Yaa Gyasi

This week, the hosts review Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, a sweeping multi-generational novel that traces the descendants of two half-sisters from 18th-century Ghana into the modern era. One sister, Effia, lives above the dungeon of Cape Coast Castle; the other, Esi, is imprisoned below and sold into American slavery. From that pivotal separation, the book follows their children and grandchildren across centuries, continents, and systems of power. Through alternating chapters, Gyasi explores the legacy of slavery, colonialism, identity, belonging, resilience, and generational trauma. Each descendant wrestles with the inherited shadows of the past, from plantations and Jim Crow to migration, incarceration, and cultural disconnection. The hosts unpack the book’s structure, thematic depth, and emotional resonance, reflecting on how history lives in individual lives long after its origins. It’s a layered, compassionate conversation that centers legacy, memory, and the ways personal story intertwines with collective history. Cheers! Please be advised this episode is intended for adult audiences and contains adult language and content. We are expressing opinions on the show for entertainment purposes only. Dedication: To our patrons as always!! We love you! Moni & Kat: To the ancestors, old and new! About the Book: : https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/533857/homegoing-by-yaa-gyasi/ Title: Homegoing Author: Yaa Gyasi Genre: Historical Fiction Published: 2016 (Moni states 2026 in error) Pages: 320 (first edition) About the Author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaa_Gyasi Yaa Gyasi is a Ghanaian-American novelist. Her work, most notably her 2016 debut novel Homegoing and her 2020 novel Transcendent Kingdom, features themes of lineage, generational trauma, and Black and African identities. Wikipedia Born: 1989 (age 37 years), Mampong, Ghana Parents: Kwaku Gyasi , Sophia Gyasi Education: <a href="https://www.google.com

79: In this episode of At the Table, I share my reflections on Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi — a multigenerational novel that traces two half-sisters and their descendants through centuries of history, from Ghana to America. I talk about how I came to the book after reading Transcendent Kingdom, the emotional weight of moving through trauma after trauma on the page, and how the story forced me to think about identity, Blackness, womanhood, and resilience in new ways. This isn’t just a book review — it’s a conversation about navigating identity as an African in America, about the strength of Black people who created culture from nothing, and about the questions Homegoing leaves us to wrestle with long after the final page. I’ll share what I loved about Yaa Gyasi’s storytelling, what frustrated me about the ending, my final star rating, and whether I think you should pick this book up for yourself. So, grab a snack, pull up a seat, and join Fikayo at the Table for an episode you don’t want to miss. Press play to unlock the doors to your wildest dreams. And don’t forget, we’re here every Saturday with new episodes packed with insights and laughs. Our goal is to create a safe and welcoming space where you can share your experiences and learn from others. 🌐 Visit our website: softlightllc.org 📸 Follow the podcast on Instagram: @atthetable_pod ✨ See the face behind the voice: @fiikayo 💌 Don’t be shy — DM me and let me know what you think about the podcast. Your feedback means the world. ⸻ 🎁 Exclusive Offers for the At the Table Community: ​ Get 10% off your first month with BetterHelp: betterhelp.com/fiikaye ​ Get 10% off your first year with Monday.com: try.monday.com/00g1s9cmwkx ​ Get 50% off your first year with Notion: affiliate.notion.so/bhn9uaxih4z7 ​ Get 1 month free off your first year with WHOOP: join.whoop.com/fiikay ⸻ 🎧 Press play, join Fikayo At the Table, and let’s embrace the adventure of adulting. ⚠️ Disclaimer: Content on At the Table Podcast is for entertainment purposes only and should not be taken as professional advice. Listening to this podcast implies acknowledgment that the host and guests are not certified experts in medical, health, finance, or any professional field unless stated otherwise.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Well, hello there. Welcome to another episode of reading with R. I am Ruqayyah Nabage your host extraordinaire, podcaster extraordinaire, reader extra-ordinaire people. So on this podcast, we review books, we fan girl over books. That's what we do. So if you're interested in that type of thing, tune in every month for a new episode, if you have a particular book you want me to review. Send me an email at ruqayyah.nabage@ayambalitcast.com, or you could send me a DM to any of my social media platforms, or ayambalitcast's platform. And a website is available to listen on all podcasting platforms. So without further ado, today's episode ladies and gentlemen drum roll- it is home going by Yaa Gyasi. This book is written by a Ghanaian. Um, I think she's Ghanaian American, not too sure. I didn't do a lot of research into the author, but the book is amazing. You know, I saw it quite a lot before I read it. And then, um, surprise, surprise. I found out that my husband had a copy, so it was a particularly enjoyable read for me because I was able to read it in hard copy. So the book is about two sisters. Yeah. Two sisters that were born from the same mother, but had different fathers whose lives turned out to be completely different from one another. So we followed the individual stories of those sisters and their descendants, through the years. So it's like, um, the first sister, um, uh, I have the book here with me. So for reference purposes. So I don't mix up anybody's name. The first sister is Effia. Yeah. And the other is Ese. So what happened was the woman, her name was Maame, she was a slave. To a man. That was how she bought her first daughter. After she gave birth to the daughter, she ran away and set everything on fire. Then she was found by a different man in a totally different town who married her. And she had a second daughter Ese. So technically, no, not really technically, literally both sisters never knew that the other existed. So we go through the lives of both sisters, we go through the lives of their children, their children's children like several generations down the line. And the interesting thing is that one family, the first sister, her whole life and her generation, they stay in Ghana while the other is sold into slavery. And which takes her to America. Slavery, plantations and all of that. It's a very interesting journey. And, um, we will see how it's like parallels yeah? What could have been. It's now that I'm talking about it. I remember this, um, movie that I've been seeing on Netflix about how one, I didn't actually watch the movie. I saw the trailer it's like parallel lives. What could have been. So this book is literally showing us what could have beens in the life of the two sisters, how they could share the same mother, but live such different lives. How, like they have the same blood, but how, like the children, their descendants live such completely different lives. And you know, the ones in Ghana, obviously it's a lot easier for them to keep track of their lineage. But somehow, even though like they have power and stuff and they're still in their homeland, they still lose themselves. They still lose that ancestry, their bloodline, they don't know their lineage due to, you know, circumstances. That I will not divulge because I want you to read the book and find out by yourself and then the other sister. The one in America, she loses, they lose their own lineage to, at a point it cuts off. They don't know where they come from. I think the author probably did it deliberately. I think it was around the same generation that they both lost touch. And interestingly enough, there are some ancestor like descendants sorry not ancestors descendants that see Maame, the woman that all began with in their dreams and stuff. And of course people call her crazy and all of that. It's really beautiful. Um, and, uh, it's just, i

In this year-long celebration of The Exuberance of Youth, World Book Club revisits the multi-prize-winning debut novel Homegoing by the acclaimed Ghanaian author Yaa Gyasi. The story of two half-sisters, separated by forces beyond their control: one sold into slavery, the other married to a white slave-trader, Homegoing traces the generations of family who follow, as their destinies lead them through two continents and three hundred years of history. A novel of remarkable sweep and power, with each character’s life indelibly drawn, Homegoing reveals the devastating legacy of slavery and the resilience of the human spirit. (Picture: Yaa Gyasi. Photo credit: Peter Hurley/Vilcek Foundation.)

Ghanaian American award-winning author Yaa Gyasi joins us to discuss her novel Transcendent Kingdom, a stunning follow-up to her acclaimed national bestseller Homegoing. This book is a powerful, raw and deeply moving story about a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression, addiction and grief. Our host Ann Bocock sits down with Yaa Gyasi to talk about her experience living in Huntsville, Alabama with her Ghanaian family and how the pull of these two worlds influenced her to become a writer. From religion to the importance of place and belonging, she discusses the parallels between her life and that of her main character, Gifty. Gyasi also dives into the racial disparities of mental health and the devastating toll mental illness can have on a family. She shares how Transcendent Kingdom was different from her popular debut novel, Homegoing, and why she chose to focus this book on a tumultuous mother-daughter relationship. Get all the details on this week’s episode of GO Between the Covers! Connect with Yaa Gyasi: Facebook: @YaaGyasiAuthor And connect with us! https://www.southfloridapbs.org/gobtc/ Facebook: @BetweenTheCoversSouthFloridaPBS Twitter: @WPBT2, @WXELTV

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/577773 to listen full audiobooks. Title: [Spanish] - Volver a casa Author: Yaa Gyasi Narrator: Juanita Delgado Jaramillo Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 13 hours 40 minutes Release date: February 24, 2022 Genres: LGBTQ+ Publisher's Summary: Primera novela de la escritora estadounidense de origen ghanés Yaa Gyasi, una cautivante historia de hondo calado humano que se desarrolla en la costa suroccidental de África y en Norteamérica desde el siglo XVIII hasta la actualidad. Hijas de una misma madre y de padres pertenecientes a dos etnias distintas, Effia y Esi son dos hermanas de sangre que nunca llegarán a conocerse. Sus caminos están irremediablemente destinados a separarse: así, mientras Effia es obligada a casarse con un gobernador inglés y a residir en una fortaleza junto a la costa, Esi es capturada y enviada como esclava al sur de Estados Unidos. La narración va trazando, pues, el devenir de las dos ramas de la familia, protagonistas de conmovedoras historias de aflicción, esperanza y superación en el marco de una serie de relevantes acontecimientos históricos: las guerras tribales, el negocio del cacao, la llegada de los misioneros, la Ley de Esclavos Fugitivos de 1850, la Gran Migración Negra, la lucha por los derechos civiles y el renacimiento de Harlem en los años veinte, hasta llegar a la epidemia de heroína de los setenta. Recibida con entusiasmo desbordante en Norteamérica, Inglaterra y Francia, la crítica especializada de ambos lados del Atlántico celebró la llegada de una voz nueva, límpida y potente, dotada de un especial talento para acercar al oyente el microcosmos de los sentimientos más íntimos del individuo en su desigual lucha ante la aplastante fuerza de la Historia. La crítica ha dicho... «Hay libros buenos, libros hermosos y luego están los grandes libros. Hay libros que emocionan y educan, y luego están los que son menos habituales, los valiosos, los que tienen la fuerza de cambiar nuestra forma de entender la complejidad de este mundo extraño. Volver a casa pertenece a esa segunda categoría.» Lire «Trazar tres siglos en cuatrocientas páginas era una apuesta arriesgada y podría haber terminado en una novela didáctica o insulsa. Pero no ha sido así: Gyasi ha logrado esta proeza gracias a una inteligente combinación de política e intimismo, historia y magia, y a unas imágenes con un gran poder evocador.» Le Monde «La esclavitud es una herida abierta: nunca sanará. Y como tal, ha proporcionado una reserva inagotable de material para narradores, un pozo sin fondo de giros trágicos, traiciones épicas, trascendencias inesperadas y secretos desconocidos. [...] En ese mismo pozo de agua turbia se ha sumergido Yaa Gyasi, escritora novel de origen ghanés-americano, para crear Volver a casa, un retrato valiente del papel que desempeñó África occidental en el comercio transatlántico de personas.» The Guardian «Necesitaba leer un libro como éste para recordar de lo que uno es capaz. Y necesitaba recordar qué ocurre cuando una imaginación literaria especialmente dotada se topa con una tarea épica. Volver a casa es una fuente de inspiración.» Ta-Nehisi Coates, autor de Entre el mundo y yo

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/577773 to listen full audiobooks. Title: [Spanish] - Volver a casa Author: Yaa Gyasi Narrator: Juanita Delgado Jaramillo Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 13 hours 40 minutes Release date: February 24, 2022 Genres: Historical Publisher's Summary: Primera novela de la escritora estadounidense de origen ghanés Yaa Gyasi, una cautivante historia de hondo calado humano que se desarrolla en la costa suroccidental de África y en Norteamérica desde el siglo XVIII hasta la actualidad. Hijas de una misma madre y de padres pertenecientes a dos etnias distintas, Effia y Esi son dos hermanas de sangre que nunca llegarán a conocerse. Sus caminos están irremediablemente destinados a separarse: así, mientras Effia es obligada a casarse con un gobernador inglés y a residir en una fortaleza junto a la costa, Esi es capturada y enviada como esclava al sur de Estados Unidos. La narración va trazando, pues, el devenir de las dos ramas de la familia, protagonistas de conmovedoras historias de aflicción, esperanza y superación en el marco de una serie de relevantes acontecimientos históricos: las guerras tribales, el negocio del cacao, la llegada de los misioneros, la Ley de Esclavos Fugitivos de 1850, la Gran Migración Negra, la lucha por los derechos civiles y el renacimiento de Harlem en los años veinte, hasta llegar a la epidemia de heroína de los setenta. Recibida con entusiasmo desbordante en Norteamérica, Inglaterra y Francia, la crítica especializada de ambos lados del Atlántico celebró la llegada de una voz nueva, límpida y potente, dotada de un especial talento para acercar al oyente el microcosmos de los sentimientos más íntimos del individuo en su desigual lucha ante la aplastante fuerza de la Historia. La crítica ha dicho... «Hay libros buenos, libros hermosos y luego están los grandes libros. Hay libros que emocionan y educan, y luego están los que son menos habituales, los valiosos, los que tienen la fuerza de cambiar nuestra forma de entender la complejidad de este mundo extraño. Volver a casa pertenece a esa segunda categoría.» Lire «Trazar tres siglos en cuatrocientas páginas era una apuesta arriesgada y podría haber terminado en una novela didáctica o insulsa. Pero no ha sido así: Gyasi ha logrado esta proeza gracias a una inteligente combinación de política e intimismo, historia y magia, y a unas imágenes con un gran poder evocador.» Le Monde «La esclavitud es una herida abierta: nunca sanará. Y como tal, ha proporcionado una reserva inagotable de material para narradores, un pozo sin fondo de giros trágicos, traiciones épicas, trascendencias inesperadas y secretos desconocidos. [...] En ese mismo pozo de agua turbia se ha sumergido Yaa Gyasi, escritora novel de origen ghanés-americano, para crear Volver a casa, un retrato valiente del papel que desempeñó África occidental en el comercio transatlántico de personas.» The Guardian «Necesitaba leer un libro como éste para recordar de lo que uno es capaz. Y necesitaba recordar qué ocurre cuando una imaginación literaria especialmente dotada se topa con una tarea épica. Volver a casa es una fuente de inspiración.» Ta-Nehisi Coates, autor de Entre el mundo y yo

Esta es una muestra de "Volver a casa". La versión completa tiene una duración total de 13 h 40 min. Encuentra este audiolibro completo en https://bit.ly/volveracasa_sample Narrado por: Juanita Delgado Jaramillo Hijas de una misma madre y de padres pertenecientes a dos etnias distintas, Effia y Esi son dos hermanas de sangre que nunca llegarán a conocerse. Sus caminos están irremediablemente destinados a separarse: así, mientras Effia es obligada a casarse con un gobernador inglés y a residir en una fortaleza junto a la costa, Esi es capturada y enviada como esclava al sur de Estados Unidos. La narración va trazando, pues, el devenir de las dos ramas de la familia, protagonistas de conmovedoras historias de aflicción, esperanza y superación en el marco de una serie de relevantes acontecimientos históricos: las guerras tribales, el negocio del cacao, la llegada de los misioneros, la Ley de Esclavos Fugitivos de 1850, la Gran Migración Negra, la lucha por los derechos civiles y el renacimiento de Harlem en los años veinte, hasta llegar a la epidemia de heroína de los setenta. Recibida con entusiasmo desbordante en Norteamérica, Inglaterra y Francia, la crítica especializada de ambos lados del Atlántico celebró la llegada de una voz nueva, límpida y potente, dotada de un especial talento para acercar al oyente el microcosmos de los sentimientos más íntimos del individuo en su desigual lucha ante la aplastante fuerza de la Historia. Reseñas:«Hay libros buenos, libros hermosos y luego están los grandes libros. Hay libros que emocionan y educan, y luego están los que son menos habituales, los valiosos, los que tienen la fuerza de cambiar nuestra forma de entender la complejidad de este mundo extraño. Volver a casa pertenece a esa segunda categoría.»Lire «Trazar tres siglos en cuatrocientas páginas era una apuesta arriesgada y podría haber terminado en una novela didáctica o insulsa. Pero no ha sido así: Gyasi ha logrado esta proeza gracias a una inteligente combinación de política e intimismo, historia y magia, y a unas imágenes con un gran poder evocador.»Le Monde «La esclavitud es una herida abierta: nunca sanará. Y como tal, ha proporcionado una reserva inagotable de material para narradores, un pozo sin fondo de giros trágicos, traiciones épicas, trascendencias inesperadas y secretos desconocidos. [...] En ese mismo pozo de agua turbia se ha sumergido Yaa Gyasi, escritora novel de origen ghanés-americano, para crear Volver a casa, un retrato valiente del papel que desempeñó África occidental en el comercio transatlántico de personas.»The Guardian «Necesitaba leer un libro como éste para recordar de lo que uno es capaz. Y necesitaba recordar qué ocurre cuando una imaginación literaria especialmente dotada se topa con una tarea épica. Volver a casa es una fuente de inspiración.»Ta-Nehisi Coates, autor de Entre el mundo y yo © 2022, Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, S. A. U. #penguinaudio #audiolibro #audiolibros #gyasi #yaagyasi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Episode 7 of THE MANHATTAN MILLENNIAL BOOK REVIEW, Host Anuja Jaiswal presents an insightful look at Ghanaian-American author Yaa Gyasi's "Homegoing," the 2016 historical novel that took the literary world by storm, where each chapter portrays the life of a different descendant of the Asante woman Maame. It begins with two half-sisters who had wildly different fates: the former marries a British governor, whilst the latter was sold into slavery. Acclaimed for its ambitious structure, it’s difficult to sustain a novel-length narrative when you meet each character for only a chapter, but Gyasi’s use of specific imagery and motifs in her syntax bolsters her depiction of greater themes, like identity, colonialism, and race. Anuja breaks it all down and talks about why this book turned out to be such a great birthday gift for her from her friend. Subscribe, download and check out previous episodes of THE MANHATTAN MILLENNIAL BOOK REVIEW anytime on your favorite podcast platform, and always streaming live & direct (with exclusive extras!) on j asoncharles.net Podcast Network ARTS & CULTURE SHOWS Channel. For more information about host Anuja Jaiswal check out @ajaiswal1997 on Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of The Archive Project , we feature a talk and conversation with novelist Yaa Gyasi. In 2016, Gyasi’s first novel, Homegoing , was published and immediately became a New York Times’ bestseller, was awarded numerous prizes, and was praised by Zadie Smith as “spectacular,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates as “an inspiration,” and widely hailed as one of the best books of that year. This spring, Gyasi joined us for Portland Arts & Lectures to talk about her second book, Transcendent Kingdom , published in 2020. Like Homegoing , the book explores the constant presence of the past. But, where that book spanned centuries and continents, Transcendent Kingdom unfolds on a more granular, intimate scale. In many ways, this talk is less about writing than it is the power of reading, an act that is so powerful that people died so that others might experience it, so powerful that it can force the reader to contend with the humanity of someone they do not know and will never meet, from another place or time. We learn of the profound impact of Toni Morrison on Gyasi, her journey to becoming a writer, and how she grapples in her fiction with what she calls the “afterlife of slavery,” asking the question, “Is slavery even over?” In the second half of the episode, she is joined by Andrew Proctor for a conversation about both her books, and the influences that shaped them. “My work is largely concerned with the ways that the ancestors walk with us; the ways history, familial and societal, continues to show up in our lives.” Yaa Gyasi was born in Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama. She holds a BA in English from Stanford University and an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she held a Dean’s Graduate Research Fellowship. She lives in Brooklyn. Andrew Proctor has been the director of Literary Arts since 2009. Born and raised in Canada, Proctor, earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Music at Concordia University in Montreal, and later worked in London for the Cultural Attaché to the Canadian High Commission. In the UK, he also earned an MA in English Literature at the University of East Anglia under the supervision of England’s then Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion. From 2000-2004 Proctor worked as an editor for HarperCollins in New York City and then as the Membership and Operations Director of the PEN American Center, a global literary and human rights organization focused on the welfare of writers and editors. In total, Proctor has worked in the literary world for over twenty years in the governmental, for profit, and nonprofit sectors.

Jetzt ist es offiziell: Bereits im zweiten Jahr in Folge kooperieren wir mit dem Deutschen Buchpreis und stellen wieder alle 20 Titel der Longlist vor – stay tuned (oder wagt ein Sneak Peak unserer Hot Takes auf Steady)! Außerdem haben wir weitere Vorschläge für deutschsprachige Beiträge für den International Booker 2022 im Gepäck – und bevor wir uns auf drei Neuerscheinungen stürzen, mogeln wir eine Vierte ins Vorgeplänkel: In „Bock. Männer und Sex“ begleitet Katja Lewina das vermeintlich starke Geschlecht von der Wiege bis zur Bahre und hinterfragt dabei gängige Narrative männlicher Sexualität. Korea ist voll im Trend – Grund genug, mit Bae Suah eine weitere, erstmals in Deutsche übersetzte Autorin aus dem Land kennenzulernen. „Weiße Nacht“ ist ein experimenteller Roman, der im sommerlich aufgeheizten Seoul spielt und durch seine raffinierte Struktur, seine Sprachspiele und Verweise auffällt. Nach dem Verlust ihres Jobs streift Ayami durch die Stadt: Was ist Realität, was ist ein (Fieber-)Traum? Übersetzer Sebastian Bring teilt Insiderinfos zu Buch und Autorin mit uns. Yaa Gyasi legt mit „Ein erhabenes Königreich“ ihren zweiten Roman vor: Neurowissenschaftlerin Gifty hofft auf Erkenntnisse aus Tierversuchen, die zur besseren Behandlung von psychischen Erkrankungen betragen können – die Depression ihrer Mutter und Drogensucht ihres Bruders treiben sie an. Stark geprägt von Religion, Wissenschaft und Rassismus sucht Gifty nach Antworten – wie schlägt sich dieses Buch im Vergleich zu Gyasis umjubelten Debüt „Heimkehren“? Spannende und vielfältige Einblicke in das alltägliche Leben in China bietet die Kurzgeschichtensammlung „Ist es nicht schön hier?“ von Te-Ping Chen – und nicht nur das: Realistische Erzählungen über emigrierte Chines*innen und ihren Blick auf ihre Heimat sind in dem Band ebenso zu finden wie märchenhafte Parabeln. Wie lebt es sich in einem Land, das politisch Andersdenkende auch gewaltsam unterdrückt? Wir schauen ganz genau hin! Abonnieren: Spotify | iTunes | Android | RSS Timecodes: 00:00:00 - Vorgeplänkel: Buchpreis 2021, Booker Tipps aus DE 00:07:31 - "Bock: Männer und Sex" von Katja Lewina 00:17:17 - "Weiße Nacht" von Bae Suah 00:33:33 - "Ein erhabenes Königreich" von Yaa Gyasi 00:50:40 - "Ist es nicht schön hier" von Te-Ping Chen Buch-Infos: Titel: Bock: Männer und Sex Autor: Katja Lewina Verlag: Dumont (2021) Preis (Buch/eBook): 20,00 € / 15,99 € Länge: 224 Seiten Genre: Diskriminierung, Sexualität Form: Hardcover ISBN: 978-3832180065 Links: Verlag | LChoice (Affiliate) Titel

In this episode of The Archive Project , we feature a talk and conversation with novelist Yaa Gyasi. In 2016, Gyasi’s first novel, Homegoing , was published and immediately became a New York Times’ bestseller, was awarded numerous prizes, and was praised by Zadie Smith as “spectacular,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates as “an inspiration,” and widely hailed as one of the best books of that year. This spring, Gyasi joined us for Portland Arts & Lectures to talk about her second book, Transcendent Kingdom , published in 2020. Like Homegoing , the book explores the constant presence of the past. But, where that book spanned centuries and continents, Transcendent Kingdom unfolds on a more granular, intimate scale. In many ways, this talk is less about writing than it is the power of reading, an act that is so powerful that people died so that others might experience it, so powerful that it can force the reader to contend with the humanity of someone they do not know and will never meet, from another place or time. We learn of the profound impact of Toni Morrison on Gyasi, her journey to becoming a writer, and how she grapples in her fiction with what she calls the “afterlife of slavery,” asking the question, “Is slavery even over?” In the second half of the episode, she is joined by Andrew Proctor for a conversation about both her books, and the influences that shaped them. “My work is largely concerned with the ways that the ancestors walk with us; the ways history, familial and societal, continues to show up in our lives.” Yaa Gyasi was born in Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama. She holds a BA in English from Stanford University and an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she held a Dean’s Graduate Research Fellowship. She lives in Brooklyn. Andrew Proctor has been the director of Literary Arts since 2009. Born and raised in Canada, Proctor, earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Music at Concordia University in Montreal, and later worked in London for the Cultural Attaché to the Canadian High Commission. In the UK, he also earned an MA in English Literature at the University of East Anglia under the supervision of England’s then Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion. From 2000-2004 Proctor worked as an editor for HarperCollins in New York City and then as the Membership and Operations Director of the PEN American Center, a global literary and human rights organization focused on the welfare of writers and editors. In total, Proctor has worked in the literary world for over twenty years in the governmental, for profit, and nonprofit sectors.