The Echo of Theodicy: Kaveh Akbar + Jamila Woods

At a live show at Metro in Chicago, bestselling author Kaveh Akbar reads a poem about empathy that he wrote for Jamila Woods . Jamila and Kaveh are old friends, and they discuss empathy in a brutal world, and the echo within questions of theodicy. The University of Chicago’s Dr. Eman Abdelhadi speaks about community, empathy, and belonging, and about her speculative fiction novel Everything for Everyone . Jamila Woods finishes the episode with the premiere of a brand new song called "Ordinary As Air." The show was a fundraiser for A Long Walk Home , a local non-profit that provides opportunities for girls and young women. Chapters 00:01:34 Kaveh Akbar introduces a poem he wrote for Jamila Woods 00:05:26 Dr. Eman Abdelhadi talks about her research on empathy 26:29:39 Jamila Woods introduces her new song SongWriterPodcast.com Instagram.com/SongWriterPodcast Facebook.com/SongWriterPodcast TikTok.com/@SongWriterPodcast YouTube.com/@SongwriterPodcast SongWriter is a music and songwriting podcast that turns stories into songs. Host Ben Arthur invites writers, poets, and musicians to share a story or poem, then pairs it with an original song written in response. Along the way, the show explores the creative process through intimate conversations and performances. Guests have included Questlove, Susan Orlean, David Gilmour, David Sedaris, George Saunders, and many more. Distributed by PRX, SongWriter also appears on the syndicated radio program Acoustic Café and in Paste Magazine. Learn more at SongWriterPodcast.com . Season seven is made possible by a grant from Templeton World Charity Foundation

You can listen to The Echo of Theodicy: Kaveh Akbar + Jamila Woods online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Echo of Theodicy: Kaveh Akbar + Jamila Woods is an episode from SongWriter by Ben Arthur.

This episode is 34:41 long.

This episode was published on Jan 13, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from SongWriter when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.