The moment we’ve been waiting for has arrived: the former Reader in Chief is hosting a book podcast. Barack Obama’s summer reading lists and favorite reads of the year are always hotly anticipated. Now, Higher Ground, Barack and Michelle Obama’s media company, is teaming up with Audible for a six-part original podcast called A Great Book with Barack Obama.

In this series, “President Obama sits down with six luminaries to discuss the books that have profoundly shaped his worldview and our society.” The guests have not been announced yet, but we do know the books:

• 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
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré

President Barack Obama said,

“Great books have always helped me figure out who I am and what I believe.

The six books featured in this series have stayed with me throughout my life, and each one has something to teach us about the human experience.

For this podcast, I invited some friends to explore why they resonate, how they can shape our understanding of ourselves and each other, and why literature matters now more than ever.

I hope listeners will be inspired to discover or rediscover books that change the way they see themselves and the world.”

A Great Book with Barack Obama debuts on Audible September 24, 2026.