The Englewood Review of Books Podcast

Joel takes over the podcast for an episode all about speculative fiction! He is joined by two first-time guests for a wide-ranging and enthusiastic conversation about the importance of reading speculative fiction, and the crucial role such literature can play in our culture. 

Christina Bieber Lake is the Clyde S Kilby professor of English at Wheaton College where she teaches courses in subjects like contemporary American literature and literary theory. Her work helps readers explore the moral imagination, particularly through deep engagement with fiction and poetry. She also has a passion for helping teachers succeed in their work, evidenced by her most recent book: The Flourishing Teacher: Vocational Renewal for a Sacred Profession (which was just published this past summer by IVP Academic). Her other books are: Beyond the Story: American Literary Fiction and the Limits of Materialism, The Incarnational Art of Flannery O'Connor, and Prophets of the Posthuman: American Fiction, Biotechnology and the Ethics of Personhood. 

Matt Mikalatos, a resident of Portland, Oregon with his wife and three daughters, has been engaged with non-profit work all over the world for over 20 years, and is a co-host of the Fascinating Podcast, in addition to being a prolific writer. His writing has been featured in publications like Time, Relevant, Nature and Daily Science Fiction, and his wide array of books include titles like: Sky Lantern: The Story of a Father's Love for his Children and the Healing Power of the Smallest Act of Kindness; Good News for a Change: How to Talk to Anyone About Jesus; The Sunlit Lands fantasy book series (currently including The Crescent Stone and The Heartwood Crown).

Books mentioned in this episode:

• The Flourishing Teacher: Vocational Renewal for a Sacred Profession by Christina Bieber Lake
• Beyond the Story: American Literary Fiction and the Limits of Materialism by Christina Bieber Lake
• The Incarnational Art of Flannery O'Connor by Christina Bieber Lake
• Prophets of the Posthuman: American Fiction, Biotechnology and the Ethics of Personhood by Christina Bieber Lake
• Sky Lantern: The Story of a Father's Love for his Children and the Healing Power of the Smallest Act of Kindness by Matt Mikalatos
•  Good News for a Change: How to Talk to Anyone About Jesus by Matt Mikalatos
• The Crescent Stone (book 1 of the Sunlit Lands) by Matt Mikalatos
• The Heartwood Crown (book 2 of the Sunlit Lands) by Matt Mikalatos
• Journey to Love: What We Long For, How to Find It, How to Pass it On (forthcoming) by Matt Mikalatos
• The Story King (book 3 of the Sunlit Lands, forthcoming) by Matt Mikalatos
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'engle
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
• The Thanatos Syndrome by Walker Percy
• The MaddAddam Trilogy by Margaret Atwood
• Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
• The Children of Men by P.D. James
• Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
• Exhalation by Ted Chiang
• The Culture Series by Iain Banks
• The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov
• The Transhumanist Wager by Zoltan Istvan
• Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• The Necessary Beggar by Susan Palwick
• Speak by Louisa Hall
• The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
• Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
• A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
• The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
• The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan
• The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
• The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu

Jen is joined by repeat-podcast guest Amy Peterson and first-time guest Lee Camp, for a heartfelt discussion of political and ethical formation in the wake of the disorienting 2020 election in the U.S.

Amy Peterson is a writer, teacher, and postulant living in North Carolina. Her first book, Dangerous Territory: My Misguided Quest to Save the World was published in 2017. Her second book, Where Goodness Still Grows: Reclaiming Virtue in an Age of Hypocrisy, released in January of this year. Amy’s work has also appeared in Image, The Millions, Washington Post, Christianity Today, and Christian Century. She was a guest with Tim Hoiland in our second episode of the podcast.

Lee Camp is professor of theology and ethics at Lipscomb University. He has an MDiv from Abilene Christian University and a PhD in Moral Theology and Christian Ethics from Notre Dame. He writes and speaks about being human: the habits and ways of life that lead to flourishing, including ways that transcend various hostilities and partisanships. He has published three popular books: Mere Discipleship, Who Is My Enemy? and most recently, Scandalous Witness. 

Books & Writing Mentioned:

• Scandalous Witness: A Little Political Manifesto for Christians by Lee C. Camp
• Mere Discipleship: Radical Christianity in a Rebellious World by Lee C. Camp
• Who Is My Enemy?: Questions American Christians Must Face About Themselves and Islam by Lee C. Camp
• Dangerous Territory: My Misguided Quest to Save the World by Amy Peterson
• Where Goodness Still Grows: Reclaiming Virtue in an Age of Hypocrisy by Amy Peterson
• The Kindness of God: Metaphor, Gender and Religious Language by Janet Martin Soskice
• The Dangers of Christian Practice: On Wayward Gifts, Characteristic Damage and Sin by Lauren F. Winner
• The Doors of the Sea: Where Was God in the Tsunami? by David Bentley Hart
• Peace Like a River: A Novel by Lief Enger
• So Brave, Young and Handsome: A Novel by Lief Enger
• The Mad Farmer Poems by Wendell Berry
• Aristotle's Way: How Ancient Wisdom Can Change Your Life by Edith Hall
• Chief Inspector Gamache Series by Louise Penny
• Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities by Rebecca Solnit
• After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America by Jessica Goudeau

Jen is joined by first-time podcast guest Laura Fabrycky and ERB editor Chris Smith for a rich and impassioned conversation about the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, political theology, and the role of reading in a contentious political culture.

Laura Fabrycky is an American writer, diplomatic spouse, and mother of three, currently residing in Brussels, Belgium. Her book, Keys to Bonhoeffer’s Haus: Exploring the World and Wisdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is a historically grounded memoir of her experience as a volunteer guide at the Bonhoeffer-Haus in Berlin. Laura has also published a book of poetry called Give Me the Word, and she has recently been accepted as a PhD student at the Evangelical Seminary of Leuven.

Books & Articles Mentioned:

• Keys to Bonhoeffer's Haus: Exploring the World and Wisdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Laura Fabrycky
• The Early Church Saw Itself as a Political Body. We Can Too. by Tish Harrison Warren
• Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus by C. Christopher Smith and John Pattison
• Christ and the Common Life: Political Theology and the Case for Democracy by Luke Bretherton
• Patient Ferment of the Early Church by Alan Kreider
• The Desire of the Nations: Rediscovering the Roots of Political Theology by Oliver O'Donovan
• Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power by Andy Crouch
• The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church's Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby
• How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the JourneyToward Racial Justice by Jemar Tisby
• The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace by John Paul Lederach
• Reading for the Common Good: How Books Help Our Churches and Neighborhoods Flourish by C. Christopher Smith
• Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope by Esau McCaulley
• Psalms: The Prayerbook of the Bible by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Cultural Liturgies Series by James K.A. Smith
• Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks and a Writer's Life by Kathleen Norris
• The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris
• Not the Way It's Suppose to Be: A Breviary of Sin by Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.
• The Sin of Sloth: Acedia in Medieval Thought and Literature by Siegfried Wenzel
• Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice by Martha Nussbaum
• Political Affections: Civic Participation and Moral Theology by Joshua Hordern
• Deacon King Kong: A Novel by James McBride
• The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride
• The Good Lord Bird: A Novel by James McBride
• Feeling for Books: The Book of the Month Club, Literary Taste and Middle-Class Desire by Janice Radway

Jen is joined by Tish Harrison Warren and Stina Kielsmeier-Cook for a deep and heartfelt conversation about reading through doubt, suffering and vulnerability.

Stina Kielsmeier-Cook is a writer living in Minneapolis.  (You may remember her from Episode 3!) She has a graduate diploma in Forced Migration and Refugee Studies and loves to talk about public policy, parenting, and her neighborhood. She works as Director of Communications at the Collegeville Institute, where she is also the managing editor of Bearings Online. Her first book, Blessed Are the Nones: Mixed-Faith Marriage and My Search for Spiritual Community released earlier this year with InterVarsity Press.

Tish Harrison Warren is a priest in the Anglican Church in North America. She has worked in a variety of ministry settings and is currently Writer in Residence at Church of the Ascension in Pittsburgh. She is the author of the bestselling and award-winning book Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life, and her widely anticipated second book will be releasing this coming January. It’s called Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep.

Books mentioned in this conversation:

• Blessed Are the Nones: Mixed-Faith Marriage and My Search for Spiritual Community by Stina Kielsmeier-Cook
• Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren
• Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep by Tish Harrison Warren
• Endgame and Act Without Words by Samuel Beckett
• Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
• The Book of Mormon Girl: A Memoir of an American Faith by Joanna Brooks
• All the Colors We Will See: Reflections on Barriers, Brokenness and Finding Our Way by Patrice Gopo
• Aereopagitica by John Milton
• The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities into Soulful Practices by Casper ter Kuile
• A Grace Disguised: How the Soul Grows Through Loss by Jerry Sittser
• Therefore I Have Hope: 12 Truths That Comfort, Sustain and Redeem in Tragedy by Cameron Cole
• Lament for a Son by Nicholas Wolterstorff
• The End of Suffering: Finding Purpose in Pain by Scott Cairns
• Rejoicing in Lament: Wrestling with Incurable Cancer and Life in Christ by J. Todd Billings
• The End of the Christian Life: How Embracing Our Mortality Frees Us to Truly Live by J. Todd Billings
• Lit: A Memoir by Mary Karr
• Everything Happens For a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved by Kate Bowler
• The Long Loneliness: The Autobiography of the Legendary Catholic Social Activist by Dorothy Day
• Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
• Here If You Need Me: A True Story by Kate Braestrup
• The Light of the World: A Memoir by Elizabeth Alexander
• Listening for God: A Minister's Journey Through Silence and Doubt by Renita Weems
• Hannah Coulter: A Novel by Wendell Berry
• On Witness and Respair: A Personal Tragedy Followed by Pandemic by Jesmyn Ward (Vanity Fair Piece)
• Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks & A Writer's Life by Kathleen Norris
• Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope by Esau McCaulley
• Remnants: A Memoir of Spirit, Activism and Mothering by Rosemarie Freeney Harding
• Sanctuary: Being Christian in the Wake of Trump by Heidi Neumark
• Awakened by Death: Life-Giving Lessons from the Mystics by Christiana Peterson
• A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland
• A Young People's History of the United States: Columbus to the War on Terror by Howard Zinn
• There is a Future: A Year of Daily Midrash by Amy Bornman

Jen is joined by prolific writers Lauren Winner and Marilyn McEntyre for a thoughtful and wide-ranging conversation about the role of words, empathy and reading during such a disorienting season.

Marilyn McEntyre has spent many years teaching American literature, Medical Humanities, and a variety of writing courses. She’s recently left full-time teaching to spend more time writing. She is the author of 14 books, which include Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, Make a List, Word by Word, and A Long Letting Go. On her website, she writes that her deepest interests lie in connections between spirituality, language, healing earth and each other. You can learn more about her work at www.marilynmcentrye.com. 

Lauren Winner is Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality at Duke Divinity School. She writes and lectures widely on Christian practice, the history of Christianity in America, and Jewish-Christian relations. Her books include Girl Meets God, Mudhouse Sabbath, Still, and Wearing God. Her most recently published book, The Dangers of Christian Practice, examines the effects of sin and damage on Christian practice. Dr. Winner, an Episcopal priest, is vicar of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Louisburg, N.C. 

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies by Marilyn McEntyre
• Make a List: How a Simple Practice Can Change Our Lives and Open Hearts by Marilyn McEntyre
• Word by Word: A Daily Spiritual Practice by Marilyn McEntyre
• A Long Letting Go: Meditations on Losing Someone You Love by Marilyn McEntyre
• When Poets Pray by Marilyn McEntyre
• Girl Meets God: On the Path to a Spiritual Life by Lauren Winner
• Mudhouse Sabbath: An Invitation to a Life of Spiritual Discipline by Lauren Winner
• The Dangers of Christian Practice: On Wayward Gifts, Characteristic Damage, and Sin by Lauren Winner
• A Chill in the Air: An Italian War Diary by Iris Origo
• Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich
• No Logo by Naomi Klein
• Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein
• This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate by Naomi Klein
• The Overstory by Richard Powers
• On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss
• Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild
• Christian: The Politics of a Word in America by Matthew Bowman
• Still Evangelical?: Insiders Reconsider Political, Social and Theological Meaning by Mark Labberton, Shane Claiborne, et al.
• The Hidden Gospel: Decoding the Spiritual Message of the Aramaic Jesus by Neil Douglas-Klotz
• Still by Lauren Winner
• Endless Life: Poems of the Mystics by Scott Cairns
• Good Poems by Garrison Keillor
• Good Poems for Hard Times by Garrison Keillor
• Enduring Ties: Poems of Family Relationships by Grant Hardy
• Ravishing DisUnities: Real Ghazals in English by Agha Shahid Ali

Jen is joined by two experienced and talented publishers to discuss topics like diversity of voices and writing in Christian publishing, the state of publishing in 2020, and what they are currently reading.

Katelyn Beaty is a writer, editor, and speaker. She was the youngest and first female managing editor of Christianity Today, and she is also the author of A Woman’s Place. She currently works as an acquisitions editor for Brazos Press, a division of Baker Books. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Al Hsu is senior editor for IVP Books at InterVarsity Press. He is the author of Singles at the Crossroads, Grieving a Suicide, and The Suburban Christian. Al earned his PhD in educational studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and lives in the western suburbs of Chicago.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• A Woman's Place: A Christian Vision for Your Calling in the Office, the Home and the World by Katelyn Beaty
• Singles at the Crossroads: A Fresh Perspective on Christian Singleness by Al Hsu
• Grieving a Suicide: A Loved One's Search for Comfort, Answers and Hope by Al Hsu
• The Suburban Christian: Finding Spiritual Vitality in the Land of Plenty by Al Hsu
• The Plague by Albert Camus
• Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
• Emma by Jane Austen
• Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth
• Middlemarch by George Eliot
• The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor
• Amity and Prosperity by Eliza Griswold
• Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America by James Davison Hunter
• The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
• Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman

Jen is joined by ERB editors Chris Smith and John Wilson, as well as podcast producer and ERB contributor Joel Wentz, for a free-wheeling conversation about what we are all reading right now. We cover a wide span of genres, styles, and authors, so there's bound to be a recommendation in here for almost everyone!

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Becoming Friends of Time: Disability, Timefullness and Gentle Discipleship by John Swinton
• Finding Jesus in the Storm: The Spiritual Lives of Christians with Mental Health Challenges by John Swinton
• Places I've Taken My Body: Essays by Molly McCully Brown
• The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded: Poems by Molly McCully Brown
• Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus by C. Christopher Smith and John Pattison
• Living Gently in a Violent World: The Prophetic Witness of Weakness by Stanley Hauerwas and Jean Vanier
• Three Mile an Hour God by Kosuke Koyama
• The Overstory: A Novel by Richard Powers
• The Generosity: Luci Shaw
• Island of the Innocent: A Consideration of the Book of Job by Diane Glancy
• For Joshua: An Ojibwe Father Teaches His Son by Richard Wagamese
• Suppose a Sentence by Brian Dillon
• The Life and Death of Ancient Cities: A Natural History by Greg Woolf
• Living Things: Collected Poems by Anne Porter
• White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity by Robert Jones
• Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind/How the Christian Revolution Remade the World by Tom Holland
• The Fires of Heaven: Book Five of the 'Wheel of Time' by Robert Jordan
• The Eye of the World: Book One of the 'Wheel of Time' by Robert Jordan
• A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence
• Sing, Unburied Sing: A Novel by Jesmyn Ward
• Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward

Jen is joined by Marlena Graves and Tim Soerens for a great conversation about counter-cultural reading practices and listening to voices on the margins. Plus, we are excited to offer a book giveaway sponsored by InterVarsity Press! Check out the episode for details.

Marlena Graves is a writer, deep thinker, and speaker passionate about the eternal implications of our life with God. She received her M.Div. from Northeastern Seminary in Rochester, New York, and is pursuing her PhD in American Culture Studies at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. In 2014, she released her first book, A Beautiful Disaster: Finding Hope in the Midst of Brokenness. Her newest book, The Way Up is Down: Becoming Yourself by Forgetting Yourself released last month with InterVarsity Press. She lives in Ohio with her husband and three daughters.

Tim Soerens is a pastor, social entrepreneur, and co-founding director of the Parish Collective, a global movement which reimagines what it means to be the church in, with, and for the neighborhood. Tim has also launched sold-out conferences including the  Inhabit Conference. In 2014, he co-authored The New Parish: How Neighborhood Churches Transform Mission, Discipleship, and Community. His new book, Everywhere You Look: Discovering the Church Right Where You Are recently released with InterVarsity Press. Tim lives in Seattle with his wife and two sons.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Beautiful Disaster: Finding Hope in the Midst of Darkness by Marlena Graves
• The Way Up is Down: Becoming Yourself by Forgetting Yourself by Marlena Graves
• The New Parish: How Neighborhood Churches are Transforming Mission, Discipleship & Community by Tim Soerens
• Everywhere You Look: Discovering the Church Right Where You Are by Tim Soerens
• The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways that Jesus is the Way by Eugene Peterson
• In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership by Henri Nouwen
• The Life of St. Francis of Assisi b St. Bonaventure
• The Complete Works of John Chrysostom
• Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
• Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ by Fleming Rutledge
• Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture by Lesslie Newbigin
• Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now by Walter Brueggeman
• Acts: A Theological Commentary on the Bible by Willie James Jennings
• You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K.A. Smith
• Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle
• Ballpark: Baseball in the American City by Paul Goldberger
• Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
• Wings of Fire Series by Tui T. Sutherland
• A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
• Dignity: Seeking Respect in Back Row America by Chris Arnade
• The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
• Blue Highways: A Journey Into America by William Least Heat-Moon

Jen is joined by David Swanson and Esau McCaulley to continue the conversation about the reading life and the current cultural moment.

David W. Swanson is the founding pastor of New Community Covenant Church, a multiracial congregation on the South Side of Chicago. He also serves as the CEO of New Community Outreach, a non-profit organization working to reduce causes of trauma and raise opportunities for equity in Chicago. He previously served as a Director of Church Planting for the Evangelical Covenant Church. David and Maggie have been married for 21 years and have two amazing sons. David’s book, Rediscipling the White Church: From Cheap Diversity to True Discipleship, published by InterVarsity Press, released in May.

David sends out an occasional newsletter to email subscribers about race, justice, and theology. And as our listeners might be especially keen to learn, David keeps a lists of books he’s reading on his website, www.dwswanson.com.

Esau McCaulley is an assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and a priest in the Anglican Church in North America. His second book, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope, releases on September 1. Esau looks at the tradition of African American biblical interpretation and argues that the Bible rightly understood and read from a decidedly black perspective can speak a word of hope to African Americans in the United States. Alongside his more academic works, Esau also writes popular pieces for numerous outlets including Christianity Today, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.

He is a military spouse and is married to his beautiful wife, Mandy, a pediatrician. Together, they have four wonderful children.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
• Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells
• Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America by Michael Emerson and Christian Smith
• Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin
• Methodologies of Black Theology by Frederick L. Ware
• What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? by Frederick Douglass
• The Black Church in the African American Experience by C. Eric Lincoln and Lawrence H. Mamiya
• African American Religious History: A Documentary Witness by Milton C. Sernett
• Liberation and Reconciliation: A Black Theology by J. Deotis Roberts
• The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James H. Cone
• African American Theology by Frederick L. Ware
• Doctrine and Race: African American Evangelicals and Fundamentalism Between the Wars by Mary Beth Swetnam Mathews
• Preaching with Sacred Fire: An Anthology of African American Sermons by Martha Simmons
• Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
• The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
• An Introduction to Womanist Biblical Interpretation by Nyasha Junior
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• Empowerment Ethics for a Liberated People: A Path to African American Social Transformation by Cheryl J. Sanders
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 
• James Baldwin: Collected Essays
• Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago's South Side by Eve L. Ewing
• Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
• Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul by Eddie Glaude Jr.
• The Hidden Wound by Wendell Berry

Cara Meredith is a writer, speaker, and activist. She is the author of The Color of Life: A Journey Toward Love and Racial Justice, which released in 2019. As a white woman, Cara journeys toward understanding the racial realities of individual and systemic racism through falling in love with the son of a black icon and raising two mixed-raced sons. Cara, a former high school English teacher and outreach director, lives with her husband and two sons in Oakland, California.

Josina Guess is the assistant editor of The Bitter Southerner. She has contributed to an anthology called Fight Evil with Poetry as well as to a forthcoming book called Rally: Communal Prayers for Lovers of Justice and Jesus. Josina grew up in Washington, D.C., and now lives in northeast Georgia in an old farmhouse with her husband, four children, and lots of animals.

Cara and Josina join Jen to talk about the reading life in our cultural moment. They bring a wide range of recommendations, especially for following writers of color. They also recommend some fantastic children's books!

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

• Fight Evil with Poetry edited by Micah Bournes and Chris Campbell
• The Color of Life: A Journey Toward Love and Racial Justice by Cara Meredith
• Unmarriageable: A Novel by Soniah Kamal
• Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston by Valerie Boyd
• Gathering Blossoms Under Fire: The Journals of Alice Walker by Valerie Boyd (forthcoming)
• The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby
• New Kid by Jerry Craft
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
• Ordinary Light: A Memoir by Tracy K. Smith
• The Light of the World: A Memoir by Elizabeth Alexander
• Real American: A Memoir by Julie Lythcott-Haims
• Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxanne Gay
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Mother to Son: Letters to a Black Boy on Identity and Hope by Jasmine L. Holmes
• Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys Into Race, Motherhood and History by Camille T. Dungy
• Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
• A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech That Inspired a Nation by Barry Wittenstein and Jerry Pinkney
• Loving: Interracial Intimacy in America and the Threat to White Supremacy by Sheryll Cashin
• Reconciliation Blues: A Black Evangelical's Inside View of White Christianity by Edward Gilbreath
• Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Doreen Rappaport and Bryan Collier
• Children of God Storybook Bible by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
• Manna and Mercy: A Brief History of God's Unfolding Promise to Mend the Entire Universe by Daniel Erlander
• The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. edited by Clayborne Carson
• Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman and Karen Washington