NPR's Book of the Day Folgen

Blitz Bazawule directed the first Ghanaian original film to be released on Netflix, co-directed Beyonce's visual album 'Black is King', directed the upcoming film musical version of 'The Color Purple' and, now, has published his first novel – The Scent of Burnt Flowers. In this interview, he talks with Michel Martin about how and why he wrote this novel, which meshes real historical events with the supernatural.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In Belinda Huijuan Tang's debut novel, A Map For the Missing, readers can find parallels between Tang's personal history and her fiction. The book touches on family mystery, personal identity and connections between the end of China's Cultural Revolution in the 1970s up through the1990s. While talking with NPR's Ari Shapiro, Tang shares why she chose this moment in Chinese history for her novel.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The two books featured in this episode illustrate the impact of colorism in society. First up is The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid. In conversation with Scott Simon, Hamid talks about his personal experience after 9/11 and how that helped shape the narrative of this novel. Next is Walking Gentry Home by Alora Young, which chronicles her family's history through nine generations of mothers in her life. Young shares with Leila Fadel about how her stories touch on her skin complexion "as a product of uninvited attention" from people who enslaved her family.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy