Each Brick in This Wall: Hanif Abdurraqib on Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster Place | Reading Writers

Charlotte and Jo spring into the new year with a conversation about ancient poetry: Beowulf, The Iliad, and Dante’s Inferno as translated by Mark Musa, Mary Jo Bang, and Danny Lavery. They’re then joined by the wise and wonderful Hanif Abdurraqib who—after sharing a scoop about what series of book he reads every year (!)—reflects on the formative impacts of his encounter with Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster Place. Other titles discussed: Toni Morrison’s Jazz, Bebe Moore Campbells’ Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine, Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain. Hanif Abdurraqib is a writer from the east side of Columbus, Ohio.Danny Lavery’s translations of The Inferno can be found here.Please consider supporting our work on Patreon, where you can access additional materials and send us your guest (and book!) coverage requests. Questions and kind comments can be directed to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com.Charlotte Shane’s most recent book is An Honest Woman. Her essay newsletter, Meant For You, can be subscribed to or read online for free. Her social media handle is @charoshane.  Jo Livingstone is a writer who teaches at Pratt Institute.To support the show, navigate to https://www.patreon.com/ReadingWritersAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy