Former President Barack Obama is returning to podcasting with a new series centered on literature, expanding the media portfolio he and former First Lady Michelle Obama have continued to build since leaving the White House.Obama announced Monday that he will host a six-episode podcast, “A Great Book With Barack Obama,” which will debut this month.
The series will explore six books that he says have shaped his views on politics, race, faith, and American society.
“At a time when fewer people are able to sit down with a book, it’s important to remember the joy and power that can come from reading,” Obama wrote in a social media post announcing the project.
“And some books don’t just tell a story — they change the way we see the world,” he added.
Each episode will focus on a different title and feature conversations about why the selected works remain relevant and what lessons readers can still draw from them.
The books chosen for the series are James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time,” Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon,” Cormac McCarthy’s “All the Pretty Horses,” Marilynne Robinson’s “Gilead,” Robert Penn Warren’s “All the King’s Men” and John le Carré’s “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.”
Obama said the podcast will include discussions with guests, although participants have not yet been announced.
“I invited some friends to explore why these books resonate, how they can shape our understanding of ourselves and each other, and why literature matters now more than ever,” he said.
Several of the selected authors wrote extensively about topics that have long been central to Obama’s public life, including race, political power, morality and American identity.
Morrison, in particular, shared a personal connection with Obama. He awarded the Nobel Prize-winning author the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 and later described her as a close friend after her death in 2019.
The podcast will be distributed through Audible and produced in partnership with Higher Ground, the media company Barack and Michelle Obama launched in 2018.
The new series is the latest addition to Higher Ground’s growing collection of films, documentaries and audio programs.
Previous projects include Michelle Obama’s “The Light Podcast,” the documentary “American Factory,” the Netflix film “Leave the World Behind” and “Rustin,” a biographical drama about civil rights leader Bayard Rustin.
Obama has maintained a strong public association with books since leaving office in 2017, regularly publishing annual reading recommendations and lists of his favorite books, movies and music.
The new podcast effectively expands that tradition by giving Obama an opportunity to spend an entire episode discussing individual works instead of simply recommending them to his followers.
The former president’s selections also span decades and genres, ranging from Baldwin’s examination of race in America and Warren’s political novel to McCarthy’s Western fiction and le Carré’s Cold War espionage story.
With the six-episode series scheduled to begin next month, the remaining major detail is Obama’s guest list, which has yet to be revealed.
This comes as the midterms are roughly two months away.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a powerful Republican super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, says it and its affiliated groups have raised more than $500 million ahead of the 2026 elections, giving Republicans a record-setting financial arsenal as they fight to preserve their Senate majority.
The fundraising haul represents more money than any previous Senate-focused political effort, according to SLF.
The organization alone has already committed more than $350 million to supporting Republican candidates across the Senate battlefield.
GOP groups have spent months building an enormous financial advantage designed to counter those pressures and force Democrats to defend races across an increasingly expensive Senate map.
SLF is already targeting critical contests in states including Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, and North Carolina, while pouring additional resources into other battlegrounds as Republicans seek not only to protect their majority but also potentially expand it.
“Thanks to Leader John Thune and our generous investors, Senate Leadership Fund and its affiliated groups have raised more resources than any other Senate effort in history,” SLF Executive Director Alex Latcham said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Meanwhile, Democrats are having difficulties raising money.
The Democratic National Committee has even been forced to use its headquarters building as collateral for a $15 million loan over the summer.
“However, we cannot slow down as Chuck Schumer and Radical Democrats seek to take our nation back to open borders, rampant crime and crushing inflation,” Latcham added.