For the first episode of the Contraband Reading Society, I invited Rayna — my first guest, my long‑time conversation partner, and one of the few people who can sit with the hard questions without flinching. Together, we didn’t just talk about the story. We talked about the timing — the world Butler was writing from, the world she was writing toward, and the world we’re living in now.
Looking back on our conversation on Season 2 Episode 7 of The Black Maggie Podcast, reading this book together is on brand for our friendship story. We have been contemplating how to navigate a path forward for quite some time. Parable of the Sower seems like something we would have gotten to much earlier, but I’m sure we’re both glad that we didn’t make this attempt at the height of the Quarantine section of the COVID pandemic.
Why This Conversation Belongs Outside the Coffee Shops
Black folks have always done our deepest thinking in community, kitchens, porches, pews, salons, stoops. But somewhere along the way, the conversations that matter most got pushed into private corners.
The Contraband Reading Society is my refusal of that.
It’s an invitation to read the books polite society would prefer we leave alone.
To ask the questions we were told were “too much.”
To sit with the texts that stretch us, unsettle us, and ultimately free us.
Having Rayna as the first guest felt right. She brings the kind of grounded clarity that makes you feel seen — the kind of presence that reminds you you’re not the only one trying to make sense of the world while it shifts under your feet.
Read With Us
I am a strong proponent of the public library. I will be offering books curated prioritizing banned authors and marginalized voices via the sponsoring business Rich Godmother’s Estate Ltd. Until the books are available, you can grab the latest Contraband Reading Society Merch to help keep the podcast going.
👉🏾 Support the Society Here: RichGodmother.com
Closing Thought
As I stated in the podcast, “There are two types of people in the world. Those who have read this book, and those who have not.”
Black Millennials are rewriting what it means to be spiritual, grounded, and free.
We’re questioning everything we were told to accept.
We’re building new worlds in the shell of the old ones.
Best of all, we’re doing it together.
Welcome to the Contraband Reading Society.
We’re reading the things they told us not to, and finding ourselves in the process.
Interested in joining the literary journey on the mic?
Black Maggie 