Kazi 88.7 Fm Book Review

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Attica Locke, the New York Times Best Selling author, about her latest novel, GUIDE ME HOME, the final installment in her Edgar Award-winning "Highway 59" trilogy. Set in east Texas, the novel explores themes of race, integrity, and family dynamics through the character Darre Matthews, a black Texas Ranger. In the interview, Attica reflects on the impact of the evolving political landscape on her writing and the themes of her Highway 59 trilogy.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

Diverse Voices Book Review contributor Amanda Moore interviewed, May Cobb, the author of THE HOLLYWOOD ASSISTANT. In her novel, a young writer works as a personal assistant to a wealthy Hollywood couple, but through an ironic twist of fate, she finds herself caught in the middle of a story that she cannot escape. May Cobb is award-winning author of The Hunting Wives, My Summer Darlings, A Likeable Woman, and Big Woods. You can find out more about May at maycobb.com.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comSign-up for the Diverse Voices Book Review email notification of interviews available to listen to at https://forms.office.com/r/NtvGUfwUgb 

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Nicola Yoon, author of ONE OF OUR KIND.  Yoon describes her novel as "somewhere between a thriller and a horror. It's about a woman named Jasmine who, along with her husband and young son, moved to a suburb of Los Angeles that builds itself as a black utopia. And when Jasmine gets there, she expects to find safety and community, and at first, she does, but then things quickly shift..."Nicola Yoon is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of INSTRUCTIONS FOR DANCING, EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR and a co-author of BLACKOUT AND WHITEOUT. Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comSign-up for the Diverse Voices Book Review email notification of interviews available to listen to at https://forms.office.com/r/NtvGUfwUgb 

Diverse Voices Book Review host interview Frank Andre Guridy, author of THE STADIUM: An American History of Politics, Protest, and Play. In this book, historian Frank Guridy recounts the contested history of play, protest, and politics in American stadiums from the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden in 1924 to the Colin Kaepernick protest at Qualcomm Stadium in 2016. Moving between the field, the press box, and the locker room, this book recovers the hidden history of the stadium and its important role in the struggle for justice in America.  Frank Andre Guridy is an award-winning historian and the author of three books. He is a professor of history and African American studies and the executive director of the Eric H. Holder Initiative for Civil and Political Rights at Columbia University. He lives in New York City.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed John Vercher, author of the novel DEVIL IS FINE. The novel is described by its publisher: "Still reeling from a sudden tragedy, our biracial narrator receives a letter from an attorney: he has just inherited a plot of land from his estranged white grandfather. He travels to a beach town several hours south of his home with the intention of selling the land immediately and moving on. But upon inspection, what lies beneath the dirt is far more complicated than he ever imagined. In a shocking irony, he is now the Black owner of a former plantation passed down by the men on his white mother’s side of the family..."Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

Diverse Voices Book Review contributor Amanda Moore interviewed, Renee Watson, the author of skin & bones. Through a series of profound vignettes, her new novel tells the story of a woman who tries to live and thrive in a world that never truly sees the beauty that she has learned to love within herself.  Renée Watson is also the author of the young adult novel, PIERCING ME TOGETHER, which received a Coretta Scott King Award and Newbery Honor. You can find out more about Renee at reneewatson.net.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Larry Tye, author of THE JAZZMEN: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America.  From the publisher: This is the story of three revolutionary American musicians, the maestro jazzmen who orchestrated the chords that throb at the soul of twentieth-century America..  What is far less known about these groundbreakers is that they were bound not just by their music or even the discrimination that they, like nearly all Black performers of their day, routinely encountered. Each defied and ultimately overcame racial boundaries by opening America’s eyes and souls to the magnificence of their music.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

In 2014, Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Danielle Allen about her newly published book, OUR DECLARATION: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality. Featured on the front page of the New York Times, her book publisher writes in its description of the book: "Our Declaration is already regarded as a seminal work that reinterprets the promise of American democracy through our founding text. Combining a personal account of teaching the Declaration with a vivid evocation of the colonial world between 1774 and 1777, Allen, a political philosopher renowned for her work on justice and citizenship reveals our nation’s founding text to be an animating force that not only changed the world more than two-hundred years ago, but also still can. Challenging conventional wisdom, she boldly makes the case that the Declaration is a document as much about political equality as about individual liberty."Danielle Allen is James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard Universi

Diverse Voices Book Review host interviewed Walter Mosley about his latest Easy Rawlins novel, FAREWELL, AMETHYSTINE. Set in 1970 finds Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, LA’s premier Black detective, at 50 years of age despite all expectations.  He has a loving family, a beautiful home, and a thriving investigation agency.  All is right with the world… and then Amethystine Stoller, his own personal Helen of Troy, arrives. Her ex-husband is missing. A simple enough case. But even as Easy takes his first step in the investigation he trips.  He falls into the memory of things past.

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Meg Gardiner, author of the thriller SHADOWHEART, a crime fiction pick of the month.  SHADOWHEART is the fourth book in Gardiner's UNSUB thriller series featuring FBI profiler Caitlin Hendrix. In the thriller, Hendrix is  tracking a serial killer that appears to be following the modus operandi of a jailed serial killer.   In the interview Gardiner discussed the vulnerability of her protagonist, how she drives the pace of her novels, and how she uses different point of view characters to allow readers to understand and empathize with both the good and bad characters, and to give voice to those most invested in the story.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed award winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed, author of ON JUNETEENTH. In the interview, Gordon-Reed discussed the historical significance of Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in Texas. She also shared her personal experiences and perspectives on the holiday's origins, evolution, and cultural significance. Born and raised in Texas, Annette Gordon-Reed is a history professor at Harvard University and the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning THE HEMINGSES OF MONTICELLO.  Her web site is https://annettegordonreed.com/. Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com 

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Abir Mukherjee, author of the new thriller Hunted.  Hunted, Mukherjee's sixth novel, follows the paths of a terrorist group in the U.S. planning and executing bombings in the U.S., the efforts of the FBI to stop them, and the search for two of the young adults in the group by their parents who hope to prevent catastrophe.  The novel has a multicultural cast of characters providing points of view from a U.S. and international perspective.  In the interview, Mukherjee discussed the use of crime fiction as a medium for social commentary and protest, particularly in Scotland, his home. Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed historian Manisha Sinha, author of The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920.  In the interview, Manisha explained her decision to focus on Reconstruction as the central theme, tying it to various other historical events and movements including the women's suffrage movement, the destruction of indigenous sovereignties, the Industrial Revolution, and labor conflict.Manisha Sinha is the James L. and Shirley A. Draper Chair in American History at the University of Connecticut and a leading authority on the history of slavery and abolition and the Civil War and Reconstruction. She is also the author of The Counterrevolution of Slavery: Politics and Ideology in Antebellum South Carolina and The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition Understanding American Democracy's History of Abolition.

Diverse Voices Book Review contributor Chaitali Sen interviewed Gemini Wahhaj, author of the debut novel The Children of this Madness.  In The Children of this Madness, Gemini Wahhaj pens a complex tale of modern Bengalis, one that illuminates the recent histories not only of Bangladesh, but America and Iraq. Told in multiple voices over successive eras, this is the story of Nasir Uddin and his daughter Beena, and the intersection of their distant, vastly different lives.Gemini Wahhaj is a Bangladeshi American writer living in the US. She wrote her debut novel The Children of This Madness as a new immigrant in the US, while she was a graduate student in the creative writing program at the University of Houston and war raged in Iraq.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Steven Han, author of Illiberal America: A History.  In the interview they discussed the realities behind American history's myths, touching on progressive thinking's complexities, wealth concentration, and public good concepts. They also examined the impact of political strategies like the Southern strategy, and the Supreme Court's role in economic rights protection and the aftermath of Obama's election. Steven Hahn is a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian who studies American political and social movements. His acclaimed works include A Nation Under Our Feet and A Nation Without Borders. He teaches at New York University.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

Diverse Voices Book Review contributor Amanda Moore interviewed, Kellye Garrett, the author of Missing White Woman, her latest novel. Her new book tells the story of a young woman who becomes an unwilling participant in a mystery that not only captures the attention of the public, but also forces her to face her past while fighting for her future. Kellye Garrett is also the author of the award-winning book, Like A Sister, and the co-founder of the Crime Writers of Color.  You can learn more about Kellye at www.kellyegarrett.com.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comSign-up for the Diverse Voices Book Review email notification of interviews available to listen to at https://forms.office.com/r/NtvGUfwUgb Web site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/  

Diverse Voices Book Review host interviewed George Pelecanos, author of the story collection Owning Up. In the interview they discuss the significance of storytelling in addressing social issues, particularly racial injustice, historical trauma, and violence. They highlight the emotional connection that stories can provide, allowing readers to empathize with characters and learn from their experiences. George Pelecanos is the bestselling author of twenty-two novels and story collections set in and around Washington, D.C. He is also a producer and Emmy-nominated writer of HBO's The Wire, Treme, The Deuce and We Own This City.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.com

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Marie Arana, author of LatinoLand.  LatinoLand is an all-encompassing overview of Hispanic America based on personal interviews, deep research, and Marie Arana’s life experience as a Latina. At present, Latinos comprise 20 percent of the US population, a number that is growing. By 2050, census reports project that one in every three Americans will claim Latino heritage.  Marie Arana draws on her own experience as the daughter of an American mother and Peruvian father who came to the US at age nine, straddling two worlds, as many Latinos do.  Learn more about LatinoLand at Marie Arana - Latinoland: America's Largest and Least Understood Minority.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/  

Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Ayana Mathis, author of the novel The Unsettled.  "The Unsettled is a spellbinding portrait of two fierce women reckoning with the steep cost of resistance: What legacy will we leave our children? Where can we be free? Learn more about the novel at The Unsettled — Ayana Mathis.Diverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/ 

In celebration of Women's History Month, we're featuring an interview conducted by Teens Choice Book Show host Maya Hay in January of 2021 with Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross, authors of A Black Women's History of the United States.  The book is described as "an empowering and intersectional history that centers the stories of African American women across 400+ years, showing how they are—and have always been—instrumental in shaping our country."At the time of the interview, Dr. Berry was the Oliver H. Radkey Regents Professor of History and associate dean of the Graduate School at the University of Texas at Austin, and Dr. Gross was the Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of History at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.  Today, Dr. Gross is the National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of African American Studies at Emory University is and Dr. Berry is the Michael Douglas Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Learn more about About | Daina Ramey Berry (d