What is your brain’s thing? Michael Schur, best known as the creator of PARKS AND REC, BROOKLYN NINE-NINE, THE GOOD PLACE, and MAN ON THE INSIDE, talks about his new book, co-written with sports writer Joe Posnanski, called BIG FAN: TWO FRIENDS, 82,490 MILES, AND THE WILD, WONDERFUL SPORTS WE LOVE. Plus, the origins of his book HOW TO BE PERFECT and why he thinks AI is a threat to us each finding that special thing that makes our brains happy.

Jesse Thorn, the host of BULLSEYE and a co-founder of the Maximum Fun podcast network. Both projects grew out of Jesse’s college radio program, THE SOUND OF YOUNG AMERICA, and they’ve become a completely worker-owned network, producing over 40 podcasts.

We talk about growing up in San Francisco and how he came to love his father’s commitment to Christ’s principles, though choosing the path of atheism for himself

Rabbi Susan Goldberg has served on the Los Angeles Unified School District's Faith Advisory Council and the L.A. District Attorney's Interfaith Advisory Board. And Susan was the consulting rabbi for the Emmy-winning Amazon Prime series TRANSPARENT.

She's also founder of Nefesh, which calls itself “an open-hearted Jewish community, welcoming all identities, and cultivating empathy, love and justice.” Nefesh calls its members “kin” and practices implementing their shared values through social action.

Susan is a 5th generation Angelino, and the eldest of three children, born to activist parents. Her mother, an early childhood educator and advocate, founded the Echo Park Silver Lake People's Childcare Center, also known as The Play Group. Susan’s attorney father started the Working People's Law Center, which is still operating 50 years later.

Bill Cain, writer and Jesuit priest, discusses his two most recent books: THE DIARY OF JESUS CHRIST, which re-imagines the carpenter from Nazareth, and THE BOOK OF CAIN: ON ADDING A NEW BOOK TO THE FAMILY BIBLE, which tells of Bill being the primary caregiver for his dying mother.

You can check out some of his writing on Showtime’s YOUR HONOR, starring Bryan Cranston, as well as HOUSE OF CARDS and BLOODLINES on Netflix. A deeper dig would be his 1996 series, NOTHING SACRED, about a young priest trying to be true to his church in an evolving cultural landscape. Bill tackled, with a clear-eyed humanity, tough issues like abortion, domestic abuse and even the politics of the Catholic Church.

Author, translator, and mystic teacher, Mirabai Starr, whose newly revised edition of her 2013 book, GOD OF LOVE: A GUIDE TO THE HEART OF JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM, may be a balm to a world weary of politicization, polarization, ignorance and fear. She is also the author of WILD MERCY: LIVING THE FIERCE AND TENDER WISDOM OF THE WOMEN MYSTICS, in which she explores how women across faith traditions have found strength in personal connections with the holy.

Mirabai’s other books include translations of works by Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Teresa of Avila, and St. John of the Cross, as well as CARAVAN OF NO DESPAIR: A MEMOIR OF LOSS AND TRANSFORMATION. In CARAVAN, Mirabai chronicles her back-to-the-land, counter-culture upbringing in Taos, New Mexico.

Amy Ephron, author of the new mystery novel UNSEASONABLY COLD, says was fueled by a feeling of “collective grief”. You can hear Amy talk more on that subject in the documentary "Everything is Copy" about her eldest sister, Nora Ephron.

In addition to her books for adults, Amy has also written a trilogy of books for middle-grade readers: CASTLE IN THE MIST, CARNIVAL MAGIC and THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WALL. She also has a collection of autobiographical essays, LOOSE DIAMONDS, the title chapter being written in the wake of her house being robbed.

Samuel D. Hunter is a playwright best-known for THE WHALE, which he adapted for the film, directed by Darren Aronsky, for which Brendan Fraser won the Oscar for Best Actor.

His New York Drama Critics' Award winning play A CASE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, opens September 5th at the Rogue Machine Theatre in Los Angeles. The play is set in a cubicle in which two people are seated: Keith is a mortgage broker, and Ryan is a yogurt plant worker seeking to buy a plot of land that many decades ago belonged to his family.