On the heels of his latest book The Message, author Ta-Nehisi Coates joins Sam for a conversation in Los Angeles.

At the top, they discuss how The Case for Reparations first guided these essays (5:00), Coates’ early education growing up in West Baltimore (13:00), and his powerful, recent dispatches from South Carolina (21:00) and Palestine (28:34).

On the back-half, Coates reflects on his ten-day trip to the Middle East (35:10), why he believes the mainstream media prioritizes “factual complexity over self-evident morality” (39:20), and this week’s U.S. election (44:50). To close, a formative passage from James Baldwin (50:40) and a story about love and writing (55:37).

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Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect, Up in the Air) has been a fixture in Hollywood for the past fifteen years. She joins us this week to discuss Woman of the Hour, her directorial debut and most revealing project to date.

At the top, we dive into the film’s true crime story (7:00), its examination of gender politics in the 1970s (19:29), and the personal Hollywood experiences Anna embedded into this project (22:00). Then, Kendrick reflects on her early years as a child actor: commuting from Portland, Maine into New York City for work (25:40), receiving a Tony nomination at twelve (29:50), and moving to Los Angeles at seventeen (35:10).

On the back-half, Anna unpacks the “dissociative” process of directing a film (38:25), the mentorship she received from actor and collaborator Jake Johnson (45:00), and the dangers of workaholism (47:19). To close, she shares a passage from her memoir Scrappy Little Nobody (57:20) and describes the work she hopes to make in years to come (1:00:00).

Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at sf@talkeasypod.com.

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For the past decade, Jason Reynolds has become an inspiring voice in the literary world. He’s a New York Times bestselling author and as of this month, a 2024 MacArthur fellow.

Reynolds sits with us today to share his latest YA novel Twenty-Four Seconds from Now… (7:45), why he was interested in writing a story about boyhood and masculinity (12:05), and an early passage from the book (15:52) that captures the distinct rhythm of his writing (17:59). Then, we talk about the story structure of this new novel (19:00), how Queen Latifah’s Black Reign introduced him to poetry (21:45), and how his early memories of writing (27:45) and a singular high school teacher (35:17) saved his life.

On the back-half, Reynolds describes a meaningful post-college job at rag & bone (46:02), what he’s seen in the education system post-pandemic (59:30), his hope for the next generation (1:02:30), and his lifelong mission to embolden students to see the value in their own narratives (1:14:23).

Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at sf@talkeasypod.com.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.