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Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Read-Alikes
How to pronounce Ta-Nehisi Coates: tah-nuh-HAH-see coats
Ta-Nehisi Coates is the author of The Beautiful Struggle, We Were Eight Years in Power, The Water Dancer, and Between the World and Me, which won the National Book Award in 2015. He is the recipient of a National Magazine Award and a MacArthur Fellowship. He is currently the Sterling Brown endowed chair at Howard University in the English department.
Ta-Nehisi Coates's website
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The Beautiful Struggle is a memoir with three central characters: you, your
brother, Big Bill, and your father, Paul Coates, a Vietnam vet and Black
Panther. What was it like to write your first book when the people you were
describing are still so close to you?
Not as hard as you might imagine. My people have always been open about these
sorts of things, though I must say I didn't know how open until I started
interviewing and writing. I think two things are at work here. 1) People just
love to talk—I know this from my magazine writing. As crazy as it sounds, most
people want to tell you their story, and they want it to be recorded. I often
regret that I didn't know this when I was single! Moving on. 2) My brother and
father know they have their issues, but they also know that most people have
issues. They understand that when you read The Beautiful Struggle, whatever
rawness, whatever dirt that's there, you'll see in yourself. To err is human, as
the old cliché goes, and I think those points at which we all err in the book
are the very things that will draw people in. Even if they haven't walked the
same road, I think they'll see themselves in the essential human drama of it
all.
...
Jabari Asim is a writer and multidisciplinary artist, who has been described as one of the most influential African American literary critics of his generation. Asim is the Elma Lewis Distinguished Fellow in Social Justice ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
The Water Dancer
Try:
Yonder
by Jabari Asim
Afia Atakora was born in the United Kingdom and raised in New Jersey, where she now lives. She graduated from New York University and has an MFA from Columbia University, where she was the recipient of the De Alba Fellowship.... (more)
If you enjoyed:
The Water Dancer
Try:
Conjure Women
by Afia Atakora
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