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This episode features our conversation with Johnisha Matthews Levi, which was live-streamed on September 27, 2026.

Born and raised in Washington, DC, Johnisha Matthews Levi brings a critical eye to her writing based on her experiences as a development professional for social impact nonprofits, a former litigation attorney, and a culinarian. She graduated from Harvard University, New York University School of Law, and Johnson & Wales University. Her writing has appeared in Yes! Media, Wildsam, the kitchn, and Northern Virginia Magazine. Her first book, Number's Up: Cracking the Code of an American Family (University Press of Kentucky, 2025), is a finalist for the 2026 Tennessee Book Award for Nonfiction. She lives in Nashville.

During this episode, we chatted about her debut book, Numbers Up.

Levi's stirring memoir centers on her brilliant but troubled father, a Black World War II radioman who, facing economic barriers after his naval service, reinvents himself as a "numbers man" for an underground gambling operation. The job enables John Matthews to provide for his loved ones and to achieve a level of success far beyond his childhood dreams in the impoverished Jim Crow South. In the process, he becomes an indirect target of law enforcement.

By examining the circumstances of her father's incarceration, Levi explores how multiple generations of the Matthews family have been haunted by the specter of violence against Black people. Number's Up offers a unique but quintessentially American story of survival through ingenuity as it asks: Is forgiveness the sole means of moving forward?

To learn more about Johnisha and her work, please visit johnishamatthewslevi.com.

Purchase your copy of Numbers Up from our Bookshop.

Find Johnisha on Instagram: @johnishamatthewslevi

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