In Shelf Awareness, a reviewer of Mattilda Berstein Sycamore's latest book "Sketchstasy" wrote, “If you've heard her read, you know Sycamore's voice is one in a zillion. She’s at her very best in Sketchtasy.” Click Play to (literally) hear for yourself. Largely self-educated and widely read, Mattilda is wise and whimsical. It's a magnetic combination. Her reading story takes an important turn when she moves to San Francisco at 19 and meets a vibrant queer community that loves to read as much as she does.

"I really think that being obsessed with books and reading and other people's stories has had a huge impact on pretty much every aspect of my life," says journalist and host of the Call Your Girlfriend podcast, Ann Friedman. In this episode of The Spine, hear how she got away with checking out more than the 10 books allowed to children with library cards, how reading bell hooks shaped her understanding of feminism, and which books she did NOT like (hint: anything with petticoats and bonnets). It's a thoughtful, insightful conversation. https://thespineshow.com/ann-friedman

A mixed-race child of an immigrant, Iain Haley Pollock began reading books his father read as a child, a tradition he carries on with his own kids. Two of the most influential books have been poetry collections, where he was able to discover multiple poets at once. Never underestimate the anthology! His conversation with the host, Gail Marie, ends with the story of how and why he read Malcolm X's autobiography...as a fourth grader. SHOW NOTES: https://thespineshow.com/iain-haley-pollock/