warmth. Kitty shares just a small portion, offering listeners a steady moment of ease and curiosity.

Kitty O'Compost warms up her reporter voice for CTRL–AI–DISARM, the upcoming Peace Is Here series exploring truth, power, and the systems shaping our shared future.

The episode closes with The Next Peacelands, where Avis Kalfsbeek reads a real-time list of global warzones and major arms suppliers—an honest grounding in the world as it is, and an invitation to practice peace with intention.

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW?si=uszJs37sTFyPbXK4AeQvow

Kitty Reads Lit for Peace: Henry David Thoreau – Walden “Economy” plus The Next Peacelands

This episode features a brief reading from “Economy,” the opening section of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. In this short passage, Kitty offers a moment of Thoreau’s clear-eyed simplicity—his reminder that paying honest attention to how we live can be its own quiet liberation.

Kitty’ warms up her reporter voice for CTRL–AI–DISARM, the upcoming Peace Is Here series exploring truth, power, and the systems shaping our shared future.

The episode closes with The Next Peacelands, where Avis Kalfsbeek reads a real-time list of global warzones and major arms suppliers—an honest grounding in the world as it is, and an invitation to practice peace with intention.

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW?si=uszJs37sTFyPbXK4AeQvow

Mark Twain – How I Edited an Agricultural Newspaper plus The Next Peacelands

Mark Twain’s “How I Edited an Agricultural Newspaper” brings a touch of mischief to today’s episode of Kitty Reads Literature for Peace. Kitty offers a short, good-natured excerpt that captures Twain’s humor and his fondness for human overconfidence, all delivered in her warm, steady voice.

Each day’s reading continues to serve as Kitty’s gentle warm-up for CTRL–AI–DISARM, the upcoming Peace Is Here series exploring truth, power, and the systems shaping our shared future.

The episode closes with The Next Peacelands, where Avis Kalfsbeek reads a real-time list of global warzones and major arms suppliers—an honest grounding in the world as it is, and an invitation to practice peace with intention.

Get the books: www.AvisKalfsbeek.com

Contact Avis to say hello or let her know how to say “Peace is Here” in your language: Contact Me Here

The Next Peacelands source: Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) and the Stockholm Internation Peace Research Institute’s Arms Transfers Database [as updated on Wikipedia.

Music: "Dalai Llama Riding a Bike" by Javier "Peke" Rodriguez

Bandcamp: https://javierpekerodriguez.bandcamp.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QuyqfXEKzrpUl6b12I3KW?si=uszJs37sTFyPbXK4AeQvow

Peace is Here podcast series Coming Soon!: CTRL-AI-DISARM

Kitty Reads Lit for Peace: Thomas Wolfe – On Leprechauns plus The Next Peacelands

Kitty O’Compost reads a short, whimsical passage from Thomas Wolfe—a writer known for his sweeping, emotional prose and his lifelong effort to capture the bigness of ordinary American life.

As always, this daily reading serves as Kitty’s warm-up for CTRL–AI–DISARM, the upcoming Peace Is Here series exploring truth, power, and the deep systems shaping our shared future.

At the end of the episode, we continue with The Next Peacelands, where Avis Kalfsbeek reads a real-time list of global warzones and major arms suppliers—an honest acknowledgement of the world we live in, and an invitation to practice peace with purpose.

Kitty Reads Lit for Peace: Turgenev – The Unhappy Girl + The Next Peacelands

Welcome back to Kitty Reads Literature for Peace, a quiet act of daily storytelling in a noisy world. In this episode, Kitty O’Compost reads the opening of The Unhappy Girl by Ivan Turgenev—one of Russia’s great humanist writers, known for his emotional clarity, quiet observation, and the compassion he brought to ordinary lives.

With her warm delivery, Kitty brings out the stillness in Turgenev’s prose, allowing listeners to feel the gentler currents beneath his storytelling. These short readings continue to serve as her daily warm-up for CTRL–AI–DISARM, an upcoming Peace Is Here series on truth, power, and the systems shaping our shared future.

At the end of the episode, we continue with The Next Peacelands, where Avis Kalfsbeek reads a real-time list of global warzones and arms suppliers—an honest grounding in the world as it is, and an invitation to practice peace with intention.

Kitty Reads Lit for Peace: Dickens – The Old Curiosity Shop plus The Next Peacelands

Welcome back to Kitty Reads Literature for Peace, a quiet act of daily storytelling in a noisy world. In this episode, Kitty O’Compost reads the opening of The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens—a writer who turned social conscience into art and believed deeply in the redemptive power of attention.

With her warm lilt, Kitty slows Dickens down just enough for us to hear the tenderness at the heart of his writing: the oddities, the wanderers, and the small mercies that hold a broken world together. These short readings are her daily warm-up for CTRL–AI–DISARM, the upcoming Peace Is Here series about truth, power, and the technologies shaping our future.

At the end of the episode, we continue with The Next Peacelands, where Avis Kalfsbeek reads a real-time list of global warzones and arms suppliers. This segment grounds the work in honesty and invites listeners into a wider, quieter practice of peace.

Welcome back to Kitty Reads Literature for Peace, a quiet act of daily storytelling in a noisy world. In this episode, Kitty O’Compost reads from the opening of Zadig, or Fate by Voltaire—one of the sharpest pens of the Enlightenment and a long-standing troublemaker for anyone allergic to truth or reason.

With her small town lilt, Kitty slows Voltaire down just enough for us to hear the wisdom beneath the wit. These brief readings are her daily warm-up for a larger assignment: CTRL–AI–DISARM, an upcoming Peace Is Here series on truth, power, and the systems shaping our future.

At the end of the episode, we return to The Next Peacelands, where Avis Kalfsbeek reads a real-time list of global warzones and arms suppliers. It is grounding, sobering, and quietly insistent—an invitation to stay awake, to stay human, and to stay committed to peace.

Kitty Reads Lit for Peace: Flaubert – Madame Bovary plus The Next Peacelands

Welcome back to Kitty Reads Literature for Peace, a quiet act of daily storytelling in a noisy world. In this episode, Kitty O’Compost reads the opening lines of Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert—a classic of French realism, where longing, observation, and melancholy all take root in the smallest of details.

With her trademark twang and tenderness, Kitty draws out the stillness inside Flaubert’s language—reminding us that literature doesn’t have to shout to be powerful. These short readings are her warm-up for a much bigger report: CTRL–AI–DISARM, an upcoming series on truth, power, and peace in a transforming world.

At the end of the episode, we pause for The Next Peacelands, where Avis Kalfsbeek reads a real-time list of global warzones and arms suppliers, grounding us in truth and calling us—gently but firmly—toward peace.