Leila Mottley’s Debut Novel 'Nightcrawling' Tells a Universal Story Rooted in Oakland

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

“I really wanted to depict the ways that young Black girls are made adults by a culture that sees us that way,” says Leila Mottley of her debut novel “Nightcrawling." The 2018 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate started writing the book when she was 17 and three years later, has received glowing reviews and a spot in the Oprah Book Club. Set in Oakland, “Nightcrawling” tells the story of Kiara, a character who offers an unflinching and lyrical portrayal of what it is to be poor, Black and a young woman. We talk to Mottley about her book. Guests: Leila Mottley, author, "Nightcrawling" --Mottley was the 2018 Oakland Youth Poet Laureate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Support for KQED podcasts comes from San Francisco International Airport.
0:05.0	Did you know that SFO has a world-class museum?
0:07.9	Get ready to be wowed by art, history, science, and cultural exhibitions throughout the terminals.
0:14.0	Learn more at flysfo.com slash museum.
0:18.6	Switch to Comcast Business Mobile and save hundreds a year in your wireless bill.
0:22.7	Comcast Business, powering possibilities.
0:25.2	Restrictions apply.
0:26.0	Comcast Business Internet required.
0:27.3	Comparates two unlimited intro lines and lowest price 5D plans of top three carriers.
0:30.3	Tax on fees extra, reduce speeds after 30 gigabytes of usage.
0:32.6	Data thresholds may vary.
0:35.0	From KQED.
0:48.0	Music From KQED. From KQED. From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:50.8	Layla Motley is living the young novelist dream.
0:53.8	Her debut novel, Night Crawling, has picked up Sterling reviews and was selected for the Oprah
0:58.7	Book Club.
0:59.7	The Buzz has landed the book on the New York Times bestseller list, and Motley just turned 20.
1:05.0	At the same time, Oakland, the city she grew up in, where she was the youth poet laureate,
1:09.3	has undergone wrenching change
1:10.9	that's especially impacted the young black people who are at the center of the novel.
1:15.6	We'll talk with Motley about her soaring success, the real-life events that inspired the book,
1:20.6	and the responsibilities she feels to represent the town that's coming up next after this news.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KQED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of KQED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.