The Stacks

Updated: 24 Oct 2025 • 464 episodes
www.thestackspodcast.com

The Stacks is your one stop shop to talk books and reading. Guests will join the host, Traci Thomas for lively discussions about books and the ways they have shaped their lives, and they way we all understand culture, race, politics, and more. The last Wednesday of each month Traci and guest will break down a book in detail as part of The Stacks Book Club.  Make sure to check the website www.thestackspodcast.com for more details, including upcoming The Stacks Book Club picks.

Show episodes

*This is a teaser for this Patreon and Substack-only bonus episode, click here to listen to the full episode* In this bonus episode, I chat with author Kiley Reid for the inside scoop on the Booker Prize, an annual literary award given to the best fiction book written in English and published in the UK and Ireland. As

12 min
00:00
12:00
No file found

Today on The Stacks, we are joined by author and journalist Jade Chang to discuss her newest novel, What a Time to Be Alive. This book follows Lola Treasure Gold, a down-on-her-luck 31-year-old balancing accidental internet fame with enduring grief after her speech at her best friend’s wake goes viral. We discuss the b

57 min
00:00
57:30
No file found

Today on The Stacks, we are joined by anthropologist and former wildland firefighter Jordan Thomas. He’s here to discuss his first book, When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World, a gripping exploration of his experience battling a brutal, six-month fire season with the Los Padres Hotshots, an elite force

62 min
00:00
01:02:28
No file found

Today on The Stacks, we are joined by journalist and writer John J. Lennon, who’s currently serving 28 years to life for murder at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. He is here to discuss his first book, The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us, which explores society’s fascination with t

59 min
00:00
59:07
No file found

This week on The Stacks we are joined by Angela Flournoy to discuss her new book, The Wilderness. Longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award and a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, The Wilderness is an expansive novel that covers the friendship of four black women over the course of twenty years. Today, we discuss maxima

56 min
00:00
56:52
No file found

It is The Stacks Book Club day and we're discussing The Lilac People by Milo Todd. Our guest for today's conversation is editor and author, Denne Michele Norris. The Lilac People follows a trans man and his partner as they attempt to survive Nazi Germany and the aftermath of the Allies’ takeover post-war. Together, we

72 min
00:00
01:12:55
No file found