Books, from memoirs to histories to novels, can help us think through where we come from - how we are tied to our roots but also need to break free of them. For our first show of the year, we're thrilled to welcome poet and professor Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, who joined us from the US to talk about her first novel The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, which is a book about the power of knowing where you came from. It’s a big, majestic story about the family of Ailey Pearl Garfield, a young Black woman growing up in the late 20th century between a northern American city and the small town of Chicasetta, Georgia, where her mother's side are from. It’s also interspersed with ‘Songs’, which tell the stories of Ailey’s ancestors in Georgia, stretching back to indiginous Creek people and plantation slaves. Inspired by the novel’s relationship with Ailey’s ancestry, we’ll be thinking more broadly on the show today about literature that engages with roots, plus all our usual reading recommendations. So hit play and let us climb up your family tree on literary friction.

Recommendation on the theme, Roots:
Octavia: White Teeth by Zadie Smith
Carrie: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

General Recommendations:
Octavia: The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel
Honorée: Collected Poems of Sonia Sanchez
Carrie: Matrix by Lauren Groff

Find a list of all recommended books at: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/jan-2022-roots-with-honoree-fannone-jeffers

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/litfriction
Email us: litfriction@gmail.com
Tweet us & find us on Instagram: @litfriction  

This episode is sponsored by Picador: https://www.panmacmillan.com/picador

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Roots with Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Literary Friction