Ideas & Action: Recent Episodes
One World
The Ideas and Action podcast features crucial conversations with some of today’s leading thinkers and activists published by One World, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Join Editor-in-Chief Chris Jackson and the One World team as they explore the challenges facing our society today and share ideas and perspectives from the likes of Ibram Kendi, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alicia Garza, Bryan Stevenson, Heather McGhee, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, and more, that will help us rethink our collective past, understand our present world, and create brighter futures together.
Join award-winning journalist Adam Serwer and his One World editor Elizabeth Mendez Berry as they discuss Adam's New York Times-bestselling book, The Cruelty is the Point, a calm, clear-eyed look at the currents of cruelty that elevated Donald Trump to the presidency—and how we can prevent history from repeating itself.
For more information on One World and this author, visit www.oneworldlit.com.
Check out the live wrap party to cap off Season 1 of Ideas & Action, featuring an all-star panel of One World voices from this season, plus a sneak preview from two new guests in Season 2. Hosted by OW Senior Publishing Manager, Mika Kasuga, you'll hear from Heather McGhee, author of The Sum of Us; Valarie Kaur, author of See No Stranger; Quiara Alegría Hudes, author of My Broken Language; Alicia Garza, author of The Purpose of Power and host of the hit podcast Lady Don't Take No; Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of Sabrina & Corina; Nate Marshall, author of Finna; Morgan Parker, poet and novelist; Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of We Cast a Shadow; and Riva Lehrer, author of Golem Girl.
For more information about these authors and their books, visit oneworldlit.com or penguinrandomhouse.com.
In this bonus episode, the One World team shares an excerpt of Maria Dahvana Headley’s short story called “Read after Burning,” from the audiobook of A People’s Future of the United States, a spectacular collection of speculative fiction from 25 extraordinary writers, edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams. In this excerpt from "Read After Burning," the main character is born into a broken, oppressive world where books and stories are being destroyed. Despite witnessing and enduring countless horrors and injustices, the narrator still finds hope and a way to survive through ingenuity and imagination. To get the full story and/or the whole collection, visit www.penguinrandomhouse.com.
Join Nicole Counts and Mika Kasuga from the One World team as they explore how we can harness the power of a concept called "revolutionary love" to face down adversity, heal the wounds of the past, and fight for a world that is more just, more hopeful, and more free, and that embraces everyone.Featuring perspectives from Valarie Kaur, founder of the Revolutionary Love Project, civil rights activist, and author of See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love.
For more information on One World and this author, visit www.oneworldlit.com.
In this bonus episode, the One World team shares a special excerpt of a short story called “Tomi” from the audiobook of Sabrina and Corina, Kali Fajardo-Anstine’s debut story collection. In “Tomi”, a woman released from prison returns home to a gentrified city she barely recognizes as the one she grew up in. As she struggles to find her footing post-incarceration, she also tries to help her young nephew, Tomi, as he grapples with an apathetic society ill-equipped to handle his needs. For more information or to purchase the whole collection, visit www.penguinrandomhouse.com.
Join Chris Jackson and Elizabeth Méndez Berry on the One World team as they explore the deeply entrenched problems in our criminal justice systems that prevent justice from actually being served, and how we can start to create a fairer, more equitable world for individuals and communities as a whole. Featuring expert perspectives from Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, and Ibram X. Kendi, Director of the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University and bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist.
For more information on One World and these authors, visit www.oneworldlit.com.
In this bonus episode, the One World team shares a special excerpt from the audiobook of See No Stranger, Valarie Kaur's memoir and manifesto on revolutionary love, a practice that can transform us and help us fix a broken world and avoid breaking ourselves in the process. Valarie discusses the importance of recognizing the humanity of our opponents—personal, professional, and ideological—and why listening to people we do not agree with enables us to fight in smarter ways for justice.
Join Nicole Counts and Elizabeth Méndez Berry on the One World team to explore how storytelling and art can be potent remedies to address individual and communal pain and begin the collective healing process. Featuring perspectives from Quiara Alegría Hudes, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and author of My Broken Language, and Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, author of The Undocumented Americans, a finalist for the National Book Award.
For more information on One World and these authors, visit www.oneworldlit.com.
In this bonus episode, the One World team shares a special selection of poems from the audiobook of Finna, Nate Marshall’s brilliantly witty and wise collection that explores the Black vernacular, its influence on American culture, its necessity for survival, and how it offers a new language of hope. We hope hearing Nate read his poems will expand your own notions of the possibility and power of words to push for freedom for all.
Join Nicole Counts and Mika Kasuga from the One World team as they delve into how language--and the way we use it--can empower us, liberate us, and help us discover and embrace the sacred in our everyday lives. Featuring perspectives fromNate Marshall, an award-winning writer, rapper, and author of the poetry collection, Finna, and Morgan Parker, author of the poetry collections Other People’s Comfort Keeps Me Up At Night, There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé, and Magical Negro, winner of the 2019 National Book Critics Circle Award.
For more information on One World and these authors, visitwww.oneworldlit.com.
In this bonus episode, the One World team shares a special excerpt from the audiobook of Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, by Cathy Park Hong. Thisshowcases the surprising way Cathy arrived at her theory of minor feelings for minorities—via the profane genius of Richard Pryor’s stand-up comedy—and the way that comedy allows us to question, mock, and defang (even if only for a moment) casual, everyday discrimination. What happens when we speak up about our discomfort? What happens when we refuse to play along and accept someone else’s version of our reality? We hope hearing Cathy’s process will inspire you into ideas and action of your own.
The One World team delves into one of the core tensions at the heart of U.S. history and culture: Who counts as an American and how do we achieve the promise of liberty and justice for all, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, immigration status, or otherwise? Featuring perspectives from Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of Between The World And Me and other books; Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, author of What The Eyes Don't See; Ibram X. Kendi, author of How To Be An Antiracist; and Heather McGhee, author of The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone And How We Can Prosper Together.
For more information on One World and these authors, visit www.oneworldlit.com.
In this bonus episode, the One World team shares a special excerpt from the audiobook of All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson. This particular essay, titled “Calling In,” is by Xiye Bastida, a young Mexican climate justice activist and is narrated by Bahni Turpin. We hope hearing Xiye’s thoughts and advice will inspire you into ideas and action of your own.
The One World team tackles the topics of activism and organizing and explores how a moment of injustice evolves into a social movement that changes our policies and politics, our language, and our sense of what’s possible. Featuring perspectives from Alicia Garza, co-creator of Black Lives Matter and author of The Purpose of Power, and Wes Moore, bestselling author of Five Days and CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation.
For more information on One World and these authors, visit www.oneworldlit.com.
Welcome to the Ideas & Action podcast, brought to you by One World, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Starting February 18th, tune in each Thursday as the One World team explores different challenges facing our society and shares perspectives and advice from their authors to understand how we’ve gotten to where we are and how we can envision and build a better future together. You’ll hear from leading thinkers and activists, including Ibram Kendi, Bryan Stevenson, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alicia Garza, Heather McGhee, and more—on how they're working to create a more humane, less hostile world for us all, with the hope these will help spark your own ideas and actions too.
Join the One World community! For more information and updates, visit OneWorldLit.com and follow One World on social at @oneworldbooks on Instagram and @OneWorldLit on Twitter.