Gays Reading

Jason Blitman talks with singer-songwriter and queer icon Ani DiFranco about her reading life and the story behind her new book, The Spirit of Ani.

ANI DiFRANCO is a Grammy Award–winning singer-songwriter and musician who has released twenty-three albums, traversing genres and addressing a range of autobiographical, political, and social issues. She is widely considered a feminist icon, and created her own record label, Righteous Babe Records, in 1990. She regularly releases new music, and continues her decades-long career as a major touring artist. DiFranco released a collection of poems and paintings titled Verses in 2007. Her memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream, was a New York Times bestseller, and she is the author of two children’s books, The Knowing and Show Up and Vote. In 2024, she completed a five-month run on Broadway in the role of Persephone in Hadestown.
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Host Jason Blitman sits down with author Amy Jo Burns — who returns to Gays Reading after co-interviewing Abraham Verghese with Jason in summer 2024 — to discuss her latest novel, Wait for Me, the March pick for Read with Jenna's book club.

Conversation highlights include:
🎶 Amy Jo's relationship to (and the power of) music
🫂 Embracing your authentic self
🖼️ Commercialization of art

Amy Jo Burns is the author of the memoir Cinderland and the novel Shiner, which was a Barnes & Noble Discover pick and an NPR Best Book of the Year. Her novel Mercury was a Barnes & Noble Book Club pick, a Book of the Month selection, a People Magazine Book of the Week, and an Editor's Choice at The New York Times. A western Pennsylvania native, she lives in New Jersey with her family.
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Host Jason Blitman talks to RuPaul's Drag Race runner-up and Miss Congeniality, Sapphira Cristál about what she's been reading as well as about what folks can expect from her new comedy tour, One Slue Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Sapphira Cristál (runner-up and Miss Congeniality of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16) is a classically trained opera singer, composer, and drag queen known for her theatrical lip syncs and six-octave range. She is renowned as a charismatic host who forges a special connection with her audiences. Sapphira holds 16 pageant crowns and has performed globally. In 2024, she was thrice the guest artist in Madonna’s Celebration Tour, and she debuted her original operatic production, Soundcake, with Monét X Change and Thorgy Thor at Lincoln Center. Afterward, she brought her one-woman show, The Cristál Ball Tour, across North America.

Sapphira works to inspire young people through appearances at colleges, youth camps, and high schools. She taught several years of master classes in drag makeup and performance at Emerson College, and she has given artist talks at Rockland Community College. An experienced attitude and stage presence coach, Sapphira has also taught master classes at the Philadelphia Burlesque Academy and various dance studios.

Whenever she gets the chance, Sapphira partners with charitable organizations to raise funds to change people's lives. Her personal credo is: "There is no better exercise for the heart than reaching down to lift someone up," and she has made it her mission to uplift, encourage and inspire those around her.
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Host Jason Blitman talks to Oprah's Book Club pick Tayari Jones about Kin, her long-awaited new novel, nearly a decade in the making.

Conversation highlights include:
🔎 A Google-tangent about the etymology of the word "kin"
🌈 On writing an overtly queer book
🍰 The best kind of red velvet cake

Per the conversation, here is the link to Motherhood Beyond Bars:
https://www.motherhoodbeyond.org/

Tayari Jones is the author of four novels, most recently An American Marriage, which was an Oprah’s Book Club selection and also appeared on Barack Obama’s summer reading list and his year-end roundup. It won the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and an NAACP Image Award and has been published in two dozen countries. Jones is the C.H. Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University and lives in Atlanta.
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Host Jason Blitman talks to everyone's favorite influencer and bestie, Misha Brown aka @yourbestiemisha, about what he's been reading as well as his new book Be Your Own Bestie: A No-Nonsense Guide to Changing the Way You Treat Yourself

Misha Brown is an undeniable entertainment powerhouse who excels as an influencer, podcast host, and performer. With a knack for captivating audiences, he shot to notoriety on TikTok in 2021 with the viral Lessons in Not Crossing a Gay Man series, amassing over 6 million followers. Named Motivational Creator of the Year and honored by the Webby Awards for social impact, he also earned a Best Comedy Podcast nomination from the Podcast Academy. Misha’s work has been spotlighted by People, USA Today, and Good Morning America, cementing his status as one of the most compelling voices online.
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