August 1, 2025 • 9 mins
n this episode, host Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati speaks with award-winning author Jason Mott, whose latest novel People Like Us delves into themes of identity, belonging, and the power of story. Mott, a National Book Award winner, shares his creative process, his thoughts on representation in literature, and what continues to inspire his work. 📚 Join Jason Mott in Philadelphia!
He’ll be appearing on Tuesday, August 6 at 6 PM at Barnes & Noble in Center City to celebrate People Like Us.
🔗 RSVP Here
📱 Follow Jason Mott:
🌐 Website: jasonmottauthor.com
📘 Facebook: Facebook.com/JasonMottAuthor
🐦 X (Twitter): X.com/JasonMott Also featured is Trinia Jones, After School Leader at the Free Library of Philadelphia and Youth Services Assistant at the Narberth Community Library. She joins Vanesse for her monthly segment, What is Philadelphia Reading?, highlighting what’s trending with young readers across the city.
He’ll be appearing on Tuesday, August 6 at 6 PM at Barnes & Noble in Center City to celebrate People Like Us.
🔗 RSVP Here
📱 Follow Jason Mott:
🌐 Website: jasonmottauthor.com
📘 Facebook: Facebook.com/JasonMottAuthor
🐦 X (Twitter): X.com/JasonMott Also featured is Trinia Jones, After School Leader at the Free Library of Philadelphia and Youth Services Assistant at the Narberth Community Library. She joins Vanesse for her monthly segment, What is Philadelphia Reading?, highlighting what’s trending with young readers across the city.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to Inside, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Ballad Tomorrow, and as we do
once a month, every month, we have the fantastic, the
fabulous world traveler and literary giant Vanessa Lloyd Scumbody with
Vels Journeys.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hello, good morning.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I feel like we should be playing that song is
getting hot in here. You know, I am one of
those rare people who loves hot weather, and this is
the time of the year. I look forward to August
because I clean out garages, I clean out closets, and
this happens for me. But you know, we're in the
eighth month, and interestingly enough, the eighth month of the
year is globally the time that most people are born. Really, yes,
(00:41):
I did not know that. I had a lot to
do with the holidays. And to keep you in mind,
there are more people born on September ninth than any
of the day of the year in the United States.
So we'll get ready for September the eleventh. And I
just want to give a shout out because people say
every month you got a family member. I said, I
got a lot of people. My sister to kar instead,
my brother Stephen Lloyd. But I've got a very very
(01:03):
special guest this morning, someone who I work with years ago.
His name is Jason Mott, and he's going to be
in Philadelphia at Barnes and Noble on August sixth at
six pm. That's the Barnes and Noble on Chestnut Street.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
He is a.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Published author, and you know that's saying it lightly. I
mean he has won so many won the National Book Award,
he was Jenni's Book Club selection, he was acknowledged by
Ebony magazine. There's so many awards that he has won.
But I was honored to work on his first book,
The Return, which was turned into a television series. It
ran for two years. And he is such a humble individual.
(01:39):
And he also called from North Carolina, and a lot
of people don't know that the highest concentration of black
authors is in North Carolina. So Jason, thank you for
taking time out of your busy schedule before you take
off on that ten city tour.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Thank you for having me so in case.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I asked you a lot of questions, this is the
most important question that I want to know. Is your
book hell of a book? Am I featured in that book?
Or any encounters that we have.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I've read your other bo.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
No, no, no, you made it through that book unscathed.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
You're okay, okay, Well you could have gave me a
little acknowledgement, because I think we had you in Saint
Louis on during the protests at the beginning of the
Black Lives Matter movement. The bookseller said it's fine, just
have them come and you and the publisher said, yes,
we're going to have them come, send them to Saint Louis,
And there he was in Saint Louis in the middle
of that madness. But you have a couple of things
(02:31):
that you've done since we last worked on the project.
You're like a poet. You're like this writer who transcends
all different types of cultures and elements. As I mentioned,
Jenna Book's Club was selected you, and also Ebony magazine
picked at you as a spotlight author.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
So tell us how do you cross all those boundaries.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
I think I just try to be myself and try
to tell stories in the way that I can. I
think a lot of authors, especially when you're young, you
try to mimic what other authors have done. So I
think the key for most authors and at least, the
key for myself has been just to be myself and
try to tell stories in the way that only I
can think. That's just very important.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
When you really do tell a story in your latest book.
I think the thing that I liked about this new
book was it's inspired by your own life, and you're
such a gentle soul. So to take that gentleness and
translate it into a book called People Like Us, it's magnificent.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I'm not a person who reads a lot of fiction.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I love nonfiction, and I just like sat down and
I couldn't put the book down. So what inspired you
to sort of make this You started with The Return,
which was a whole different type of genre, and then
you land in this area.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
People Like Us. Do you think it's autobiographical.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Yeah, there's definitely some autobiography elements to it. I always
tell people it's probably about sixty seventy percent memoir thirty
forty percent fiction. So a lot of it was based
on After I won the National Book Award, I was
touring through Europe, touring through America, had a lot of
very strange, sad, beautiful encounters and decided to make them
part of the novel. Part of the story, Well, what.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
You attribute to your success, because your story of getting
published is a book in itself, because it just didn't happen.
You kind of ran around circle a little bit, and
then you got an agent, and then you landed at Harlequin,
which was known for romantic fiction. And I'm sure when
your agent came back to you and said, hey, I
got Harlequin to sign you up for I think your
(04:21):
first book deal was two or three books.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Two book deal.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yes, So what was.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
The shock in your face like to go to a
romantic fiction I mean we talk in hardcore romantic fiction.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Yeah. I was definitely surprised, but I trusted my agent.
My agent is one of the smartest people that I know,
and she knew that Harlequin had this imprint called Mira
that was trying to pivot and do more literary of
scale fiction and I would be their big push And
it worked out really well, Like she was really smart
decision maker, so she did what she did.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So who is your audience.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
My audience right now? I think is anyone confused about
the state of America right now? My last two books,
Hell of a Book and Now People Like Us are
both books that try to engage with what America is.
I don't even want to say what America has become,
because to a certain extent, America has always been what
it is. So my two books right Now, or particularly
People Like Us, is an attempt to understand what America
(05:10):
is and how you find your direction in all of
this chaos. So I think that's the audience for this book.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
But it's not a political book.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
So let's set the record straight, because I think sometimes
when you start talking about what America is, sometimes people
park and think, well, he's going to talk politics, and
that's not what this is all about.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Correct, Correct, It's not about politics. It's about America. It's
about identity. It's about figuring out where you belong and
where maybe you don't belong, and trying to find your
place and all of that. I think that's independent of politics.
Doesn't matter which side of the hole you sit on,
does matter what you think about certain subjects. Just trying
to figure out surviving in the day to day of
chaos and emails and doom scrolling and all of that.
That's what the book is actually about.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Well, my final question to you is in your National
Book Awards acceptance speech, which is a major, major accomplishment
in the literary world. You said that it was dedicated
to or to all the other mad kids, to all
the outsiders, the weirdos, the bully the ones so strange
they had no choice but to be misunderstood by the
(06:10):
world and those around them. The ones who, in spite
of this, refused to outgrow their imagination, refuse to abandon
their dreams, refuse to deny and diminish their identity, and
goes on and on. That's such a powerful statement. I
think a lot of kids need to hear that today.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Oh thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
I was definitely that outsider, weird kid growing up. I
think I'm still that weird adult and finding a place
in that, finding space and finding direction and all that.
That's definitely what that book was about.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Well, I never found you weird, So that's a testament
there's a normal side to you. So as we close
out this interview, where can we find you? Your social
media handles, et cetera, et cetera, And do you respond
to emails?
Speaker 4 (06:52):
I'm just on Facebook and Twitter right now. On Facebook,
you can find me at Jason Mott author. On Twitter,
it's just at Jason Mott and my website is Jason
moottauthor dot com. Those are my socials.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Well, I look forward to seeing you.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I will definitely come out with bells and whistles to
support you and thank you so much. And that has
been Jason Mott, best selling author, is going to be
at the Barnes and Noble on August at six pm.
We've come to one of my favorite parts of this segment,
VLS Journeys, and my guest this morning is Trina Jones,
and she does something really special to service the community
(07:26):
at large. So Trina, what do you do?
Speaker 5 (07:29):
I am an after school leader for the LEAP program
at the Free Library of Philadelphia. I am also a
youth services assistant at Larboard Community College in Montgomery County.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
I wanted to have her on the show because I
found out that if you live in the state of Pennsylvania,
you have a big id, you can go to any
library and take out books any library in the state
of Pennsylvania. So if your local library is not functioning,
you can go right across the city line and take
out books in any county in the state of Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So Trina, let's get down to business. Okay, What book
are you reading?
Speaker 5 (08:05):
It's Me They Follow by Janine A. Cook.
Speaker 6 (08:09):
First book you Red, Dear God is Me Margaret by
Judy Bloom. First book You've read too many to say?
Worst book You've read too many to say your go
to author.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Maya Angelo and Tabitha.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Brown, buyer or borrower books? What books should everyone have
in their library?
Speaker 5 (08:29):
The Complete Jewish Biden.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Fiction or non fiction fiction.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
You have a literary dinner named three people from the
literary community.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
You must have Carol Boston Weatherford, Tabitha Brown, and children's
book author Lindsay Davis.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
And ABC correspondent Lindsay Davis. If you wrote a book
about your life, what would be the title?
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Standing and Believing?
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Well, the work you do you keep a lot of
people standing on their feet. Thank you so much and
I look forward to meeting you again.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
This has been vils journeys and I'm Vanessloid's Combodi continue
to read by a book and of course.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Have a blessed day.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And I'm Lorraine Ballard marl We'll have more insight after
these messages.
Good morning, and welcome to Inside, a show about empowering
our community. I'm Lorraine Ballad Tomorrow, and as we do
once a month, every month, we have the fantastic, the
fabulous world traveler and literary giant Vanessa Lloyd Scumbody with
Vels Journeys.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hello, good morning.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I feel like we should be playing that song is
getting hot in here. You know, I am one of
those rare people who loves hot weather, and this is
the time of the year. I look forward to August
because I clean out garages, I clean out closets, and
this happens for me. But you know, we're in the
eighth month, and interestingly enough, the eighth month of the
year is globally the time that most people are born. Really, yes,
(00:41):
I did not know that. I had a lot to
do with the holidays. And to keep you in mind,
there are more people born on September ninth than any
of the day of the year in the United States.
So we'll get ready for September the eleventh. And I
just want to give a shout out because people say
every month you got a family member. I said, I
got a lot of people. My sister to kar instead,
my brother Stephen Lloyd. But I've got a very very
(01:03):
special guest this morning, someone who I work with years ago.
His name is Jason Mott, and he's going to be
in Philadelphia at Barnes and Noble on August sixth at
six pm. That's the Barnes and Noble on Chestnut Street.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
He is a.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Published author, and you know that's saying it lightly. I
mean he has won so many won the National Book Award,
he was Jenni's Book Club selection, he was acknowledged by
Ebony magazine. There's so many awards that he has won.
But I was honored to work on his first book,
The Return, which was turned into a television series. It
ran for two years. And he is such a humble individual.
(01:39):
And he also called from North Carolina, and a lot
of people don't know that the highest concentration of black
authors is in North Carolina. So Jason, thank you for
taking time out of your busy schedule before you take
off on that ten city tour.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Thank you for having me so in case.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
I asked you a lot of questions, this is the
most important question that I want to know. Is your
book hell of a book? Am I featured in that book?
Or any encounters that we have.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I've read your other bo.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
No, no, no, you made it through that book unscathed.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
You're okay, okay, Well you could have gave me a
little acknowledgement, because I think we had you in Saint
Louis on during the protests at the beginning of the
Black Lives Matter movement. The bookseller said it's fine, just
have them come and you and the publisher said, yes,
we're going to have them come, send them to Saint Louis,
And there he was in Saint Louis in the middle
of that madness. But you have a couple of things
(02:31):
that you've done since we last worked on the project.
You're like a poet. You're like this writer who transcends
all different types of cultures and elements. As I mentioned,
Jenna Book's Club was selected you, and also Ebony magazine
picked at you as a spotlight author.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
So tell us how do you cross all those boundaries.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
I think I just try to be myself and try
to tell stories in the way that I can. I
think a lot of authors, especially when you're young, you
try to mimic what other authors have done. So I
think the key for most authors and at least, the
key for myself has been just to be myself and
try to tell stories in the way that only I
can think. That's just very important.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
When you really do tell a story in your latest book.
I think the thing that I liked about this new
book was it's inspired by your own life, and you're
such a gentle soul. So to take that gentleness and
translate it into a book called People Like Us, it's magnificent.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I'm not a person who reads a lot of fiction.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I love nonfiction, and I just like sat down and
I couldn't put the book down. So what inspired you
to sort of make this You started with The Return,
which was a whole different type of genre, and then
you land in this area.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
People Like Us. Do you think it's autobiographical.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
Yeah, there's definitely some autobiography elements to it. I always
tell people it's probably about sixty seventy percent memoir thirty
forty percent fiction. So a lot of it was based
on After I won the National Book Award, I was
touring through Europe, touring through America, had a lot of
very strange, sad, beautiful encounters and decided to make them
part of the novel. Part of the story, Well, what.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
You attribute to your success, because your story of getting
published is a book in itself, because it just didn't happen.
You kind of ran around circle a little bit, and
then you got an agent, and then you landed at Harlequin,
which was known for romantic fiction. And I'm sure when
your agent came back to you and said, hey, I
got Harlequin to sign you up for I think your
(04:21):
first book deal was two or three books.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Two book deal.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yes, So what was.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
The shock in your face like to go to a
romantic fiction I mean we talk in hardcore romantic fiction.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Yeah. I was definitely surprised, but I trusted my agent.
My agent is one of the smartest people that I know,
and she knew that Harlequin had this imprint called Mira
that was trying to pivot and do more literary of
scale fiction and I would be their big push And
it worked out really well, Like she was really smart
decision maker, so she did what she did.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So who is your audience.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
My audience right now? I think is anyone confused about
the state of America right now? My last two books,
Hell of a Book and Now People Like Us are
both books that try to engage with what America is.
I don't even want to say what America has become,
because to a certain extent, America has always been what
it is. So my two books right Now, or particularly
People Like Us, is an attempt to understand what America
(05:10):
is and how you find your direction in all of
this chaos. So I think that's the audience for this book.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
But it's not a political book.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
So let's set the record straight, because I think sometimes
when you start talking about what America is, sometimes people
park and think, well, he's going to talk politics, and
that's not what this is all about.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Correct, Correct, It's not about politics. It's about America. It's
about identity. It's about figuring out where you belong and
where maybe you don't belong, and trying to find your
place and all of that. I think that's independent of politics.
Doesn't matter which side of the hole you sit on,
does matter what you think about certain subjects. Just trying
to figure out surviving in the day to day of
chaos and emails and doom scrolling and all of that.
That's what the book is actually about.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Well, my final question to you is in your National
Book Awards acceptance speech, which is a major, major accomplishment
in the literary world. You said that it was dedicated
to or to all the other mad kids, to all
the outsiders, the weirdos, the bully the ones so strange
they had no choice but to be misunderstood by the
(06:10):
world and those around them. The ones who, in spite
of this, refused to outgrow their imagination, refuse to abandon
their dreams, refuse to deny and diminish their identity, and
goes on and on. That's such a powerful statement. I
think a lot of kids need to hear that today.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Oh thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
I was definitely that outsider, weird kid growing up. I
think I'm still that weird adult and finding a place
in that, finding space and finding direction and all that.
That's definitely what that book was about.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Well, I never found you weird, So that's a testament
there's a normal side to you. So as we close
out this interview, where can we find you? Your social
media handles, et cetera, et cetera, And do you respond
to emails?
Speaker 4 (06:52):
I'm just on Facebook and Twitter right now. On Facebook,
you can find me at Jason Mott author. On Twitter,
it's just at Jason Mott and my website is Jason
moottauthor dot com. Those are my socials.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Well, I look forward to seeing you.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I will definitely come out with bells and whistles to
support you and thank you so much. And that has
been Jason Mott, best selling author, is going to be
at the Barnes and Noble on August at six pm.
We've come to one of my favorite parts of this segment,
VLS Journeys, and my guest this morning is Trina Jones,
and she does something really special to service the community
(07:26):
at large. So Trina, what do you do?
Speaker 5 (07:29):
I am an after school leader for the LEAP program
at the Free Library of Philadelphia. I am also a
youth services assistant at Larboard Community College in Montgomery County.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
I wanted to have her on the show because I
found out that if you live in the state of Pennsylvania,
you have a big id, you can go to any
library and take out books any library in the state
of Pennsylvania. So if your local library is not functioning,
you can go right across the city line and take
out books in any county in the state of Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
So Trina, let's get down to business. Okay, What book
are you reading?
Speaker 5 (08:05):
It's Me They Follow by Janine A. Cook.
Speaker 6 (08:09):
First book you Red, Dear God is Me Margaret by
Judy Bloom. First book You've read too many to say?
Worst book You've read too many to say your go
to author.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Maya Angelo and Tabitha.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Brown, buyer or borrower books? What books should everyone have
in their library?
Speaker 5 (08:29):
The Complete Jewish Biden.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Fiction or non fiction fiction.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
You have a literary dinner named three people from the
literary community.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
You must have Carol Boston Weatherford, Tabitha Brown, and children's
book author Lindsay Davis.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
And ABC correspondent Lindsay Davis. If you wrote a book
about your life, what would be the title?
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Standing and Believing?
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Well, the work you do you keep a lot of
people standing on their feet. Thank you so much and
I look forward to meeting you again.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
This has been vils journeys and I'm Vanessloid's Combodi continue
to read by a book and of course.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Have a blessed day.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And I'm Lorraine Ballard marl We'll have more insight after
these messages.
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