Ep. 219 Genre Redlining with Leila Mottley
The Stacks
Traci Thomas
4.8 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 15 June 2022
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode we talk with Oakland native and 2018 youth poet laureate Leila Mottley about writing her debut novel Nightcrawling at 17, and the process of adapting a true story to fiction. Leila imagines how it would be different if she wrote the book now, and insists she's really not exceptional among the countless talented young writers out there.
*Note: This was recorded shortly before the announcement of Nightcrawling as an Oprah's Book Club pick.
You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' Website: https://thestackspodcast.com/2022/06/15/ep-219-leila-mottley
The Stacks Book Club selection for June is White Negroes: When Cornrows Were in Vogue … and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation by Lauren Michele Jackson. We will discuss the book on June 29th with David Dennis Jr.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | All right, the live in the stack store is on its last leg literally. We only have one show left |
| 0:08.5 | Join me in Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 18th with three of my favorite ever podcast guests and friends of this show |
| 0:16.2 | We are gonna be joined by Rachel Lindsey. Yes, that Rachel Lindsey the first black bachelor at also |
| 0:22.2 | She is an author a podcaster a TV host and a wonderful human being |
| 0:26.4 | We're gonna be joined by Sam Sanders podcast host journalist and I think arguably the cultural critic of our time and |
| 0:33.7 | The wonderful hilarious and super duper smart Chelsea Devantes who is an any nominated TV writer, comedian director and of course the host of |
| 0:42.6 | Glamrs trash formerly known as the celebrity book club podcast |
| 0:46.6 | We are going to have a blast bringing this tour to a close and not to mention that our friends from reparations book club |
| 0:52.6 | One of my favorite bookstores here in L.A. is curating a pop-up bookshop of our dreams |
| 0:57.7 | It's not too late to get your tickets head to the stacks podcast dot com slash tour before they sell out |
| 1:14.5 | Welcome to the stacks a podcast about books and the people who read them |
| 1:17.5 | I'm your host Tracy Thomas, and today we are joined by first-time novelist Laila Motley whose new book Nightcrawling was just selected for |
| 1:26.4 | Oprah's book club |
| 1:28.4 | It follows high school dropout Ciara Johnson and her family as they struggle to survive in Oakland, California |
| 1:34.6 | Ciara turns to sex work and ends up embroiled in an Oakland police department scandal |
| 1:39.5 | Nightcrawling is based on true events today |
| 1:42.0 | Laila and I talk about our shared home of Oakland the way labels are used to gatekeep |
| 1:47.4 | In the literary world and about how Laila approach telling this complicated and emotional story |
| 1:54.3 | Quick reminder everything we talk about on each episode of the stacks can be found in the link in the show notes and |
| 1:59.9 | The stacks book club pick for June is white me grows when cornrows were in vogue and other thoughts on cultural appropriation by Lauren Michelle |
| 2:07.7 | Jackson we will be discussing the book on Wednesday June 29th with David Dennis Jr |
| 2:12.9 | The stacks is a completely independent podcast made possible by the support of our listeners |
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