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This is Fresh Air, I'm Terry Gross.

On the opening page of Kwame Alexander's beautifully written new memoir, he writes,

my mother died on September 1, 2017, within a month, the cracks in my marriage emerged.

They would eventually become impassable canyons.

Within two years, our eldest would pack her belongings, close books, heart, and leave home, and leave us.

Overnight, I was barefoot, on Mount Everest."

We also learn on the first page that by the time he was two, he was dressed in a da shiki.

His father was a Baptist preacher of Black Liberation Theology, who assigned books to Alexander and then

quiz him on them, which made Alexander hate books until he later found the books he loved.

His mother was an educator who became a principal.

Kwame Alexander's new memoir is called Why Fathers Cry at Night, and it's told in the form of pros,

poems, letters, and recipes. It's his first book for adults. He's best known for his children's books,

which include The Undefeated for What You Want a Caldecott Medal. His Newberry Medal-winning book,

The Cross Over, has been adapted into a Disney Plus series on which he serves as an executive producer and writer.

When we spoke last Thursday, I had a cold or a virus or something that wasn't COVID,

and my voice was really hoarse, but I didn't want to miss doing this interview.

I recorded my end from home thanks to Tanya Mosley and Dave Davies for keeping things together on the air,

while I was out sick.

Kwame Alexander, welcome to Fresh Air. Forgive my voice, I have a remainder of a cold.

So your wonderful book started as a book of love poems, but turned into a book that's also about

...