Book Club: ‘The City We Became’

Nerdette Recaps With Peter Sagal

WBEZ

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4.6 • 924 Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2020

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What if cities were embodied in human beings? If The Bronx were a human, what would she be like? And why is xenophobia so toxic?

Listen along as Nerdette host Greta Johnsen discusses 'The City We Became,' the new novel from Hugo-award-winning author N.K. Jemisin, along with WBEZ host Jenn White and Michi Trota, editor for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

And then get ready for next month’s Book Club pick: The Vanishing Half, a new novel by Brit Bennett.

Transcript

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0:06.1	watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,
0:12.7	soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,
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0:28.3	Listen, wherever you get your podcast.
0:37.4	From WBEZ Chicago, I'm Greta Johnson, and you're listening to The Nerdette Book Club. It's just like normal book club, except you only have to talk if you actually want to. This month, we're talking about NK. Jemison's The City We Became. I am here with Jen White, who hosts WB.EZ's daily talk show for just a couple more weeks. And then later this summer, she's going to go start hosting 1A, which is a national daily talk show from NPR.
0:58.2	Jen, hey.
0:59.4	Hey, Greta Monster.
1:02.3	Okay, so the book is called The City We Became.
1:04.9	What city would you become if you had to choose a city?
1:10.2	This is like our, you know, I'm putting you on
1:13.0	the spot icebreaker question. I mean, I'm a Detroiter. I would become Detroit. That's who I beat.
1:19.8	I love that. I am also here with Mitchie Trota. She is a four-time Hugo Award winner. She's also
1:26.3	the first Filipino to win a Hugo Award. She's the
1:30.1	editor-in-chief of the science fiction and fantasy writers of America and senior editor at Prism.
1:35.8	Mitchie, welcome. Hi. So same question for you. If you had to pick a city to embody, what do you
1:41.8	think it would be? Absolutely, Chicago. Yeah.
1:45.3	It doesn't matter where I've gone or other cities that I've loved traveling to. Chicago is my
1:52.3	home city. This is where I feel the most at home and I feel the most connected to. And I would
1:59.3	absolutely love to be considered part of Chicago enough to become an
2:04.2	avatar for the city. I love that. That's a beautiful answer. Okay, so we're also going to hear
	...

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