Former President Barack Obama is launching a podcast inspired by his love of reading.
The audiobook service Audible and Barack and Michelle Obama’s media company, Higher Ground, are developing A Great Book With Barack Obama, the companies announced in a news release. The six-episode series is set to debut next month.
Obama has long been known for his love of books. An author himself, he gained critical praise for his memoirs Dreams From My Father and A Promised Land, and he routinely shares his summer and end-of-year reading lists on social media. His most recent list, posted last month, included Tayari Jones’ Kin, George Saunders’ Vigil, and Michael Pollan’s A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness.
In his podcast, Audible and Higher Ground say, Obama “sits down with six luminaries to discuss the books that have profoundly shaped his worldview and our society.” The six guests have not yet been announced.
The books that Obama and his guests will discuss are The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré.
“Great books have always helped me figure out who I am and what I believe,” Obama said in a statement. “The six books featured in this series have stayed with me throughout my life, and each one has something to teach us about the human experience.”
A Great Book With Barack Obama is scheduled to premiere on Sept. 24.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
