Episode 58 - Carol Anderson
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
On this episode we’re excited to present a conversation with author, historian, and educator Carol Anderson on her recent work The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America. This conversation was recorded as part of a live virtual event in partnership with Magers & Quinn Booksellers and Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church in Minneapolis.
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Episode 57 - Morgan Jerkins on her debut novel Caul Baby
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
Essayist, memoirist, and, now, novelist Morgan Jerkins sits down with Lissa Jones. She discusses her inspirations for this story, both from her past (as a teenager she worked in her father's OB/GYN practice) and present (she tells us her character Amara was inspired by Vice President Kamala Harris). Though Caul Baby is a work of fiction with hints of magical realism, it is deeply rooted in the experiences of Black womanhood.
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Episode 56 - Poet Javon Johnson
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
Javon Johnson, Ph.D. is a poet, performer, professor and recipient of numerous awards. According to poet Rudy Francisco, Dr. Johnson is “is one of the most brilliant writers in the world”. His new poetry collection, Ain't Never Not Been Black (Button Poetry, 2020).
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Bonus: Can't Stop, Won't Stop: Poems in the wake of racial injustice
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
Listen to audio of poets reading their work from Can't Stop, Won't Stop: Poems in the wake of racial injustice.
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Episode 55 - Can't Stop, Won't Stop with Mary Moore Easter and Bernard James
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
In this episode, Lissa speaks with Mary Moore Easter, editor and poet, and Bernard James, a poet who lives near the intersection now known as George Floyd Square. They discuss their poetry chapbook in response to the murder of George Floyd. The collection is titled Can't Stop Won't Stop the Rain Taxi Chapbook : Poems in response to the murder of George Floyd (copies can be found on Rain Taxi's website).
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Episode 54 - Claudia Rankine
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
Launching season six of Black Market Reads, Lissa interviews author Claudia Rankine about her latest work Just Us: An American Conversation (Graywolf Press, 2020). For highlights from the interview, and to listen to past episodes visit www.blackmarketreads.com.
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Episode 53 - Dr. Frank B. Wilderson, III
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
Author and scholar Dr. Frank B. Wilderson, III on his latest work, Afropessimism. From his youth in Minneapolis to Apartheid South Africa, Dr. Wilderson is a committed activist for radical social change. His creative, scholarly, and critical work has been published internationally. He is the author of several books, including Incognegro: Memoir of Exile and Apartheid. And Red, White and Black. Dr. Wilderson is a professor of Drama and African American Studies at the University of California, Irvine.
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Episode 52 - Carolyn Holbrook
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
Author Carolyn Holbrook discusses her latest work, Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify, a collection of essays published by the University of Minnesota Press (2020). She is the author of several works including Ordinary People, Extraordinary Journeys, as well as co-author of Hope in the Struggle the memoir of Dr. Josie Johnson. She now leads More Than A Single Story, a series of community conversations for people of color and indigenous writers and arts activists, and teaches at Hamline University.
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Episode 51 - Darren Walker
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
In this episode, Ford Foundation President Darren Walker discusses his new book From Generosity to Justice: A New Gospel of Wealth, in which he grapples with the paternalistic roots of American philanthropy and envisions a new approach that seeks to address the causes of inequity, rather than the consequences. He discusses the current state of extreme wealth inequality in America and how this inequality is both the result of systemic racism and a contributor to racial disparities.
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Episode 50 - Justin Phillip Reed
Givens Foundation | Black Market Reads
In this episode, Lissa speaks with poet and essayist Justin Phillip Reed about his new poetry collection, The Malevolent Volume (2020). His debut collection, Indecency (2018) won the National Book Award for poetry.
info_outlineOn this episode, host Lissa Jones talks with author and educator Alexs Pate. Pate Is the author of five novels, including the New York Times Bestseller Amistad, as well as a collection of poetry, and the non-fiction work In the Heart of the Beat: The Poetry of Rap. He edited the 2015 anthology Blues Vision: African American Writing from Minnesota which highlights Black Minnesota writers of the last century. Pate is also the founder and president of Innocent Classroom.