STORY MADE is a project exploring how stories make a difference in our lives.

What we find, we'll share -- because stories belong to all of us. Your story becomes our own. In the end, they'll become part of something entire.
Learn more about what we do!

It’s been nearly a decade since I’ve been to Pittsburgh, so I couldn’t miss the chance to visit with the illustrious author and WPIAL hoops icon Damon Young in his hometown to talk all about books and basketball. His super dope and hilarious new book, “That’s How They Get You: An Unruly Anthology of Black American Humor” drops June 3rd. It’s an incredible collection from Damon + 24 of the most acclaimed black authors in the world today. It’ll be on my Staff Picks at @city.lights.nc on release day so if you roll thru you better cop it!!

I also got to visit @citybookspgh and @whitewhalebks and came away with a great haul to read this summer. I’d need to make 5 trips to get to all the indie bookshops here. Incredible how many they have in a city of this size.

Damon’s BOOKS ON THE BED episode will be included on Season 4 next month to celebrate the book release, so be on the lookout for that. In the meantime, Inspectah Deck and Ghostface will be on heavy rotation on the drive back to North Carolina.

I’m so thankful for the time I’ve spent with Kristen Miller. Not only is she the leader of one of my favorite indie presses (@sarabandebooks), she’s a poet, translator, editor, playwright, AND Dayton, Ohio native. We’ve kicked it twice in the last 6 months and our conversations have been life-giving. It’s easy to lose track of time talking with her.

During this visit we had a blast recording for Books on the Bed and I got the tour of the Sarabande office. So many books everywhere! If y’all haven’t read any Sarabande books, then I suggest you take this opportunity to explore their titles. The work they do is vital to keeping true creativity alive and allowing for authors to take risks on unique projects that legitimately excite them (and readers!). On the 23rd you should spurn Amazon and buy from Sarabande instead.

I can’t wait to share Kristen’s episode with you on Season 4! 📚

Season 3 is in the books! 📚 Much love to Rachel, Elizabeth, Meredith, Ann, Glenn, & Henry for welcoming me into their homes and sharing stories with us. I’m amazed by these beautiful people and feel overwhelming gratitude to have met them on this journey.

Thanks to everyone who has listened to BOOKS ON THE BED and shared these conversations with others. One of Meredith’s choices was “Sleepovers” by Ashleigh Bryant Phillips, who I got to meet a few days ago in Cullowhee, and she said “you’re the Books on the Bed guy!” That made my entire week. And now I must get Ashleigh on the podcast to keep that thread going. Whoever told her about being featured on an episode, much obliged.

Season 4 is coming this summer. In the meantime, I’m scheming multiple trips to Kentucky, and then Arkansas + back to Minnesota, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Stay tuned…

New episode! 🎧 BOOKS ON THE BED Season 3 Episode 6 with Henry Wise.

Listen to us talk about Henry’s excellent BOTB choices + his debut novel HOLY CITY, the 1800s family farmhouse in which we’re sitting, Henry’s absurdly deep family history in Virginia, stories of exile and return, *not* liking characters but still being invested in their stories, and much more. This was an awesome time with Henry. Go listen now!!

Henry’s Books on the Bed:
“Lord Jim” by Joseph Conrad
“My Antonia” by Willa Cather
“Legends of the Fall” by Jim Harrison
“Go Down, Moses” and “The Bear” by William Faulkner
“West with the Night” by Beryl Markham
“Joe” by Larry Brown

New episode! 🎧 BOOKS ON THE BED Season 3 Episode 5 with Glenn Taylor.

Listen to us talk about Glenn’s awesome BOTB choices + his deep roots in West Virginia, what makes Louise McNeill & Lucille Clifton so special, poems that help us see the light when things feel dark, advancing the subject and writing that makes people want to read, and stories of our encounters with James McBride, man who can do everything and anything. Go listen now!!

Glenn’s Books on the Bed:
“The Milkweed Ladies” by Louise McNeill
“good woman: poems and a memoir” by Lucille Clifton
“Gringos” by Charles Portis
“Trampoline” by Robert Gipe
“Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone” by Eduardo Galeano
“Road-side Dog” by Czeslaw Milosz

Looking (but not looking) around Texas.

Austin, San Antonio, San Marcos, Jarrell, Georgetown, Canton. Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge. Guadalupe River State Park. All of it was a blast. Beautiful country. I can’t wait to go back.

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STORY MADE is a project exploring how stories make a difference in our lives. What we find, we'll share -- because stories belong to all of us. Your story becomes our own. In the end, they'll become part of something entire. Learn more about what we do!

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STORY MADE is a project exploring how stories make a difference in our lives.

What we find, we'll share -- because stories belong to all of us. Your story becomes our own. In the end, they'll become part of something entire.
Learn more about what we do!