Claudia Rankine: Just Us

Have you ever signed up for one of those ancestry sites, or maybe sent in a sample of your saliva and received DNA results? Well what can those results really tell you about the people and the traditions that inform your personal lineage? In Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots, author Morgan Jerkins takes a unique approach to understanding where she came and uncovers a wealth of incredible stories, traditions, and painful surprises.   About the Author Morgan Jerkins is the New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America, which was longlisted for PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay and a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick, and Wandering In Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots. Her third book, Caul Baby: A Novel, is forthcoming from Harper Books in April 2021. She holds a BA in Comparative Literature from Princeton University and an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars. A recently named Forbes 30 under 30 Leader in Media, Jerkins regularly teaches at Columbia University’s School of the Arts in the Nonfiction department. Born and raised in Southern New Jersey, she’s currently based in Harlem and at work on television and film projects.   Episode Credits: This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media.    Music: "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "Jungles" by Isaac Aesili, "Every Corner In The Black Lodge" by 1939 Ensemble, "Molasses and Wine" by Heliix, "The Chase" by Principle,  "Brainiac" by Cold Storage Percussion Unit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Americans have been raised on a system of myths about race. We’ve invented stories to explain what we don’t understand, and it’s our belief in these often preposterous ideas that have shaped history. In A More Perfect Reunion, Calvin Baker seeks to dispel these myths as he writes about four key moments of racial awakening in American history, offering a solution and a path to move towards an integrated society.     About the Author Calvin Baker is the author of four novels, including Grace and Dominion, which was a finalist for the Hurston-Wright Award. He teaches in Columbia University’s Graduate School of the Arts, and has also taught in the English Department at Yale University, the University of Leipzig, where he held the Picador Chair in American Studies, Long Island University, Graduate Department of English where he was a Distinguished Visiting Professor, Bard College, and Middlebury College. His nonfiction work has appeared in Harper’s and the New York Times Magazine. He lives in Brooklyn.   Episode Credits: This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media.    Music: "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "Rich Man's Road" by The Outview, "Progress" by Keen Collective, "Caña" by Sun Shapes, "Proclaim The Dawn" by LandMrks, "Days of the Blackbird" by Pierpaolo Ranieri. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The world puts you in a box -- geography, social class, family dynamics, gender, all things you’re born into with no say in the matter. But life gets really interesting when you’re finally able to make choices to fix what feels wrong. In Nicole Dennis-Benn's novel Patsy she writes about one woman’s journey to live a life that’s in congruence with her values, even at a steep cost to others.   About the Author Nicole Dennis-Benn is the author of Here Comes the Sun, a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the Lambda Literary Award. Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, she teaches at Princeton and lives with her wife in Brooklyn, New York.   Episode Credits: This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media.    Music: "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "Hear Me Hear Me" by Davy Era, "Heavy Eyelids" by Lullatone, "Night Stroll" by Podium, "Get Away" by Rawsrvnt, "You and Me" by Keen Collective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever felt like you’re in a tunnel trying to dig your way out and are just getting nowhere? Like there’s not even a light at the end? In Roxane Gay and Tracy Lynne Oliver's fantastical graphic novel The Sacrifice of Darkness, a man is pushed past his limits and the consequences are global as the world is shrouded in darkness.   About the Authors Roxane Gay’s writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She is the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, the New York Times bestselling Bad Feminist, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women and the New York Times bestselling Hunger.  Tracy Lynne Oliver is attempting to make a new name for herself in this writing game. She has a magical novel that is anxious to see the light of day as well as a monstrous short story collection. If you know what's good for you, you'd contact her ASAP to call dibs on this greatness before you lose the next literary Beyonce. In the meantime, you can read her essay, "Love Letters" in Medium's "Unruly Bodies" series.   Episode Credits: This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media.    Music: "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "Walk with Me" by Land of Legs, "Dimensions Distilled" by Frozen Mesa, "Electric Passion" by Keen Collective, "Maple" by Pastek, "In the Steps of Dust" by Jules Blueprints, "Loa" by El Buho y Barrio Lindo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to get away from it all? Maybe rent a house somewhere remote, with no access to the internet, overlooking the woods and a swimming pool? But what if that heavenly vacation goes wrong -- really wrong -- in a way that has global consequences? In Rumaan Alam's Leave the World Behind that's exactly what happens, starting with an unexpected late-night knock on the door that leads to shifting of reality itself.   About the Author Rumaan Alam is the author of three novels: Rich and Pretty, That Kind of Mother, and Leave the World Behind. Other writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Buzzfeed, and the New Republic, where he is a contributing editor. He also co-hosts two podcasts for Slate, studied writing at Oberlin College, and lives in New York with his husband and two kids.   Episode Credits: This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media.    Music: "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "Denholm Green" by Prairie Ensemble, "Washed Out" by Shaky Faces, "Morning Tide" by The Mariner, "Wintler Wine" by Prairie Ensemble, "Thinking of a Master Plan" by Theory Hazit, "Syntagma" by Jules Blueprints. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Time to forget the way too familiar depictions of female friendship that lean on thread-worn stereotypes: the back-stabbing competitor, the gossip, the manipulator, the superficial princess. In Want, Lynn Steger Strong avoids those pitfalls by exploring the realities of adult life and how fissures can grow in a long-held friendship, seep into a marriage and corrupt our sense of privilege, success and economic security.    About the Author: Lynn Steger Strong’s first novel, Hold Still, was released by Liveright/WW Norton in 2016. Her nonfiction has been published by Guernica, Los Angeles Review of Books, Elle.com, Catapult, Lit Hub, and others. She teaches both fiction and non-fiction writing at Columbia University, Fairfield University, and the Pratt Institute.   Episode Credits: This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media.    Music: "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "One Minute" by Complicated Congas, "Wainscott" by The Brow, "I Always Loved You" by Joonie, "If You Can't See The Sun" by Sun Shapes, "Daydreamin'" by Dr Crosby, "Sealing with Garrett" by Kyle Devine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you had trouble sleeping lately? Did you take a pill for it? What if sleeping pills no longer worked and your insomnia was so acute it could kill you? In Sleep Donation, Karen Russell creates a scenario where the cure for insomnia mirrors the corporate greed we’ve come to expect from big pharma and it’s a total nightmare. From sleep transfusions and corrupt toilet barons to a virulent nightmare so terrifying people choose to die rather than risk having it -- this novella just might keep you up at night.   About the Author: Karen Russell won the 2012 and the 2018 National Magazine Award for fiction, and her first novel, Swamplandia! (2011), was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She has received a MacArthur Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship, the “5 under 35” prize from the National Book Foundation, the NYPL Young Lions Award, the Bard Fiction Prize, and is a former fellow of the Cullman Center and the American Academy in Berlin. She currently holds the Endowed Chair at Texas State University’s MFA program, and lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and son.   Episode Credits: This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media.    Music: "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "Reprise" by Arms and Sleepers, "Pendulum" by Sun Shapes, "Pocket" by The Flavr Blue, "Tangerine" by Oatmello. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you exhausted? Does this pandemic and political hellscape feel like a job you’re not allowed to quit? In Stay Hungry and Kick Burnout In The Butt, Dr. Steven Berglas has the perfect prescription to help you channel all that energy into something positive and worthwhile. Listen as he and Amanda explore what makes us feel fulfilled and self-actualized while exploring some stories about people who channeled those negative feelings for good. About the Author: A former faculty member of Harvard Medical School's Department of Psychiatry and staff member of McLean Hospital for more than 25 years, Dr. Steven Berglas is now an executive coach and corporate consultant based in Los Angeles, CA. He is the author of four books that examine how the changes brought about by career success cause vocational, interpersonal, and psychological problems. He has published more than 70 articles and journal reports on the causes and cures of self-defeating behavior, the factors that cause executives to fail, and how to prevent white-collar crime. Episode Credits: This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn, Beau Friedlander and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media.  Music: "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "Santa Barbara Blues" by Don deBrauwere, "On the Move" by Dr Crosby, "Good Morning Melody" by Lullatone, "Dementia" by Wild Whirled, "Hopeless" by Pebaluna, "The SSLottery" by Little Glass Men, "Why (Do you Doubt Me Baby?)" by Andrew Kaffer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The United States is experiencing a time of reckoning, but too often it seems like we’re all talking past each another other rather than attempting meaningful dialogue. In Just Us, Claudia Rankine provides a blueprint for how we talk about and experience race in America. Listen as she and Amanda examine the emotions underpinning white privilege, shine a light on racial inequality in its less obvious forms, and explain what it actually means when a white person, "doesn't see color."   About the Author: Claudia Rankine is the author of Citizen: An American Lyric and four previous books, including Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric. Her work has appeared recently in the Guardian, the New York Times Book Review, the New York Times Magazine, and the Washington Post. She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, the winner of the 2014 Jackson Poetry Prize, and a contributing editor of Poets & Writers. She received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2016. Rankine is the Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry at Yale University.   Episode Credits: This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media.    Music: "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "Warmer Up Here" by The Upstroke, "This Summer" by Easy McCoy, "Eugene" by Calvin Valentine, "Tidewater" by Grant Harold, "Rebuilding" by 1,2,3. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sometimes we hold a secret inside that feels so big and so overwhelming that it distorts the way we see and move through the world. In the memoir Empty, Susan Burton explores an eating disorder she had kept hidden from everyone in her life for nearly thirty years, and how that process of exposure and exploration helped her move through the shame--revealing her biggest secret to family and other loved ones--and how that opened up whole new worlds to her.   About the Author: Susan Burton’s writing has appeared in Slate, Mother Jones, New York, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine. She is a former editor of Harper’s and a producer of This American Life. Her radio documentaries have won numerous awards. The film Unaccompanied Minors is based on one of her radio essays. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two sons.   Episode Credits: This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn, Beau Friedlander and Amanda Stern. It was edited, mixed and sound-designed by Andrew Dunn who also created Bookable's chill vibe. Our host is Amanda Stern. Beau Friedlander is Bookable's executive producer and editor in chief of Loud Tree Media.    Music: "Books That Bounce" by Rufus Canis, "Uni Swing Vox" by Rufus Canis, "One Minute" by Complicated Congas, "Great Egg Harbor" by Memory Palace, "Decoded" by WayFare, "Moving On" by Sarah Clarke and The Vintage Twin, "I Always Loved You" by Joonie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices