Overview
- Audible and Higher Ground announced the series on Monday, August 10, 2026, and said the podcast will debut exclusively on Audible on September 24, 2026.
- Each of the six episodes will pair Obama with a different guest to discuss one book that he says profoundly shaped his worldview.
- The six focal titles are The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré.
- Higher Ground and Audible described the project as the sixth release under their exclusive first-look deal that began in 2022 and as part of the Obamas’ ongoing post-presidential media work.
- Guests for each episode have not been announced yet, and the series aims to connect personal reading with wider questions about culture, belonging and civic life.