What do we learn about Ralph Ellison from reading his collected letters?

Sidiah Hartman will join us to talk about his letters and his legacy.

How do you balance being a media executive and a literary novelist?

Bola Full of Sin will be here to talk about his latest book, The Sacrament.

Plus, we'll talk about what we and the wider world are reading.

This is the Book Review Podcast from the New York Times.

I'm Pamela Paul.

I want to take a moment to tell you about a new series of events we've created called Book Review Live.

At each event, we'll use books as a jumping off point into larger discussions that help us better understand our world.

Kind of like we do here on the podcast.

The first one is happening the evening of January 14th at the time center in New York City.

We'll be welcoming Cheryl Ludon and my colleague Nick Christoff to talk about their new book, Tite Rope,

Americans Reaching for Hope.

They'll be in conversation with our critic, Jennifer Salai.

The book is a story about the disintegration of America's working class as seen through the eyes of Nick and Cheryl's friends and neighbors.

To dig deeper into the themes of Tite Rope, we'll also hear from my colleague Andrew Ross Sorkin,

watch clips from a new documentary based on the book, and enjoy readings from a surprise guest.

You can buy tickets at nytimes.com slash book review live. Hope to see you there.

Joining us now in the studio is Cedia Hartman.

She is a professor of African American Literature and Cultural History at Columbia University.

And her most recent book is called Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, Intimate Histories of Troublesome Women,

Riotous Black Girls and Queer Radicals.

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