The Stacks

It’s the Stacks’ Book Club Day, and we’re discussing Blessing the Boats by Lucille Clifton with returning guest, Tiana Clark. We discuss how Clifton welcomes audiences usually excluded from poetry and how her work still manages to have urgency 25+ years later. We also work through some of the poems that were challenging for us, and uncover some hidden meanings.

Be sure to listen to the end of today’s episode to find out what our May book club pick will be.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:

https://thestackspodcast.com/2025/4/30/ep-369-blessing-the-boats

Connect with Tiana: Instagram | Website | Twitter

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Today on The Stacks, Brian Goldstone is here to talk about his book, There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America. The book examines the growing phenomenon of the "working homeless"—people who work full time and still remain unhoused—by following five families in Atlanta over the course of a few years. Goldstone explains how he connected with the families he followed in the book, who officially is counted as homeless, and why he decided to center his book in Atlanta.

The Stacks Book Club pick for April is Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000 by Lucille Clifton. We will discuss on Wednesday, April 30 with Tiana Clark returning as our guest.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:

https://www.thestackspodcast.com/2025/4/23/ep-368-brian-goldstone

Connect with Brian: Twitter | Website

Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Subscribe

SUPPORT THE STACKS

Join The Stacks Pack on Patreon

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

*Patreon- and Substack-only bonus episode teaser, click here for the full episode*

In this episode of The Stacks Unabridged, we are joined once again by author Kiese Laymon, to discuss his first children’s book, City Summer, Country Summer, and the emotional resonance of sports narratives. We also share how we’re staying human in the midst of so much inhumanity.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:

https://www.thestackspodcast.com/unabridged/2025/4/18/tsu-45-kiese-laymon

Connect with Kiese: Twitter | Instagram | Website

Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Subscribe

Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, food and culture writer, Giaae Kwon joins us to discuss her debut book, a collection of essays, I'll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan. We talk about what defines K-pop and the aspects of its fandom: from parasocial relationships to the exoticization of K-pop and its "idols."

The Stacks Book Club pick for April is Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000 by Lucille Clifton. We will discuss the book on April 30th with Tiana Clark returning as our guest.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:

https://www.thestackspodcast.com/2025/4/16/ep-367-giaae-kwon

Connect with Giaee: Instagram | Twitter | Website

Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Subscribe

SUPPORT THE STACKS

Join The Stacks Pack on Patreon

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, we’re joined by Geri Halliwell-Horner, also known as Ginger Spice from the Spice Girls. She discusses her second installment in the Rosie Frost series, Rosie Frost: Ice on Fire. Determined to learn her family history with Bloodstone, Rosie must discover what she’s really made of as a new danger puts her new home and all she that she loves at risk. Halliwell-Horner also shares her journey from pop music sensation to middle grade novelist, and how her relationship with the phrase, “girl power,” has changed over the years.

The Stacks Book Club pick for April is Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000 by Lucille Clifton. We will discuss the book on April 30th with Tiana Clark returning as our guest.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:

https://www.thestackspodcast.com/2025/4/9/ep-366-geri-halliwell-horner

Connect with Geri: Instagram | Tiktok | Facebook

Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Subscribe

SUPPORT THE STACKS

Join The Stacks Pack on Patreon

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, we're kicking off National Poetry Month with poet and essayist Tiana Clark. Tiana's newest collection, Scorched Earth: Poems, explores themes of heartbreak, identity, and radical self-acceptance. In this conversation, Tiana reflects on what it means to be vulnerable in poetry, how she approaches the lyric “I,” and what she looks for when reading other poets’ work.

The Stacks Book Club pick for April is Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988–2000 by Lucille Clifton. We will discuss the book on April 30th with Tiana Clark returning as our guest.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:

https://thestackspodcast.com/2025/4/2/ep-365-tiana-clark

Connect with Tiana: Instagram | Website | Twitter

Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Subscribe

SUPPORT THE STACKS

Join The Stacks Pack on Patreon

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It’s The Stacks Book Club Day, and we’re discussing They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers with returning guest Tembe Denton-Hurst. We highlight the moments in the book that really stood out to us, from the brutality to the pervasiveness of slavery, and consider how white women have been protected by—and complicit in—the building of the American economy. We also reflect on the role of academic books and how we engage with them as readers.

Be sure to listen to the end of today’s episode to find out what our April book club pick will be.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:

https://thestackspodcast.com/2025/3/26/ep-364-they-were-her-property

Connect with Tembe: Instagram | Website | Twitter

Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Subscribe

SUPPORT THE STACKS

Join The Stacks Pack on Patreon

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

*Patreon- and Substack-only bonus episode teaser, click here for the full episode*

In this episode of The Stacks Unabridged, we’re joined by author and critic Emily St. James to discuss her new book, Woodworking. We explore the recent evolution of anti-trans legislation, what it tells us about the current political moment, and trans rep in pop culture. Plus, Emily offers us her entries into the trans literary canon.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:

https://www.thestackspodcast.com/unabridged/2025/3/21/tsu-44-emily-st-james

Connect with Emily: Instagram | Bluesky

Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Subscribe

Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

​This week, we’re joined by author Torrey Peters to discuss her new book, Stag Dance: A Novel & Stories, a collection that explores the complexities of desire, identity, and gender. Torrey shares how she freed herself to write after the success of her debut novel, Detransition, Baby, discusses her thoughts on the relationship between gender and genre, and what she finds most exciting about writing trans stories.

The Stacks Book Club pick for March is They Were Her Property by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers. We will discuss the book on March 26th with Tembe Denton-Hurst returning as our guest.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:

https://thestackspodcast.com/2025/3/19/ep-363-torrey-peters

Connect with Torrey: Instagram | Website

Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Subscribe

SUPPORT THE STACKS

Join The Stacks Pack on Patreon

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, we’re joined by author and journalist Omar El Akkad to discuss his new book, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, which serves as a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its fundamental values. Omar shares how writing nonfiction compares to his novels, how he anticipates and thinks about potential criticism, and what it means to resist despair in the face of empire.

The Stacks Book Club pick for March is They Were Her Property by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers. We will discuss the book on March 26th with Tembe Denton-Hurst returning as our guest.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:

https://thestackspodcast.com/2025/3/12/ep-362-omar-el-akkad

Connect with Omar: Instagram | Twitter

Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Subscribe

SUPPORT THE STACKS

Join The Stacks Pack on Patreon

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Purchasing books through Bookshop.org or Amazon earns The Stacks a small commission.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.