In this special Member Exclusive episode, Deesha and Dawnie kick off a recurring feature we call Iconic Stories — starting with James Baldwin’s ‘Sonny’s Blues,’ first published in 1957 in the Partisan Review. They discuss the prevalent themes of family and brotherhood, loss, drug addiction, and music, as well as the broader social and political contexts of Baldwin’s fiction and nonfiction.

Deesha Philyaw: “James Baldwin is the writer that made me want to be a writer.”

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Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned

• “Sonny’s Blues” (James Baldwin)
• Going To Meet The Man (James Baldwin)
• Daddy Was A Number Runner (Louise Meriwether)
• Go Tell It On The Mountain (James Baldwin)
• If Beale Street Could Talk (James Baldwin)
• Between The World And Me (Ta-Nehisi Coates)
• The Fire Next Time (James Baldwin)
• “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” (Joyce Carol Oates)
• Toni Morrison
• His Name Is George Floyd (Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa

Listening List:

• Charlie Parker

More from Deesha and Dawnie:

• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (Deesha Philyaw)
• The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (Dawnie Walton)

Produced by Ursa Story Company

Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton

Executive Producers: Deesha Philyaw, Dawnie Walton, and Mark Armstrong

Associate Producer: Marina Leigh

Episode Editor: Kelly Araja

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