“Writers on Writing“ Radio Show (Replay)

About the Episode
Dr. Brenda Greene interviews Wayétu Moore, the author of The Dragons, The Giant, The Women. Greene and Moore discuss the themes of her memoir: the African immigrant experience, mother/daughter relationships, racism, colonialism, and the search for home. Moore’s memoir pays tribute to her mother and father while discussing the impact of the civil war in Liberia on her life. Although this is a memoir, it reads like a novel because of Moore’s lyrical voice and use of literary elements. Greene and Moore also discuss her writing process, her message to emerging writers, and her next book project.

About the Guest
Wayétu Moore is the author of She Would Be King (Graywolf Press, 2018), which was named a best book of 2018 by Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Entertainment Weekly, BuzzFeed, and a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Award. She is the recipient of the 2019 Lannan Literary Fellowship for Fiction. Her memoir, The Dragons, The Giant, The Women (Graywolf Press, 2020), was a 2020 New York Times Notable Book, Time Magazine 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2020, Publishers Weekly Top 5 Nonfiction Books of 2020; it was also longlisted for the ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Moore is the founder of One Moore Book, a nonprofit organization that creates and distributes culturally relevant books for underrepresented readers, and she is an advocate for diverse children’s literature. Her first bookstore opened in Monrovia, Liberia, in 2015. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Paris Review, Frieze Magazine, Guernica, the Atlantic Magazine, among other publications. Moore is a graduate of Howard University, University of Southern California, and Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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Email writers@mec.cuny.edu for more information.