This week, we’re giving you a (slightly early) end-of-the-year present: our conversation with Jarrett Krosoczka. I think we can all agree that 2018 was mostly another dumpster fire of a year in so many respects. But in others (such as publishing), it was a great year.

Among other things, it was the year that we were all gifted with Krosoczka’s graphic novel memoir, Hey, Kiddo. You can check out my review of the book here, where I explain how it manages to walk that thin line and be both emotionally draining and uplifting. In short, it’s firmly in my Top 5 for the year.

Hey, Kiddo also happens to be Krosoczka’s 38th book and grew not only out of his own life experiences but also as an extension of an incredibly popular TED Talk he gave back in 2014.

On this episode, we talk about sharing such an intensely personal story with the world, the reception the book has gotten (it was nominated for a National Book Award, among MANY other awards), using the graphic novel format to his advantage for this story, and why the world needs compassion and empathy now more than ever before.

You can listen on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, TuneIn, Stitcher, and YouTube; you can follow the RSS feed; or you can listen right here!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Connect:

• Jarrett Krosoczka is on Twitter here.
• The show is on Twitter here.
• Jamie is on Twitter and Instagram as @theroarbots.
• Shiri is on Twitter as @SWSondheimer.