- The views and opinions

expressed during this podcast

are those of our guests.

No one person speaks for A.A. as a whole.

- Our primary purpose

of carrying the message

of Alcoholics Anonymous

is fulfilled in many ways:

from one alcoholic to another,

outreach from a professional,

through A.A. groups, PSAs,

podcasts, it goes on and on.

But perhaps most significantly,

through our literature.

The very name of our organization

comes from its first book,

"Alcoholics Anonymous,"

a publication that has

sold over 30 million copies

and counting.

From the General Service Office,

our publishing department now

provides hundreds of resources

designed to help individuals

navigate their recovery journey.

In this episode,

we'll explore the deep

impact of A.A. literature,

sharing stories and insights

that highlight how these texts

can resonate profoundly

with those seeking change.

My name is Nathan, and I'm an alcoholic.

Welcome to GSO.

(upbeat music)

Producing and licensing a vast

array of materials worldwide,

A.A. World Services'

fellowship-owned publishing program

is a highly respected

professional publishing house

in its own right.

At the helm is David

R., Publishing Director.

- Hello.

- You must've seen a lot of

changes in publishing here

in the past 10 years.

- Oh, yeah.

- Can you share

on some of your experiences

with these changes?

- We've focused intently on, as I see it,

two areas of carrying the message.

Number one, we're a program of attraction,

and number two, A.A.

is all about inclusion.

A.A. is inclusive, never exclusive.

And over these past 10 years,

we've seen so many new tools and new ways

to help facilitate that.

Primarily, attraction.

We've seen a whole rise in visual culture.

They used to call some of

the pamphlets the grays.

- This is true.

- And so now,

we feel like we've turned on the lights.

A.A. now can look more

like the Fellowship itself:

colorful, vibrant, full

of life, living in grace.

- How is new A.A. literature created?

Can you break down the

process from its initial idea

through conference approval,

writing collaboration, publishing?

- So all of our items of literature

originate out of what

we call expressed need.

And that's one of the

most beautiful things

about our publishing program.

It all starts from the

A.A. membership itself.

And so an idea could originate

from an area, or a committee, or a group.

And these ideas

for, say, originating

new items of literature

or revising items of literature

that have already been

conference-approved.

And most of our items of

literature are conference-approved.

That means something.

That means they have gone

through a rigorous process

of ideation, how they originate;

fleshing out the idea;

participation by A.A. members

themselves, by the fellowship,

in the creation of the item of literature.

- Do you have an example

of this expressed need

of some new literature that's out now?

- One of the most thrilling examples

is our newest item of literature,

the "Plain Language Big Book," subtitled,

"A Tool For Reading Alcoholics Anonymous."

- Yes.

- The expressed need for plain language

or simplified language

is a concept that, for decades,

has been brought forward by A.A. members

regarding our literature.

How can we take some of

our items of literature

that were written so many years ago

and make them accessible for

folks in the 21st century?

- The "Big Book" was published in 1939.

- Exactly.

So something that was written in the 1930s

reflects the language and

style of discussion and writing

of the time.

And the "Big Book," so

beautiful in its language,

for some people, presents

a barrier to understanding.

- Right, things are different now.

And our literature can reflect that.

- Even in the 1940s and '50s,

there were folks in A.A.,

our archivists tell us

that called the "Big Book."

That's really a

highfalutin language there.

That's pretty flowery.

Even Dr. Bob, at times,

created his own pamphlets

to help illuminate the

12 steps of recovery

and A.A.'s program.

- So decades ago,

the fellowship was calling

for plain language,

"Big Book" and other literature.

Why does it take so long for

it to come to fruition now?

- The process for all of

this is quite painstaking.

In 2021, the General Service Conference

voted in favor of developing a draft

of the "Plain Language Big Book."

That set about a process that took years

of forming committees, selecting a writer,

working with A.A.'s

professionals in the office,

and creating this incredible

painstaking collaboration

of writing, rewriting,

editing, tweaking, polishing,

all in efforts of bringing

forth the spiritual resonance

of the original "Big Book."

- About how many people inside

the fellowship were involved

in getting the "Plain

Language Big Book" published?

- That is remarkable to share.

Hundreds.

When you think of all these committees,

you think of three years

of conference members

reviewing progress

reports, sample chapters,

and the finished draft itself.

So many folks in A.A. had a hand

on the development of this project.

- There's a lot of people

that are incredibly passionate

about the "Big Book."

and when they heard about the

"Plain Language Big Book,"

they were worried that

it was being replaced.

Is that, at all, what's going on?

- That was never the

intention of this project

and is not the reason for the book.

What we have keyed on is

to make a tool available

that can be used as an

entryway, a doorway, an archway,

to walk through some

point of entry and access

for someone who is setting

out to read the "Big Book."

So this, in no way,

is intended to replace

the "Big Book" itself,

the beloved basic text of

"Alcoholics Anonymous."

So we took much care

in deciding what would be

presented original text

right next to plain language explanation.

And we arrived at a few

parts of the "Big Book"

being presented that way in

the "Plain Language Big Book."

There's a chapter called

"The Doctor's Opinion"

that has letters written by

a noted expert on alcoholism

that contains some, one might say,

dated medical terminology.

And so there,

we present side by side

original and plain language

so readers can see very clearly

what is being discussed.

Once A.A. members

get their hands on the

"Plain Language Big Book,"

the spiritual resonance,

the beauty of the words

of this book will be felt.

And this will be a very

important item of literature

for the next century of

Alcoholics Anonymous.

(pensive music)

- For more information about A.A.,

please visit our website at aa.org.

(pensive music)

- What about individuals

who can't get their hands

on the physical copies,

and I'm talking about persons in custody

or the visually impaired,

how would they gain

access to our literature?

- Oh, this is a very good question,

and another focus of

ours is accessibility.

How do we ensure that anyone anywhere

can experience the hand of A.A.?

We like to think, and in that hand,

maybe a book, a link to the

website or the meeting guide,

or perhaps for those who

can't hold in their hand

or read printed material, digital.

And so we have escalated

our publishing program

to meet that need.

This is very recent, folks

can download the audiobooks.

They could listen for no charge on aa.org,

another wonderful tool for access.

And we have reached out to corrections,

jails, prisons through tablets,

so folks in custody can

access eBooks and audiobooks,

and they can read, listen

at no charge in custody.

- Can you tell us a bit

about the Navajo translation

of the "Big Book"?

- Oh, one of my favorite experiences,

just a standout experience

in the past few years

was the completion of

the Navajo "Big Book"

in audio recordings.

The native language is pronounced Diné.

It is an audiobook available in CDs.

Why In CDs?

Because that's what the

Fellowship asked for.

This book project started

arguably in the 1970s

with tapings that were made

in folks' living rooms.

It took years, and years, and years

for the folks of the Navajo communities

to achieve what they felt

best represented the integrity

of the original English "Big Book,"

as all of our translations seek to do.

- Here's a short portion of

Chapter 5, "How It Works,"

from the Navajo translation

of the "Big Book."

(speaker speaking in Diné)

What else is new from publishing?

- First up, our A.A. service

manual is just coming off press

after a couple of years of

polishing and committee work,

making the service manual

as accessible as possible.

In the pamphlet lineup, "Black in A.A.,"

in English, French, and Spanish,

featuring new stories to

sharing the experience,

strength, and hope of fellowship.

Also, "Young People in A.A.,"

recently revised with fresh new stories

and illustrated with really

wonderful illustrations

that benefited in particular

from wide participation

of young people in A.A.

And then we also have the new booklet,

"A.A. for the Older Alcoholic,"

also featuring fresh stories

that show a very wide swath

of the A.A. older alcoholic fellowship.

- I heard about a Fifth

Edition of the "Big Book."

How's that coming?

- Very exciting.

Over 2,500 story submissions

have been read and reviewed

and are being considered

for an updated edition of the "Big Book."

It's a very intensive multi-year project.

And also very exciting,

a work group has been moving apace

on the Spanish "Big Book" Fourth Edition,

which which will feature

a polished translation

of the original text

and fresh stories

representing a very wide swath

of the Spanish-speaking A.A. fellowship.

So, stay tuned, much more to come.

- Alcoholics Anonymous

is coming up on its 90-year anniversary,

and A.A. is a lot of things.

It is a spiritual program.

It is also a literature-based program.

It started with one book,

and now all the fundamentals of A.A.

are still found in our literature.

Why do you think that

remains true to this day?

- The first meeting I went to,

I stumbled into a meeting

in the basement of a Catholic

church, I am not Catholic,

and at that meeting, there

were books on each table.

The book was "Daily Reflections."

And folks proceeded to

read one page of that book

and have deep emotional responses to it.

I was floored.

Here were men talking about emotions,

women just sharing deep stories together,

finding this transformative experience

based on one page of one book.

At the end of the meeting,

someone came up to me

and said, "Are you new?"

And I said, "Oh, yeah, well, uh-huh."

"Well, do you have a book?"

"Oh, I love books. I work in publishing,"

and I was blah, blah,

blah, blah, blathering on.

And he handed me a soft cover, "Big Book."

The hand of A.A. carrying the message.

That message was a "Big Book"

handed to me, a stranger.

It's how A.A. happens,

and that story rings true

still today around the world.

- David, thank you so

much for coming in today.

- What a delight, I was

so pleased to be here.

Thank you.

(upbeat electronic music)

- To find a meeting near

you, or a meeting online,

download the Meeting Guide

app on your mobile device.

(upbeat electronic music)

- David spoke of the

importance of A.A. literature

in all its forms, but also access to it.

The share from our GSO guest this week

is exemplary of this need

for access to our literature;

not just for himself, but

for the entire Fellowship.

- Hey everybody, I'm Michael.

I'm an alcoholic.

Well, I stopped drinking

in February of 1982.

And I was born with congenital glaucoma,

so I've been visually

impaired since birth.

When I was young,

I could see colors and

more light than I can now,

but I lived a crazy rebellious life

and I was one of these

guys that in high school,

if everybody was doing something,

I wanted to do it, even

though I was blind.

And one of the crazy things

that I loved doing was drinking.

I was always obsessed with booze,

open a can of beer for my mother

at a family gathering or

a neighborhood gathering,

that cold can in my hand.

Then I'd get a sip or take a

sip of somebody's highball.

And man, I'm thinking,

"Man, I want more of that."

And I'll never forget the

first time I took that drink.

And let me tell you, it was Nirvana.

It did something for me.

It turned off all the fear, the anxiety,

the low self-esteem, any hangups I had.

And man, I loved that feeling.

And I used alcohol throughout

the years to be my friend,

to help me wake up, go to sleep,

to be funny, romantic, intellectual,

whatever I needed it

for, it was my friend.

(pensive music)

I eventually got to the point

where it was all doom,

gloom, and disaster.

And I met people along the

way who used to say to me,

"You ought to come to an A.A. meeting."

And I was thinking, "Who the hell are they

to talk to me like that?"

And then I got to A.A.,

and I wish I could tell

you it was a smooth ride

from the time I walked in the door,

but I had a lot of ups

and downs in my sobriety.

But I didn't pick up a drink. And why?

I was protected, and I had

people around me who loved me

and people who said to

me, "Just keep coming."

I just am so thankful for the people,

especially the people

I met in the beginning

who have helped me through this journey.

(gentle upbeat music)

I mean, sometimes, being blind,

I feel like, "Hey, I don't

belong in this sighted world."

Because when I first came into A.A.,

I could walk to meetings.

I lived in a city that was like a grid,

like here in New York.

So you could walk to meetings.

I had my seeing eye dog.

I could walk if I couldn't get a ride.

Now, I live near the Jersey Shore,

and it's not as easy to always find a ride

to and from a meeting.

So, that is a challenge for me.

Also, like anybody else, I

had a lot of distractions.

But also, I can tell you,

I wanted to make myself an exception

to certain things in A.A.

because I said, "Well, I'm blind,

so I can excuse this, I can excuse that."

And there is no excuse.

I had to learn that the hard way.

(mellow music)

Some of the other challenges I still have

is I feel like I haven't read everything.

I want to read more,

like there's so much literature out there.

And the "Big Book" is recorded,

the "Step Book" is recorded,

and the "Daily Reflections,"

I have in Braille.

There's just so much literature

that I can't get enough of it.

The other challenge I have

is some people don't know how to relate

to someone who's blind,

and they don't understand

the whole concept.

Blindness is one of the most

feared disabilities in society,

and it's not that they're

not friendly to me

or that they don't thank me for sharing

and come and ask me for

advice or anything like that.

And there are a lot of people

who come into the rooms with disabilities.

Some of them are visible and

some of them are invisible.

And there are people who can't read,

and they're embarrassed to

tell you they can't read.

There are people with mental disabilities

and other impairments that

they don't know what to do,

they feel lost.

And I think we have to find a

way to make them feel welcome.

(gentle upbeat music)

- Not that we're experts

in every disability,

but we have to let them

know, "Hey, come on in here.

If you need a network..."

Especially in the beginning,

to understand things more

thoroughly and to get active.

I have to say I was blessed

because I had a bunch of

crazy dudes around me,

and they told me, "Get in

here and make the coffee."

I was washing coffee pots

and all that business in the beginning.

But I can see where a lot

of people with disabilities,

especially blind people,

a lot of people wouldn't say that to them.

We have to find out who needs what.

And hopefully,

we'll intuitively know

how to handle problems,

which baffle us.

But how do we get these people active?

How do we get them to greet?

How do we get them to help set up a chair,

organize something, put out

there could do something.

And so I think it's a problem

not only for people who

are visually impaired,

but who have other impairments,

and I think they need to feel free

to come forward and ask for help.

(gentle upbeat music)

As time goes by,

I feel more and more blessed

to be in this program.

I am someone who never ceases

to look past the magic.

It's beautiful.

And I wanted to come here

and just make my

foundation a little firmer,

understand what's going on,

understand where we came from,

and to be part of it,

to just have more appreciation

for the program where we've come from

and where we've evolved to today.

(gentle upbeat music)

- For more information

about A.A. materials

created to support those

facing accessibility barriers,

please visit aa.org and look

for Accessibility Resources.

- That's Misha who you hear every episode

with the disclaimers and drop-ins.

She's now the Public

Information Staff Coordinator,

but we first met her in

the "GSO Tour" episode

when she was on the Treatment

and Accessibilities Desk.

- Welcome, everyone, to

the General Service Office.

My name is Misha, and I am an alcoholic.

- We wanted to have her back

to tell a story of her own.

Hey, Misha.

- Hey, Nathan.

- So, you and I had been

talking about A.A. literature,

and you told me this incredible story

about an experience you

had while you were abroad,

and I was hoping that you

could share that story

with our listeners today.

- You asked me about my

own personal experience

with the literature,

and I thought about this story

about something that happened

before I came to work at GSO.

- Mm-hmm.

- So I was a grad student,

and I was planning to

be out of the country

for more than a year doing

research for my dissertation.

And I was going to a place

where, as far as I could tell,

there wasn't very much A.A.

And I'd been sober a while,

and I felt like I had a good

connection with my sponsor,

and my home group, and steps,

and all the tools that were offered.

So I wasn't nervous about whether

or not I would stay sober,

but I was really concerned

because I really wanted to make sure

that I did everything I could

to ensure that I would stay

connected to the program.

- Make's sense.

It can be tough to stay connected

when you're away from home.

- So I reached out to the

General Service Office.

- Nice.

- I was kind of nervous

because I kind of didn't

know what they did

or who was going to answer.

And the first person who answered

was someone who connected me with LIM.

- LIM, as in L-I-M?

- That's the Loners and

Internationalists Meeting.

And that's this kind of wonderful service

that's been around for decades,

where A.A. members who are in places

where they're on their own,

they might be aboard a ship

or in a remote location,

they connect with one another

in a kind of a print

meeting and through email.

And sometimes, they call each other,

but they stay connected and

they stay sober that way.

- Incredible.

And was GSO able to help

you out with any resources?

- The next thing that I asked for

was literature.

- Right.

- Because I was planning

to go to Bangladesh,

and at the time, I didn't speak Bengali,

the language that they speak

there, also known as Bangla,

so I had a language course set up

where I was going to be doing

this intensive language

training, language learning,

and I wanted to have a "Big Book"

and any other literature

that I could find in Bangla.

And so I reached out,

and the folks at the General

Service Office hooked me up.

It was really wonderful,

and it gave me this sense

of feeling connected,

even before I got there.

- That must have been reassuring.

- Yeah, and it also gave me

insight because that "Big Book"

had been translated and printed in India

for the Bengali-speaking

folks who live there.

- And what kind of effect

did that insight have?

- I started to understand that

A.A. wasn't just in the U.S.,

or Canada, or Europe,

that A.A. is really

happening all over the world.

And so I took my "Big Book" with me,

and I got to Bangladesh.

And while I was there,

I connected with a couple of individuals

who were sober members, and

that was really wonderful.

And I started to feel, though,

a little bit squirrely.

- Mm-hmm.

- You ever get that feeling

and you just feel like

you're in your head too much?

- Oh, yeah.

- Maybe thinking too much.

- Uh-huh.

- And I knew

from being a sober member

that the answer for me

to feeling squirrely

is service.

- Yeah.

- There weren't any A.A. groups

where I could be of service,

so what I did instead was I reached out.

I had heard about a guy

who ran an orphanage,

and I thought,

"Well, I could ask him if I

could be of service in some way

to the work that he was

doing with these kids."

- Great idea.

- So I gave him a call,

and he very quickly and cheerfully agreed

that I could come and help.

He said,

"There's something that I

think you could help with."

He said, "We have now, for the first time,

a group of women staying

here at this center."

- Hmm.

- They had landed at this orphanage

because they had been

ostracized from their families.

Many of them had been rejected

because I think their drinking

behavior or their alcoholism

was seen as something that was so shameful

and such a problem in their

families or in their communities

that they had essentially been rejected

or kicked out of their homes.

And they had landed in the orphanage

because they had nowhere else to go.

We've been allowing them to stay with us

here at the orphanage,

and maybe you could talk to them.

I was like, "Wow, sure, I'd be delighted."

And so I went into the room,

and I met this group of about 15 women,

mostly younger women, but not all of them.

And there were two social workers.

And the sense that I got

was that the social workers

were really well-meaning,

but they had no idea how

to talk to alcoholics.

They were kind of maybe

scolding the women a little bit,

telling them, "You should just stop.

You should go back to your families.

You should be good mothers,

good daughters, good workers.

You should not drink alcohol.

You should get it together."

So I listened to this for a while,

and I wasn't picking up all of it,

but I really was listening hard

and trying to pay attention.

- And then how did you

approach the situation?

- I talked about being an alcoholic,

and I talked about some

of the, like, shameful

and terrible things I had

done while I was drinking.

And I was speaking in Bengali,

maybe fragmented Bengali,

but I could tell that the

women were getting it.

They were getting what it was

that I was trying to tell them.

And then I got to share

that because of Alcoholics Anonymous,

I was able to hold my head up,

that I was no longer ashamed,

that I was no longer a disgrace,

that I was no longer somebody

that my family wanted to avoid,

that I could be a part of a family

and a part of a community,

that I was a good daughter,

and a good sister,

and a good partner, and a good worker.

And that all of that

was because of something

called Alcoholics Anonymous,

and that I owed my life to it.

And that they didn't have

to be ashamed either,

that they could take this miracle,

this thing that I had gotten,

and they could change their lives too.

- Wow.

- And at the end,

I was crying and they were crying,

and I was able to give

them my Bengali "Big Book"

and say like, "Here's

where the answers are.

Here's where this message is.

Here's where you can learn more

about how to do this thing,

about how to get sober, and stay sober,

and help other people get

this amazing gift as well."

I don't know how the story ends for them,

but I felt pretty confident

that having a "Big Book" in

their language in that place

was going to make a difference.

That it was going to mean that some people

were gonna get the message,

and that the miracle that I had been given

might be given to them as well.

So, yeah, I feel pretty.

It was a pretty amazing

thing to be a part of.

- Yeah.

Yeah, it was a pretty amazing

thing to be a part of.

- Part of what I feel so grateful for

is that these two staff members

took time out of their day

to help make sure that I had what I needed

when I left the country.

For members, the way this works

is that if you're going to someplace

kind of off the beaten track,

you might call the office

or reach out to the office,

email the International

Desk, international@aa.org.

And if you do that well

in advance of your trip,

that staff member might be

able to help connect you

to any A.A. members who

might be in that place.

It's pretty wonderful

to be part of this

international fellowship.

- Thank you, Misha.

(pensive music)

- We hope you enjoyed this week's episode.

Be sure to visit aa.org for access to,

and more information

about, A.A. literature.

Be sure to subscribe, so

you can keep coming back.

- Thank you for listening

to "Our Primary Purpose,"

a podcast produced by the

General Service Office

on behalf of the Fellowship

of Alcoholics Anonymous

in the U.S. and Canada.

(upbeat electronic music)