What Are You Reading?

Gigi Pedraza, founder of The Latino Community Fund, is a brilliant thinker, leader, and reader. In this lively conversation, she talks with us about the ideas and stories that shape her work engaging and mobilizing Georgia's Latino community.

https://lcfgeorgia.org/
https://twitter.com/LCFGeorgia
https://twitter.com/GigiPedrazaM

BOOKS MENTIONED:
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn: The Saga of Two Families and the Making of Atlanta by Gary Pomerantz
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
Obit by Victoria Chang
Barbie Chang by Victoria Chang
This Side of Glory: The Autobiography of David Hilliard and the Story of the Black Panther Party by David Hilliard
Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides - Translated by Anne Carson
Nox - Anne Carson

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Our friend Diana Chavez got a job on Joe Biden's campaign and helped him win. In this episode, she talks with us about what drove her to politics, how books empower her work, and why she should probably read more fiction.

BOOKS MENTIONED:

Becoming by Michelle Obama
Educated by Tara Westover
The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Roald Dahl books
The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector
The Prince of Frogtown by Rick Bragg
The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown

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(NSFW) Jason Green blended ultramarathon, punk, and skateboard cultures to form the Yeti Trail Runners. We talk about how books fired his imagination as a weird kid in rural appalachia, why running books suck, and what happens to the brain of a sixteen-year-old when he reads Carlos Castaneda.

In a time when religious tensions are reshaping national politics, religious historian Ryan T. Woods helps us answer urgent questions. What is an Evangelical? How did Evangelicalism evolve into what it is today? How was the Christian movement first perceived by the Romans? Why is Shirley Jackson like a pumpkin spice latte?

Books/Authors Mentioned:
// Christian Smith
// The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America by Frances Fitzgerald
// The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity by Robert Louis Wilken
// The Christians as the Romans Saw Them by Robert Louis Wilken
// The Land We Are - edited by Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill and Sophie McCall
// Paranoia by Shirley Jackson
// The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
// The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century by Walter Scheidel

Wende Ballew spends a lot of time in prison. As executive director of Reforming Arts, she helps incarcerated women gain an education and tell their stories through theater. 

She talks with us about how prisoners see their stories, what she reads, and how her reading life changed after her experiences in the prison system deepened.

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In this mashup with "Literary Atlanta," we talk with fellow podcaster Alison Law about building community around stories.

Make sure to subscribe and follow Alison’s podcast, Literary Atlanta!

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BOOKS DISCUSSED:
The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis
Lookaway, Lookaway by Wilton Barnhardt
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
What Are We Doing Here? by Marilynne Robinson
Maus: A Survivor’s Tale I. My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
Maus: A Survivor’s Tale II. And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
Watchmen by Alan Moore

FIND ALISON:
Literary Atlanta
Literary Atlanta Facebook Page
Literary Atlanta on Twitter

This year at the largest independent book festival in the nation, we connected with old and new friends to talk about books, community, and Aline's secret plan to take over the podcast.

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Phi Nguyen is a litigation director for Advancing Justice Atlanta, and she co-hosts our new favorite Facebook show, Wake Up Atlanta! She talks with us about translating legislation into story, connecting with her history and community through literature, and working for justice.

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BOOKS DISCUSSED
Exit West - Mohsin Hamid
Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri
The Best We Could Do - Thi Bui

FIND PHI
@phinguyen
Asian Americans Advancing Justice

As the mayor of Clarkston, Ted guides policy in the most diverse square mile in America. He talks with us about the books that led him to environmentalism and politics, and we help him decide whether or not to read "Game of Thrones."

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BOOKS DISCUSSED:
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
Outcasts United by Warren St. John
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan
Tao Te Ching by Laozi (translated by Stephen Mitchell)
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin
Harper's Magazine

FIND TED:
@tedterry1
Ted on Facebook
 

Yehimi Cambron's artwork has become iconic in the struggle for immigrant rights in Atlanta. She talks with us about her own migration to life as a teacher, artist, and activist.

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BOOKS DISCUSSED:
Night by Elie Wiesel
My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass
The Politics of Reality: Oppression by Marilyn Frye

FIND YEHIMI:
YehimiCambron.com
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Off The Wall Project