Uploaded August 2023 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago

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Recorded August 8, 2023

R. Eric Thomas is the author of the Lambda Literary Award finalist Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul America, a bestselling essay collection that tackles just what it means to be an “other” in the maelstrom of modern America. For four years he wrote Elle’s “Eric Reads the News,” a daily humor column that lambasted pop culture, celebrity, and politics. Also a renowned television writer and playwright, he has garnered many awards, including the Barrymore Award and the Dramatists Guild Lanford Wilson Award. Thomas is the longtime host of The Moth StorySlams in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, and his writing has been published in The New York Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer, among other periodicals. In his latest essay collection, he reflects on whether or not we really can go home again as he makes a new life in his hometown of Baltimore.

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