Mo Willems on The Necessity of Art

Mo Willems on The Necessity of Art

From Who's with Me? with W. Kamau Bell by Pushkin Industries

September 2, 2026 · 1h 22m · Season 1 · Episode 16

About this episode

W. Kamau Bell interviews Mo Willems and Cher Willems about the nature of children's books and their creative process.

The interview opens with W. Kamau Bell welcoming Mo Willems (and later his wife Cher) to the podcast. Kamau explains that he has never fallen out of love with children's books, even as an adult.   The conversation quickly moves into a rich discussion about the nature of picture books. Willems describes them as songs rather than novels, meant to be experienced repeatedly, and argues that the reader supplies 51% of the book's meaning. He emphasizes that a writer's job is not to convey an idea but to recreate the discovery of that idea.   Willems then explains his creative process, describing how he separates creative time from reactive time and stays unreactive until after lunch. He discusses his "idea garden" notebook and the practice of auditioning characters before assigning them to stories. He reveals that each book begins with a philosophical question he does not yet know the answer to, and that "The Pigeon Needs a Bath" grew from his personal resistance to doing things he loves.   Mo's wife Cher joins the conversation, and the couple discusses their collaborative dynamic, describing themselves as co-philosophers who work out ideas together at the dinner table…

People in this episode

Host: W. Kamau Bell

Guests: Mo Willems, Cher Willems

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