In this bonus episode, poet and writer William Evans joins Hanif to discuss quitting your day job, being a parent, nerd fandom, DC vs. Marvel movies, and why black voices are needed in cultural criticism.
Their conversation was recorded in 2019 as a pilot for Small Joys. At that time, Williams was getting ready for the release of his book of poetry, We Inherit What the Fires Left.
William is also the co-creator of Black Nerd Problems, a website that covers the world of comic books, science fiction, and pop culture from the perspective of people of color. This September, Simon & Schuster will release a book of essays from the site.
Funding for Small Joys with Hanif Abdurraqib is provided by The Columbus Foundation.
![The Columbus Foundation logo](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7dbcbe0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/929x513+0+0/resize/880x486!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd5%2Fd5%2F3edbd4604d1cbcc2c463a3db4168%2Fthe-columbus-foundation-logo-300.png)