New Books Network Twelve Lives: Creating Literary Community with Raymond Williams, PhD
Apr 19, 2026
Raymond Williams, PhD in Government and Politics and literary community organizer, runs reading challenges and co-runs Black Men Read. He discusses creating the 12 Lives Challenge and his Zora and Baldwin projects. Short, flexible reading lists, the distinction between biography and memoir, and how readers can join and shape communal reading are highlighted in lively conversation.
41:16
Reading An Author Across Genres Reveals Craft
- Reading an author's multiple genres reveals their craft range because both Hurston and Baldwin wrote novels, essays, plays, and more.
- After the Zora Challenge Raymond wanted to learn about her life and read three biographies to compare facts with her memoir.
Run A 12 Biographies Challenge
- Do a biographies-only reading challenge by picking 12 biographies to deepen historical understanding over a year.
- Raymond designed 12 Lives for 2026 to encourage reading biographies broadly, including short, focused, or living-person bios.
Why Biographies Differ From Memoirs
- Biographies and memoirs are often conflated, but biographies are research-driven works using archives and interviews, while memoirs can be subjective or selective.
- Raymond used Hurston's Dust Tracks on a Road to show memoir inaccuracies corrected by subsequent biographies.
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Intro
00:00 • 2min
How they connected on Instagram
01:32 • 2min
Origins of the Zora reading challenge
03:08 • 2min
Reading whole catalogs: scope and limits
05:16 • 49sec
What the Zora and Baldwin challenges taught him
06:05 • 1min
Introducing the 12 Lives biography challenge
07:31 • 3min
Memoir versus biography: key differences
10:04 • 2min
Craft, ghostwriters, and celebrity memoirs
12:12 • 2min
Favorite biographies that linger
13:56 • 6min
How he selects books for 12 Lives
19:32 • 1min
Listeners' favorite biographies and recommendations
20:45 • 3min
Tell Her Story and Eleanor Bumpers
24:01 • 2min
What Raymond plans to read next
25:52 • 3min
More anticipated biographies for 2026
29:18 • 2min
Sullivan's recommendations to bump up
31:26 • 5min
Genre boundaries and hybrid life-writing
36:01 • 40sec
How to join the 12 Lives Challenge
36:41 • 4min
Outro
40:11 • 53sec
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Gene Toomer (biography)
George Hutchinson
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A Soldier's Wife
My Mother, the Marvelous Mrs. Marilyn A. Underwood
Blair Underwood
Blair Underwood's 'A Soldier's Wife' recounts the life of his mother, Marilyn A. Underwood, focusing on her role as a military spouse and the personal and familial challenges she navigated.
The memoir combines intimate family stories with broader reflections on duty, resilience, and the sacrifices often demanded of military families.
Through vivid recollection and affectionate portrayal, Underwood honors his mother's influence and the durability of her character.
The book also explores themes of identity, service, and the intersection of private life with national institutions.
It offers both a personal tribute and a contextualized portrait of a particular American experience.
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Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia Butler
Susan N. Morris
Susan N. Morris's 'Positive Obsession' explores the life, literary development, and cultural significance of Octavia Butler, a pioneering African American science fiction author.
The biography traces Butler's upbringing, creative struggles, and eventual recognition, situating her novels and themes within broader conversations about race, gender, and speculative fiction.
Morris draws on interviews, archival materials, and close readings to illuminate Butler's imaginative strategies and obsessions that shaped her work.
The book highlights Butler's influence on contemporary writers and the lasting power of her speculative visions.
It serves both as a literary biography and as an entry point for readers new to Butler's writing.
#5805
• Mentioned in 9 episodes
Tell Her Story
Nijay Gupta
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A Matter of Complexion
The Fictions of Charles W. Chesnutt
Tessa (last name mispronounced in transcript)
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The Speech
an historic filibuster on corporate greed and the decline of our middle class
Bernie Sanders
#97270
Something We Said, Richard Pryor, A Notorious Word and Me
Elizabeth Sordor Pryor
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You Don't Know Us Negroes
Essays by Zora Neale Hurston (collection)
Zora Neale Hurston
‘You Don't Know Us Negroes’ is an essay collection that gathers Zora Neale Hurston's nonfiction writing across much of her career, highlighting her perspectives on Black life, folklore, and American culture.
The collection showcases Hurston's sharp voice, ethnographic interest, and polemical essays that combine humor, critique, and cultural observation.
Assembling these essays offers readers a broader view of Hurston beyond her fiction, revealing her public persona and the controversies that sometimes surrounded her work.
The book contextualizes Hurston within the Harlem Renaissance and later debates about representation and authenticity.
It serves as a valuable companion to her novels and plays, deepening understanding of her methods and commitments as a writer-anthropologist.
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The Seminarian
Hart Hanson
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• Mentioned in 30 episodes
Parable of the Sower
Octavia Butler
Published in 1993, 'Parable of the Sower' is a dark and vivid portrayal of a future where global climate change and economic crises have led to social chaos.
The story is told through the diary entries of Lauren Olamina, a 15-year-old Black girl living in a gated community near Los Angeles.
Lauren suffers from hyperempathy, a condition that makes her feel the pain and pleasure of others.
As her community is destroyed by external threats, Lauren embarks on a perilous journey north, developing a new faith called Earthseed along the way.
Earthseed's central doctrine is that 'God is Change' and cannot be resisted, but can be influenced.
The novel explores themes of survival, faith, family, hope, and community in a world torn apart by environmental devastation, economic collapse, and violence.
#83126
The Making of Martin Luther
Richard Rex
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The Remarkable Life of Reed Pegram
Ethelene Whitmire
#3664
• Mentioned in 14 episodes
Kindred
About the Neanderthals
Rachel Pope
This book is not mentioned in the transcript, but the episode description mentions Rebecca Wragg-Sykes' book, 'Kindred', which is about Neanderthals.
The book likely explores the social structures and behaviors of Neanderthals, offering insights into early human societies.
It may challenge traditional assumptions about early human life and gender roles.
The book's significance lies in its contribution to our understanding of Neanderthal culture and its implications for broader anthropological studies.
It may also touch upon the broader themes of human evolution and adaptation.
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Ida
A Sword Among Lions
Paula J. Giddings
This biography by Paula J. Giddings provides a detailed account of Ida B. Wells' life and activism, highlighting her role in the anti-lynching movement and her contributions to women's suffrage.
The book explores Wells' personal struggles and her impact on American civil rights history.
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May we forever stand
Imani Perry
#968
• Mentioned in 40 episodes
Becoming
Michelle Obama
In her memoir, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address.
The book is divided into three sections: Becoming Me, Becoming Us, and Becoming More, reflecting her journey from her early life, through her marriage and career, to her role as the First Lady of the United States.
With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms.
#57591
The dead are arising
the life of Malcolm X / Les Payne and Tamara Payne.
Les Payne
Tamara Payne
This biography, co-authored by Les and Tamara Payne, offers a meticulously researched account of Malcolm X's life, from his early days as a petty criminal to his transformation into a devoted moralist and revolutionary.
The book corrects historical narratives and provides fresh insights into Malcolm X's role in the African American freedom struggle.
It won the 2020 National Book Award for Nonfiction and the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.
#38504
Dust tracks on a road
Zora Neale Hurston
'Dust Tracks on a Road' is Zora Neale Hurston's autobiography, chronicling her life from her childhood in Florida to her experiences as an anthropologist and writer.
From the moment I began working with the New Books Network, my vision was bigger than author interviews. I envisioned my platform one where people could connect what they were hearing about the past to their own lives in the present and, in that way, perhaps see themselves as an important part of a continually-evolving community. Through this work, I have been fortunate to connect, not only authors, but also with readers and thinkers who, like me, are committed to the preservation and expansion of our collective archive.
Raymond Williams is one such person. Raymond has a PhD in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park. He was an executive board member of Black Readers Con, and is currently an administrator of the Black Men Read Book Club sponsored by Resist Booksellers. I was thrilled to have Raymond on the podcast to talk about the creation of literary community around reading challenges, including those centering Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, and, for 2026, what Raymond calls, “The 12 Lives Challenge.” Listen in as we discuss the work he is doing to cultivate an intellectually curious community of real-life readers in the virtual world.
You can find Raymond on Instagram, and the 12 Lives Challenge on StoryGraph.
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