New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award winner, James McBride, spoke to me about eschewing literary fame, his friendship with Spike Lee, and his latest novel THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE.
James McBride is a musician, screenwriter, and award-winning author of New York Times bestselling Oprah’s Book Club selection Deacon King Kong, the National Book Award–winnerThe Good Lord Bird (now a Showtime limited series starring Ethan Hawke), and the American classic The Color of Water.
His debut novel, Miracle at St. Anna, was turned into a 2008 film by Oscar-winning writer and director Spike Lee, with a script written by McBride.
The author’s latest novel, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, was an Instant New York Times Bestseller and Named a Must Read for the Summer by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Time, Town & Country, and others.
Described as “… a novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them,” it begins in 1972 when workers in Pottstown, PA, find a skeleton at the bottom of a well. The New York Times Book Review called the book, “A murder mystery locked inside a Great American Novel.”
James McBride received a National Humanities Medal from President Obama, “… for humanizing the complexities of discussing race in America.” He is a distinguished writer in residence at New York University.
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In this file James McBride and I discussed:
- Why he finds no joy in being well-known
- How The Color of Water changed his career
- The lessons he learned from Michael Jackson
- The hyperbole of the literary world and standing on the shoulders of giants
- How we’re all more alike than we are different
- Why writers must seek out their mentors
- And a lot more!
Show Notes:
- jamesmcbride.com
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: A Novel by James McBride (Amazon)
- James McBride on Facebook
- James McBride on Instagram
- Kelton Reid on Twitter
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