Obama Announces New Podcast Just Months Before Midterms

Former President Barack Obama is stepping back behind the microphone with a new media project, continuing the expansion of the entertainment business he and former first lady Michelle Obama have built since leaving the White House.

Obama announced Monday that he will host a six-episode podcast titled “A Great Book With Barack Obama,” scheduled to debut next month. The series will focus on six books that helped shape his views on politics, religion, race, morality and American life.

“At a time when fewer people are able to sit down with a book, it’s important to remember the joy and power that can come from reading,” Obama wrote while announcing the podcast on social media.

“And some books don’t just tell a story — they change the way we see the world,” he added.

Rather than simply offering another version of the reading lists Obama regularly publishes, each episode will take a deeper look at one book and examine why he believes it remains relevant.

The six selections are 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.”

Obama said friends will join him for discussions throughout the series, although the complete guest lineup has not yet been announced.

“I invited some friends to explore why these books resonate, how they can shape our understanding of ourselves and each other, and why literature matters now more than ever,” Obama said.

The selections touch on themes that have long appeared in Obama’s political speeches and post-presidential work, including race, faith, political power, American history and national identity.

One of the featured authors, Toni Morrison, also had a personal connection to Obama. As president, he awarded the Nobel Prize-winning novelist the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Following Morrison’s death in 2019, Obama described her as a “good friend.”

The podcast will be distributed through Audible and produced with Higher Ground, the media company the Obamas established in 2018.

The project further expands a post-White House media operation that now includes podcasts, documentaries, feature films and other programming.

Higher Ground previously worked with Audible on “Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast,” an 11-episode series released between 2023 and 2024.

Barack Obama has also collaborated with author Malcolm Gladwell on “Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise,” an eight-part series examining the Reconstruction era following the Civil War and its lasting effects on the country.

Higher Ground’s portfolio extends well beyond audio programming. Its productions have included the Academy Award-winning documentary “American Factory,” Netflix’s “Leave the World Behind” and “Rustin,” the biographical drama centered on civil rights activist Bayard Rustin.

The expanding media operation illustrates how the Obamas have developed a substantial cultural and entertainment presence after leaving Washington, moving beyond the traditional post-presidential circuit of speeches, political campaigning and memoirs.

Books, in particular, have remained central to Barack Obama’s public persona since his presidency ended in January 2017.

The former president routinely publishes summer reading recommendations and year-end lists featuring books, films and music. His latest podcast effectively turns that tradition into a full-fledged media product, allowing him to devote individual episodes to works he considers particularly influential.

The choices span several genres and generations, from Baldwin’s writing on race in America and Warren’s exploration of political power to McCarthy’s Western fiction and le Carré’s Cold War espionage novel.

With the six-episode series expected to launch next month, one significant piece of the project remains under wraps: the identities of the guests who will join Obama for the conversations.