Ep. 259 How Innocent Are They with Joseph Earl Thomas

The Stacks

Traci Thomas

Literature, Society & Culture, Books, Arts

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2023

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Writer and Philadelphia native Joseph Earl Thomas joins the show to discuss his new book Sink: A Memoir, about coming of age amid chaos and finding a way through. He talks about why he wanted to write a memoir that centers childhood without growing into adulthood, the challenge of writing his story in the face of respectability politics and the push to write about "Black joy."

The Stacks Book Club selection for March is Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay. We will discuss the book on March 29th with Shanita Hubbard.

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

https://thestackspodcast.com/2023/03/22/ep-259-joseph-earl-thomas

Episode Transcript

Connect with Joseph: Instagram | Twitter | Website

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You guys, the live and the stacks tour is underway.
0:03.8	We had an incredible night in Oakland filled with bookish conversations, hot takes, games,
0:08.8	cocktails. If you missed it, I'm sorry, but don't worry, it's not too late to see the stacks
0:14.8	live in one of our next four stops. Join me in Chicago with Samantha Erby on August 27th
0:21.6	in Washington, D.C. with Jason Reynolds on September 24th in New York City with KSA
0:26.9	Laman on September 25th and in LA on October 18th with some extra special guests that we will be
0:33.6	announcing real soon. Tickets are selling fast so head to the stackspodcast.com slash tour and
0:40.6	get your tickets before we sell out. Welcome to the stacks, a podcast about books and the people
0:54.9	who read them. I'm your host Tracy Thomas and today we welcome Joseph Earl Thomas to the show.
0:59.9	Joseph is a writer and doctoral candidate in English at the University of Pennsylvania with an
1:04.0	MFA in English from Notre Dame. Today we're discussing his debut book, a memoir called Sink,
1:09.9	about his childhood in Philadelphia. We talk about why embracing and sharing trauma feels like an
1:14.9	act of defiance for Black writers right now. What it means to have no adult role models and some
1:19.8	of the formal choices Joseph made in the telling of his story. Our March Book Club pick is the
1:24.4	essay collection Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay. She need a Hubbard will join us on March 29th for
1:29.5	our Book Club discussion. Quick reminder, everything we talk about in each episode can be found in
1:34.0	the link in the show notes. If you love the stacks and you want more of it, things like our incredible
1:38.6	discord community, our monthly bonus episodes, our virtual meetups to discuss our book club picks,
1:44.0	you must join the stacks pack on Patreon. It's just $5 a month and you've got all of the things I
1:49.5	just mentioned, plus a lot more. And you get to know that you're part of making this Black
1:54.1	woman run independent podcast a reality every single week. Head to patreon.com slash the stacks
1:59.8	and join now. I want to give a special shout out to some of our newest members of the stacks pack.
	...

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