Kavita Das is a an author and mother who has worked for social change for close to fifteen years, addressing issues ranging from community and housing inequities, to public health disparities, to racial injustice. Her first book Poignant Song: The Life and Music of Lakshmi Shankar tells the life story of Grammy-nominated Hindustani singer Lakshmi Shankar.

Kavita has been a regular contributor to NBC News Asian America, Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Rumpus. In addition, her work has been published in Salon, WIRED, Poets & Writers, Catapult, LitHub, Tin House, Longreads, Kenyon Review, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Guernica, McSweeney’s, Fast Company, Quartz, Colorlines, Romper, and elsewhere.

Kavita created the popular “Writing About Social Issues” nonfiction seminar, which inspired Craft and Conscience, and has taught at the New School and continues to teach across multiple venues and serve as a guest lecturer.

Kavita Das is currently a Masters in Fine Arts candidate in creative nonfiction and screenwriting at Antioch University where she is the Eloise Klein Healy Scholar. Previously, she received a B.A. in Urban Studies from Bryn Mawr College.

She lives in her hometown of New York City and tries to keep up with the city that never sleeps and her six-year-old daughter Daya.

It was a delight to welcome Helio - aka @jupiterbaal - back to the show. Helio is a history and politics content creator and essayist. We can talk about anything and everything, and we pretty much do. It's a long one, so grab a cuppa or take us on a walk with you and join in on the conversation.

⁠Helio IG⁠

⁠Leah IG⁠

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Joanna Ho is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of many children’s books including my favorite, Eyes that Kiss in the Corners. She is a writer, educator, and mother with a passion for anti-bias, anti-racism, and equity work. She co-hosts the Kidlit Happy Hour podcast.

In our conversation, we talk about the need to build against censorship and the hope we both feel in seeing the people - and especially the children - persist against silencing. We also hear about Joanna’s experience from ideation to publishing to becoming a bestseller. She is an inspiring example of someone who refuses to compromises her values and despite facing challenges, continues to bring her creative work to life.

Joanna is on the leadership team of Authors Against Book Bans, which she encourages all creators - authors, writers, illustrators - to join here.

Joanna website

Joanna IG

Leah IG