Season 5, Episode 40: ALA President Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada
Currently Reading
Meredith Schwartz
4.7 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 15 May 2023
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s episode of Currently Reading, Kaytee is chatting with a special guest. Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada, the president of the American Library Association is here to talk about:
-
Bookish Moments: a bookish feature on TV and different readers choosing their TBR
-
Current Reads: all the great, interesting, and/or terrible stuff we’ve been reading lately
-
Deep Dive: Lessa is giving us a brief rundown (which I could have easily made 6 hours long) about the American Library Association and the state of libraries in the US.
-
The Fountain: we visit our perfect fountain to make wishes about our reading lives
As per usual, time-stamped show notes are below with references to every book and resource we mentioned in this episode. If you’d like to listen first and not spoil the surprise, don’t scroll down!
We are now including transcripts of the episode (this link only works on the main site). The goal here is to increase accessibility for our fans!
*Please note that all book titles linked below are Bookshop affiliate links. Your cost is the same, but a small portion of your purchase will come back to us to help offset the costs of the show. If you’d prefer to shop on Amazon, you can still do so here through our main storefront. Anything you buy there (even your laundry detergent, if you recently got obsessed with switching up your laundry game) kicks a small amount back to us. Thanks for your support!*
.
.
.
.
1:20 - Lessa’s ALA President Page
3:47 - Bookish Moment of the Week
4:13 - Lessa’s Good Morning America article
7:14 - Current Reads
7:30 - Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith (Lessa)
10:31 - Platonic by Marisa G. Franco
10:34 - The Life Council by Laura Tremaine
10:54 - Solomon’s Crown by Natasha Siegel (Kaytee)
14:36 - Kapaemahu by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson (Lessa)
19:12 - Sea Change by Gina Chung (Kaytee)
22:45 - Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout (Lessa)
27:13 - The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea (Kaytee)
27:20 - Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
27:33 - Santa Fe International Literary Festival
30:02 - Season 5: Episode 23
30:04 - Solito by Javier Zamora
31:46 - All Things American Library Association (ALA)
31:58 - The ALA Homepage
35:49 - Rainbow Round Table
52:11 - uniteagainstbookbans.org
54:19 - Meet Us At The Fountain
54:46 - I'm wishing for everyone to find that one book that changes their life and the way that they see the world. (Lessa)
55:11 - Libby
55:15 - Novelist
55:21 - I wish that publishers would help us get a book with different information on the Library of Congress page. (Kaytee)
55:28 - Library of Congress
57:14 - Lessa’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Website
Connect With Us:
Meredith is @meredith.reads on Instagram
Kaytee is @notesonbookmarks on Instagram
Mary is @maryreadsandsips on Instagram
Roxanna is @roxannathereader on Instagram
@currentlyreadingpodcast on Instagram
Support us at patreon.com/currentlyreadingpodcast and www.zazzle.com/store/currentlyreading
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi readers, welcome to the currently reading podcast. |
| 0:13.7 | We are bookish best friends who spend time every week talking about the books that we |
| 0:17.5 | read recently. |
| 0:18.8 | As you already know, we don't shy away from having strong opinions, so be ready. |
| 0:22.8 | We're lined on the chitchat, heavy on the book talk, and our descriptions will always |
| 0:26.0 | be spoiler free. |
| 0:27.6 | Today we'll discuss our current reads, a bookish deep dive, and then we'll visit the |
| 0:31.0 | fountain. |
| 0:32.0 | I'm Katie Cobb, a homeschooling mom of four living in New Mexico, and the library is my |
| 0:36.6 | happy place. |
| 0:37.6 | Today, I'm joined by Lesa Kanani Opua, Pelejo Lozara. |
| 0:42.5 | She is the president of the American Library Association and Adult Services Assistant Manager |
| 0:47.6 | at the Palos Verde's Library District, and we'll be taking questions from me and the |
| 0:52.1 | bookish friends about all things library. |
| 0:54.9 | This is episode number 40 of season five, and we are so glad you're here. |
| 0:59.0 | Lesa, welcome to currently reading. |
| 1:00.8 | Thank you so much for having me, Katie. |
| 1:02.3 | I'm so excited to be here. |
| 1:04.2 | I am so excited to have you here, and I did give our bookish friends the heads up that |
| 1:08.8 | I was going to be chatting with you today, and they are also very excited to have you here. |
| 1:14.0 | I love the excitement. |
| 1:15.0 | Perfect. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Meredith Schwartz, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Meredith Schwartz and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.