Podcast appearances and mentions of jerald walker

Jerald Walker grew up in the predominantly white, Worldwide Church of God – a doomsday cult that convinced its followers the world would end in 1972. Raised by blind, African American parents and under the cult's strict teachings, which preached racial segregation and an imminent apocalypse, Jerald's life was dominated by fear, isolation, and the belief that his future didn't exist.When the promised doomsday never came, Jerald and his family were left grappling with shattered beliefs. As his life unravelled, Jerald fell into addiction and crime, struggling to escape the mental and emotional grip of the cult. But through education, an extraordinary teacher and a passion for writing, he found a path to redemption.Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Thomas Harding AssinderGet in touch: liveslessordinary@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784

Emerson College Distinguished Professor Jerald Walker talks about his new book "Magically Black And Other Essays" examining Black life and culture in America in ways that are both essential and humorous.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tavis-smiley--6286410/support.

In the lead-up to the presidential election, novelist Jess Walter returns to the show to revisit his previous comments about former president Donald Trump. Walter joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss Trump's dangerous decisions and inflammatory rhetoric, as well as how reactions to him have changed since 2016. Walter talks about former Trump cronies who have abandoned the candidate and endorsed Kamala Harris, and reflects on the inaction that has made it possible for Trump, a felon, to run for the presidency once more. He hazards a prediction about the election results, and reads from his short story “Town and Country,” which appeared in his recent story collection Angel of Rome.  To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf. Jess Walter The Angel of Rome and Other Stories  The Cold Millions Beautiful Ruins Others: Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 1 Episode 6: "All the President's Shakespeare: Jess Walter and Kiki Petrosino"  Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 4 Episode 4: “Life After Trump: Jess Walter and Jerald Walker on the Aftermath of Election 2020” Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 8 Episode 2: “Jeff Sharlet on ‘Sanewashing' and Fascism” Anderson Cooper interviews Kamala Harris | CNN | October 24, 2024 The Price of Power: How Mitch McConnell Mastered the Senate, Changed America, and Lost His Party by Michael Tackett Liz Cheney Lindsey Graham Shark Tank Hopium Chronicles by Simon Rosenberg Fiction/Non/Fiction Season 7 Episode 50: “Thomas Frank on How the Harris-Walz Ticket Can Win Red State Voters”  Veep Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we discuss our feelings, how to write about feelings, our feelings some more, and two essays about feelings: Jerald Walker's “Breathe,” and Chris Offutt's “Trash Food.” (Sorry about the audio quality—we had some tech issues this week.) Jerald Walker's “Breathe” in New England Review: https://www.nereview.com/vol-40-no-3-2019/breathe/  Chris Offutt's “Trash Food” in Oxford American: https://main.oxfordamerican.org/magazine/item/550-trash-food Allen Gee's “Old School,” the other essay about James Alan Macpherson that we mention. (Excerpt only): https://blog.pshares.org/index.php/old-school-by-allen-gee/  Stephanie Soileau's book of short stories, Last One Out Shut Off the Lights: https://stephaniesoileau.com/last-one-out-shut-off-the-lights-2

Hi there, Article Clubbers! This month, we're reading, annotating, and discussing “How to Name Your Black Son in a Racist Country,” by Tyrone Fleurizard.A couple weeks ago, Article Clubber Sarai and I got the chance to talk with Mr. Fleurizard and ask him some of our questions. It was a fun, deep conversation. We talked about a range of topics, including why he writes and how Jerald Walker's “How to Make a Slave” inspired the piece. In addition, Mr. Fleurizard shares his thoughts about naming, religion, his relationship with his father, and the immigration industrial complex. I hope you will take a listen.Most of all, I want to appreciate Mr. Fleurizard for generously sharing his time and thoughtfulness with us.After listening to the interview, please share your thoughts in the comments. What resonated with you? What surprised you?Article Club is a thoughtful reading community and an experiment in community reading. Every month, we read, annotate, and discuss one great article, and the author participates, too! If you're interested, sign up and check us out. Article Club is part of The Highlighter, a weekly newsletter featuring the best articles on race, education, and culture. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit articleclub.substack.com/subscribe

Friday on Political Rewind: A return to a previous conversation with author Jerald Walker, writer of How to Make a Slave and Other Essays. Last December, we spoke with Walker about his recently published collection of essays and his own personal journey as a writer. Walker's How to Make a Slave and Other Essays is a finalist for a National Book award. It illuminates an intimate account of the writer as an African American man in the United States. In the process of examining his own experiences, Walker challenges white readers to confront their assumptions of the Black experience in America today. Recent years may have only just initiated a long-needed and vital conversation among white people about racial justice. The essays in How to Make a Slave defy preconceived ideas of race with wry wit and unyielding honesty. Panelist: Dr. Jerald Walker — Author of How To Make A Slave and Other Essays and Professor of Literature and Writing at Emerson College

This year has the nation on edge and looking for levity. It’s worth remembering, though, that a punchline’s humor is often found in its truth-telling. Jerald Walker, professor of creative writing at Emerson College, joins guest host Courtney Collins to talk about his book of bracing – and often funny – essays. “How to Make a Slave and Other Essays” is a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award in nonfiction.

Writing Professor and Author Jerald Walker discusses his poignant collection of essays called “How To Make A Slave," which is a finalist for a National Book Award. In the book, Walker reflects on growing up on Chicago's Southside, what it means to depict Black American life with authenticity and what he hopes to teach his children about the complex joy of the African-American experience.

Thursday on Political Rewind: A conversation with author Jerald Walker, writer of “How to Make a Slave and Other Essays.” Walker's collection is a finalist for a National Book award. It gives an intimate account of the experience of the writer as an African American man in the United States. In the process of examining his own questions about race, Walker challenges white readers to confront their assumptions of the Black experiences in America today. If recent years have begun a long-needed and vital conversation among white people about racial justice, the essays in “How to Make a Slave” eviscerate preconceived ideas of race with wry wit and unyielding honesty.

In conversation with author, essayist, and radio host Solomon Jones. Jerald Walker's recent How to Make a Slave and Other Essays was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award. A ''restless, brilliant'' collection that ''can alight on a truth without pinning it in place'' (New York Times), it examines such wide-ranging topics as the medical establishment's racial biases, the burden of cultural stereotypes, and other elements that speak to what it means to be a Black American male in this charged moment. A creative writing professor at Emerson College and the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, Walker is also the author of Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Redemption; and The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult. (recorded 12/9/2020)

We welcome Jerald Walker, a Professor of Creative Writing at Emerson College, to talk about his latest collection of essays, "How To Make A Slave."

In this week's episode of Fiction/Non/Fiction, co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan talk to acclaimed novelist Jess Walter and award-winning essayist Jerald Walker. First, Walter unravels the literary elements of the Trump administration and discusses how his newest book, The Cold Millions, a historical novel touching on unions and feminism at the turn of the century, has many parallels to today's politics. Then, Walker talks about centering Black courage vs. white cruelty, both in literature and this election, and how he works to find common ground in his writing, including his newest collection of essays, How to Make a Slave, which is a finalist for the National Book Award. To hear the full episode, subscribe to the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. And check out video excerpts from our interviews at LitHub's Virtual Book Channel and Fiction/Non/Fiction's YouTube Channel. This podcast is produced by Andrea Tudhope.  Selected readings: Jess Walter The Cold Millions Beautiful Ruins We Live in Water The Financial Lives of the Poets ‘The Ponz': Michael Cohen's Prison Memoir Jerald Walker How to Make a Slave and Other Essays The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Redemption Once More to the Ghetto and Other Essays “Dragon Slayers”   Others: King Lear by William Shakespeare Elmore Leonard Henry IV, Part II by William Shakespeare “Did the pandemic sink Trump's chances? Not as much as his opponents expected,” by Alex Roarty, McClatchy “'You are no longer my mother': A divided America will struggle to heal after Trump era,” by Tim Reid, Gabriella Borter, Michael Martina, Reuters Hue and Cry, by James Alan McPherson James Alan McPherson Albert Murray Stanley Crouch “The Little Man at Chehaw Station” by Ralph Ellison Self Help by Lorrie Moore Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year has the nation on edge and looking for levity. It’s worth remembering, though, that a punchline’s humor is often found in its truth-telling. Jerald Walker, professor of creative writing at Emerson College, joins guest host Courtney Collins to talk about his book of bracing – and often funny – essays. “How to Make a Slave and Other Essays” is a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award in nonfiction.

Author Jerald Walker talks about growing up on Chicago's South Side, raising his two sons in a predominantly white suburb and preventing his essays from turning into clichés about the Black experience. His new collection of essays is 'How to Make a Slave.' The title is a reference to Frederick Douglass' line, "You've seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man."Also, jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a new album by cornet player Ron Miles.Nicholas Christakis is a doctor and a sociologist who has studied the science of infectious diseases and how plagues of the past have altered societies. "Everywhere you see the spread of germs, for the last few thousand years, you see right behind it the spread of lies," he says. "Denial and lies ... [are] almost an intrinsic part of an epidemic." Christakis' book is 'Apollo's Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live.'

Author Jerald Walker talks about growing up on Chicago's South Side, raising his two sons in a predominantly white suburb and preventing his essays from turning into clichés about the Black experience. His new collection of essays is 'How to Make a Slave.' The title is a reference to Frederick Douglass' line, "You've seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man."Also, jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews a new album by cornet player Ron Miles.Nicholas Christakis is a doctor and a sociologist who has studied the science of infectious diseases and how plagues of the past have altered societies. "Everywhere you see the spread of germs, for the last few thousand years, you see right behind it the spread of lies," he says. "Denial and lies ... [are] almost an intrinsic part of an epidemic." Christakis' book is 'Apollo's Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live.'

Walker talks about growing up on Chicago's South Side, raising his two sons in a predominantly white suburb and preventing his essays from turning into clichés about the Black experience. His new collection of essays is 'How to Make a Slave.' The title is a reference to Frederick Douglass' line, "You've seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man."

Walker talks about growing up on Chicago's South Side, raising his two sons in a predominantly white suburb and preventing his essays from turning into clichés about the Black experience. His new collection of essays is 'How to Make a Slave.' The title is a reference to Frederick Douglass' line, "You've seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man."

LinksSteven’s website:https://stevenleyva.wordpress.com/Steven on Twitter:https://twitter.com/sdleyvaThe Understudy’s Handbook:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54719190-the-understudy-s-handbookBest American Poetry 2020:https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Best-American-Poetry-2020/David-Lehman/The-Best-American-Poetry-series/9781982106591"Playing Levee" by Steven Leyva:https://scalawagmagazine.org/2017/04/playing-levee/Billy Porter talking Kinky Boots audition:https://www.npr.org/2020/08/12/901959775/pose-star-billy-porter-love-always-wins“At Pegasus” by Terrance Hayes:https://poets.org/poem/pegasusNene Leakes retires:https://www.bravotv.com/the-daily-dish/nene-leakes-leaves-the-real-housewives-of-atlantaAndy Cohen's Shady NeNe Leakes goodbye IG post:https://www.etonline.com/andy-cohen-reacts-to-nene-leakes-real-housewives-of-atlanta-exit-153238National Book Award Longlist, Poetry:https://www.nationalbook.org/2020-national-book-awards-longlist-for-poetry/National Book Award Longlist, Nonfiction:https://www.nationalbook.org/2020-national-book-awards-longlist-for-nonfiction/How to Make a Slave, Jerald Walker:https://ohiostatepress.org/books/titles/9780814255995.htmlStar Trek: Picard Emmy:https://www.emmys.com/shows/star-trek-picardStar Trek trans and nonbinary characters:https://www.startrek.com/news/star-trek-discovery-introduces-first-trangender-and-non-binary-charactersBaltimore Tornado Watch:https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2020/08/04/maryland-weather-tornado-watch-issued/

ABOUT MELANIE BROOKS I am a writer, teacher, and mother living in Nashua, New Hampshire, with my husband, two children, and yellow Lab. I grew up in the Canadian Maritimes, and the deep ties to water and rugged spaces that live in me are rooted in that background. I graduated with a degree in English from Gordon College and then earned a Bachelor of Education from Dalhousie University. I later earned a Master of Science for Teachers of English from the University of New Hampshire. I began my career teaching high school social studies and then went on to teach middle school English. After my children were born, I began teaching college writing. I currently teach professional writing at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, and Merrimack College in Andover, Massachusetts, and creative writing at Nashua Community College in Nashua, New Hampshire. I completed my MFA in creative nonfiction through the Stonecoast Creative Writing Program at the University of Southern Maine. I love words. And I love to play with words on the page. My head is a busy place. An endless film reel plays in there, its frames alive with images and moments, actual and imagined, that I’ve tucked into the folds of my memory. I watch them over and over again, shaping and reshaping, ordering and reordering, trying to make sense of them, searching for the story they want to tell and the language with which to tell it. Unpacking experiences of life and loss is at the core of my writing. When I was thirteen, my father was infected with HIV after receiving tainted blood during open-heart surgery. He died of an AIDS-related illness ten years later. The complicated nature of his disease and the grief of his death have had a lasting impact on me. My writing is the vehicle through which I'm learning to understand that impact. The stories filling the pages are helping me to better understand myself. https://www.melaniebrooks.com/ I first read about Melanie Brooks in Poets & Writers Magazine. Her book, Writing Hard Stories, grabbed my attention and I just had to invite her on my show! Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from Trauma "An inspiring guide to ennobling personal stories that travel to the dark sides of life." - Kirkus Reviews ​ “Writers of all genres will glean golden nuggets of advice about writing and living from this book, while all readers, because they, too, have unique personal stories, will be comforted and inspired by the everyday and creative struggles of some of their favorite authors.” - Booklist ​ "[I]t unearths gems of insight, especially about the natures of truth, memory, subjectivity, and fact, and about what memoirs can mean to readers. And it leaves no doubt about the strength required to confront old ghosts." - Publishers Weekly ​ PUBLISHED WITH BEACON PRESS (February 2017) Order Your Copy Here In Melanie's own words Two years ago, I began writing a painful family story that has now become a memoir, A Complicated Grief. Writing into the memories of this part of my life left me with some difficult questions: What does it take to write an honest memoir? And what happens to us when we embark on that journey? Would I survive the process? I decided to approach the writers whose memoirs moved me and ask these questions. Their replies – honest and soul-searing – comprise Writing Hard Stories. This book profiles my conversations with some of our country’s most prolific writers including: Alysia Abbott, Richard Blanco, Kate Bornstein, Edwidge Danticat, Mark Doty, Andre Dubus III, Jessica Handler, Richard Hoffman, Marianne Leone, Michael Patrick McDonald, Kyoko Mori, Suzanne Strempek Shea, Sue William Silverman, Kim Stafford, Abigail Thomas, Jerald Walker, Joan Wickersham, and Monica Wood. These writers invited me into their homes, into their lives, to share the intimacies of finding the courage to put words to their stories. Their candid descriptions of their own treks through the darkest of memories and the details of the breakthrough moments that opened up their stories gave me the mooring I needed to keep writing my own.

ABOUT MELANIE BROOKS I am a writer, teacher, and mother living in Nashua, New Hampshire, with my husband, two children, and yellow Lab. I grew up in the Canadian Maritimes, and the deep ties to water and rugged spaces that live in me are rooted in that background. I graduated with a degree in English from Gordon College and then earned a Bachelor of Education from Dalhousie University. I later earned a Master of Science for Teachers of English from the University of New Hampshire. I began my career teaching high school social studies and then went on to teach middle school English. After my children were born, I began teaching college writing. I currently teach professional writing at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, and Merrimack College in Andover, Massachusetts, and creative writing at Nashua Community College in Nashua, New Hampshire. I completed my MFA in creative nonfiction through the Stonecoast Creative Writing Program at the University of Southern Maine. I love words. And I love to play with words on the page. My head is a busy place. An endless film reel plays in there, its frames alive with images and moments, actual and imagined, that I’ve tucked into the folds of my memory. I watch them over and over again, shaping and reshaping, ordering and reordering, trying to make sense of them, searching for the story they want to tell and the language with which to tell it. Unpacking experiences of life and loss is at the core of my writing. When I was thirteen, my father was infected with HIV after receiving tainted blood during open-heart surgery. He died of an AIDS-related illness ten years later. The complicated nature of his disease and the grief of his death have had a lasting impact on me. My writing is the vehicle through which I'm learning to understand that impact. The stories filling the pages are helping me to better understand myself. https://www.melaniebrooks.com/ I first read about Melanie Brooks in Poets & Writers Magazine. Her book, Writing Hard Stories, grabbed my attention and I just had to invite her on my show! Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from Trauma "An inspiring guide to ennobling personal stories that travel to the dark sides of life." - Kirkus Reviews ​ “Writers of all genres will glean golden nuggets of advice about writing and living from this book, while all readers, because they, too, have unique personal stories, will be comforted and inspired by the everyday and creative struggles of some of their favorite authors.” - Booklist ​ "[I]t unearths gems of insight, especially about the natures of truth, memory, subjectivity, and fact, and about what memoirs can mean to readers. And it leaves no doubt about the strength required to confront old ghosts." - Publishers Weekly ​ PUBLISHED WITH BEACON PRESS (February 2017) Order Your Copy Here In Melanie's own words Two years ago, I began writing a painful family story that has now become a memoir, A Complicated Grief. Writing into the memories of this part of my life left me with some difficult questions: What does it take to write an honest memoir? And what happens to us when we embark on that journey? Would I survive the process? I decided to approach the writers whose memoirs moved me and ask these questions. Their replies – honest and soul-searing – comprise Writing Hard Stories. This book profiles my conversations with some of our country’s most prolific writers including: Alysia Abbott, Richard Blanco, Kate Bornstein, Edwidge Danticat, Mark Doty, Andre Dubus III, Jessica Handler, Richard Hoffman, Marianne Leone, Michael Patrick McDonald, Kyoko Mori, Suzanne Strempek Shea, Sue William Silverman, Kim Stafford, Abigail Thomas, Jerald Walker, Joan Wickersham, and Monica Wood. These writers invited me into their homes, into their lives, to share the intimacies of finding the courage to put words to their stories. Their candid descriptions of their own treks through the darkest of memories and the details of the breakthrough moments that opened up their stories gave me the mooring I needed to keep writing my own.

Jerald Walker‘s critical autobiography, Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Redemption (Bantam, 2010), is a sheer pleasure to read. A book-length series of vignettes, reflections that alternate between his present life (he's currently an English professor at Emerson College) and his life as a wannabe thug and habitual drug user on the streets of Chicago, Walker ponders thorny questions of racial identity in such chapters as “Orientation,” where he decides it's better to identify with other writers (who happen to be white) than with fellow blacks. However, Walker isn't always this decisive. Indeed the book is filled with stony ambivalence. But the beauty of Walker's writing is that he uses sharp, searing prose not to probe but to crack ambivalence in the face and ape its gory middle. Although he ends up at times sounding just like the black neo-conservative Shelby Steele, Walker is much more complicated–since he also sounds sometimes like the black radical, Al Sharpton! Ultimately treating such subjects as interracial dating, adolescent rebellion, disability, dooms-day religious cults, homophobia, college education, myths about black sexual prowess, and, yes, love (if nothing else, you know he unequivocally loves his wife, Brenda), Walker's Street Shadows is a very good book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-american-studies

Jerald Walker‘s critical autobiography, Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Redemption (Bantam, 2010), is a sheer pleasure to read. A book-length series of vignettes, reflections that alternate between his present life (he’s currently an English professor at Emerson College) and his life as a wannabe thug and habitual drug user on the streets of Chicago, Walker ponders thorny questions of racial identity in such chapters as “Orientation,” where he decides it’s better to identify with other writers (who happen to be white) than with fellow blacks. However, Walker isn’t always this decisive. Indeed the book is filled with stony ambivalence. But the beauty of Walker’s writing is that he uses sharp, searing prose not to probe but to crack ambivalence in the face and ape its gory middle. Although he ends up at times sounding just like the black neo-conservative Shelby Steele, Walker is much more complicated–since he also sounds sometimes like the black radical, Al Sharpton! Ultimately treating such subjects as interracial dating, adolescent rebellion, disability, dooms-day religious cults, homophobia, college education, myths about black sexual prowess, and, yes, love (if nothing else, you know he unequivocally loves his wife, Brenda), Walker’s Street Shadows is a very good book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jerald Walker‘s critical autobiography, Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Redemption (Bantam, 2010), is a sheer pleasure to read. A book-length series of vignettes, reflections that alternate between his present life (he’s currently an English professor at Emerson College) and his life as a wannabe thug and habitual drug user on the streets of Chicago, Walker ponders thorny questions of racial identity in such chapters as “Orientation,” where he decides it’s better to identify with other writers (who happen to be white) than with fellow blacks. However, Walker isn’t always this decisive. Indeed the book is filled with stony ambivalence. But the beauty of Walker’s writing is that he uses sharp, searing prose not to probe but to crack ambivalence in the face and ape its gory middle. Although he ends up at times sounding just like the black neo-conservative Shelby Steele, Walker is much more complicated–since he also sounds sometimes like the black radical, Al Sharpton! Ultimately treating such subjects as interracial dating, adolescent rebellion, disability, dooms-day religious cults, homophobia, college education, myths about black sexual prowess, and, yes, love (if nothing else, you know he unequivocally loves his wife, Brenda), Walker’s Street Shadows is a very good book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jerald Walker‘s critical autobiography, Street Shadows: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Redemption (Bantam, 2010), is a sheer pleasure to read. A book-length series of vignettes, reflections that alternate between his present life (he’s currently an English professor at Emerson College) and his life as a wannabe thug and habitual drug user on the streets of Chicago, Walker ponders thorny questions of racial identity in such chapters as “Orientation,” where he decides it’s better to identify with other writers (who happen to be white) than with fellow blacks. However, Walker isn’t always this decisive. Indeed the book is filled with stony ambivalence. But the beauty of Walker’s writing is that he uses sharp, searing prose not to probe but to crack ambivalence in the face and ape its gory middle. Although he ends up at times sounding just like the black neo-conservative Shelby Steele, Walker is much more complicated–since he also sounds sometimes like the black radical, Al Sharpton! Ultimately treating such subjects as interracial dating, adolescent rebellion, disability, dooms-day religious cults, homophobia, college education, myths about black sexual prowess, and, yes, love (if nothing else, you know he unequivocally loves his wife, Brenda), Walker’s Street Shadows is a very good book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Born to parents of modest means but middle-class values and aspirations, Jerald Walker spent his early years in a Chicago housing project. Drawn to the streets like so many African American boys, he dropped out of school and by his early teens was well on the road to self-destruction. And then came the blast of gunfire that changed everything: his coke dealer friend Greg was shot to death, less than an hour after Walker had scored a gram from him. Walker tells the story of his descent and rebirth in alternating time frames. It is a classic coming-of-age story and an eloquent account of how the past shadows, but need not determine, the present.Jerald Walker is an associate professor of English at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts. He attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he was a teaching/writing fellow and James A. Michener Fellow. His work has appeared in Mother Jones, Best African American Essays: 2009, and Brothers: 26 Stories of Love and Rivalry. Recorded On: Sunday, February 28, 2010