Barack Obama Launches Sept. 24 Book Podcast on Audible

Q: Who are the mysterious guests joining Obama on his new Audible podcast to dissect six profound literary masterpieces?

They have not been identified yet. Audible and Higher Ground said the six guests joining Barack Obama on “A Great Book With Barack Obama” are still unannounced. What is known is the type of guests Obama will have: the companies described them as “thinkers, writers, and artists,” while other reports referred to them as “six luminaries” and, in Obama’s own words, “some friends.” Each will join him for one episode of the six-part Audible series. The podcast, debuting Sept. 24, will center on six books that Obama says shaped his worldview: James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time,” Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon,” Cormac McCarthy’s “All the Pretty Horses,” Marilynne Robinson’s “Gilead,” Robert Penn Warren’s “All the King’s Men,” and John le Carré’s “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.” So the answer to the mystery is simple: the guests remain under wraps for now, with only their broad description released publicly.

3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Aug 10

Sept. 24 is the launch date for “A Great Book With Barack Obama,” a new Audible podcast in which the former president will talk with guests about books that shaped them.
Obama framed the show as a push to revive reading, saying fewer people now sit down with books even though some volumes can change how people see the world.
Higher Ground — the production company Obama founded with Michelle Obama — is making the podcast with Audible, extending the couple’s media partnership.
Since leaving office in 2017, Obama has issued semiannual reading lists and recently teamed with Malcolm Gladwell on an eight-part podcast about the Reconstruction era.