meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Code Switch

'The Characters Are The Light'

Code Switch

NPR

Society & Culture

4.6 β€’ 14.5K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 17 November 2021

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You already know we love books here on Code Switch β€” and given that we're smack dab in the middle of Native American Heritage month, we thought we'd introduce you to some of our favorite recent books by Indigenous authors.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I'm Karen Grigsby-Bates and this is Coatswitch from MPR.

0:05.6

You know that feeling when you find a good book you just get lost in.

0:09.6

You stay up late reading one more chapter, put another, and another.

0:14.9

It's a companion with coffee, with walks, you even sneak in some pages at work.

0:21.8

And until you finish it, that is all you can focus on.

0:25.1

Reading an engrossing book like that kind of feels like entering a whole other world or

0:31.0

rediscovering your own. And as we're also in the middle of Native American Heritage Month,

0:36.7

we wanted to treat you bookworms to a few transporting reads from awesome Indigenous authors.

0:43.2

Books contain everything worth knowing, except what ultimately matters.

0:49.5

The representation of Indigenous people in books when I was a kid was based on stereotypes.

0:56.1

We're not relics of the past. We exist and we have vibrant dynamic lives.

1:02.2

Of course it was going to be dark, but the other thing it was going to be because I had

1:06.8

these brilliant Indigenous characters is beautiful.

1:11.2

And our very own Coatswitch team will be taking us through these reads,

1:14.7

starting with Sam Yellow Horse Kessler, our Coatswitch fellow.

1:18.4

Hey Sam. Hey Karen. So what do you have for us?

1:22.1

I'm recommending the sentence by Louise Erdrich.

1:25.4

Now I know what you're thinking. Wasn't I supposed to be recommending a book, not just one sentence?

1:30.1

I wasn't thinking that, but okay.

1:32.4

Well the book is just called the sentence and I chose it because of Louise Erdrich,

1:36.3

who's the author of other great books like Love Medicine, and she just won a Pulitzer for her novel

1:41.5

The Night Watchman. But also this book is perfect for this episode in so many ways.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

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

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

Copyright Β© Tapesearch 2025.