Ep. 414 Toni Morrison Broke the Novel Form Open with Namwali Serpell
The Stacks
Traci Thomas
4.9 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 4 March 2026
⏱️ 79 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Today on the show, we’re joined by writer, literary critic, and Harvard University professor Namwali Serpell to discuss her latest book, On Morrison. In this book, Namwali offers a deep dive into Toni Morrison’s career, guiding readers through close readings of everything from her well-known fiction and literary criticism to her lesser-known dramatic works and poetry. We talk all about why Namwali wanted to write about one of the most beloved—and misunderstood—authors of all time, exploring Morrison's place in the literary canon, why she and her work have been considered "difficult," and how her novels can teach us how to read them.
The Stacks Book Club pick for March is Paradise by Toni Morrison. We’ll be discussing the book with Namwali Serpell on March 25th.
You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks website: https://www.thestackspodcast.com/2026/3/4/ep-414-namwali-serpell
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everybody, it's me, Tracy, and I've got some exciting news for you. This year, the Stax is turning |
| 0:06.0 | eight years old, and we are celebrating with our very first meetup day. On Saturday, April 4th, |
| 0:11.8 | we are inviting you all to meet up in cities across the country and around the world to hang out, |
| 0:17.3 | play games, and build community around our shared love of all things, books, |
| 0:21.4 | reading, and of course, snacks. |
| 0:23.9 | Head to the stackspodcast.com slash meetup for more information. |
| 0:27.4 | Over there, you're going to find a list of all the cities we have meetup scheduled for. |
| 0:31.4 | You'll be able to RSVP. |
| 0:32.5 | And if you don't see a meetup near you, there's also information on how you can host one. |
| 0:37.6 | Again, the website is the stackspodcast.com slash meetup, and meetup day is April 4th. |
| 0:43.7 | I often read like 10 pages and then I need a nap. |
| 0:48.7 | And I take a little 15 minute nap. |
| 0:51.2 | And then I never fall asleep again. |
| 0:52.7 | So it's not like reading makes me bored. |
| 0:54.7 | It's just like there's, I think it's because I used to read to fall asleep. And so it's like this like |
| 1:00.4 | It's like Pavlov's dog or whatever. Exactly. Exactly. But it's actually really, you know, |
| 1:06.2 | sometimes I've had really incredibly vivid dreams that are about the book. And so those little naps have |
| 1:13.6 | become these kind of like delicious literary naps for me. I've never talked about this before. |
| 1:18.8 | So it's exciting that you've asked this question. I love it. |
| 1:26.7 | Welcome to the Stacks, a podcast about books and the people who read them. |
| 1:30.3 | I'm your host, Tracy Thomas, and today I am joined by award-winning writer, literary critic, |
| 1:34.9 | and Harvard University professor, Namwali Serpell. |
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