Summer Reading Club continues with Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. We explore why this story has resonated with so many readers and how its themes of place, hospitality, and human connection echo the kinds of stories we love to talk about on the podcast.

We discuss what the book has to say about truly seeing the people around us and draw connections to Oak Cliff. Whether you've already read the book or are looking for your next summer read, this conversation is a great place to start.

We kick off our Summer Reading Club with John Steinbeck's Cannery Row, a novel that finds humor, humanity, and unexpected beauty in the lives of a small working class neighborhood in depression-era California. Grant, Doug, and Savannah discuss why this classic still resonates today, exploring the ways place shapes identity, how community forms in unlikely spaces, and what Cannery Row can teach us about seeing the hidden stories in our own neighborhood.

Aaron Glover leads The Writer’s Garret, a 30-year-old literary arts organization rooted in Oak Cliff. In this episode, we talk about his path from musical theater and academia to executive director, and how the Writer’s Garret brings people together through the power of language. Aaron shares why empathy and connection are central to the organization’s mission, how programs like the Common Language Project and Poetry in Place foster belonging, and why Oak Cliff has quietly become one of the most vibrant literary hubs in Texas. We also explore the evolving role of the Trinity River in Dallas’s future—and the deep community that grows when people gather to write, listen, and share.

Claudia Vega is a lifelong educator turned community builder, bookstore owner, and literary advocate. In this episode, she shares how growing up in Oak Cliff with educator parents instilled a love of books—and how that love became action. Claudia and her husband John co-founded Whose Books, a neighborhood bookstore committed to access, representation, and joy, and ARCO, a nonprofit that builds reading culture through book gifting, programming, and removing barriers to reading. We talk about the obstacles she faced launching a bookstore in a “book desert,” the community’s response, and why cultivating a culture of reading is about equity, not just literacy. Along the way, Claudia reflects on browsing as a lost art, the power of story time, and what it really takes to start something from scratch in the place you call home.

Greg Brownderville is a poet, musician, professor of English at SMU, and editor of the Southwest Review. He joins us to talk about growing up in Pumpkin Bend, Arkansas, discovering community in Oak Cliff, and the deep influence of Southern folklore on his work. We dig into Firebones, his multimedia storytelling project, and Frontera Fest, a free literary and arts festival in Bishop Arts that blends voices from the U.S. and Latin America. Along the way, we talk ghosts, shade tree storytellers, and why literature should never be boring.