Writers Lizzie Damilola Blackburn and Edmund White want to talk about sex

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2022

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

The first interview today is with debut novelist Lizzie Damilola Blackburn about her book, Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? The protagonist Yinka is constantly being hounded by her family to get married. But Damilola Blackburn tells NPR's Sarah McCammon that learning to love oneself first can be important. The second interview is with award-winning writer Edmund White who is out with a new book about sex. A Previous Life follows a couple – they are writing to each other about their romantic pasts. White told NPR's Scott Simon that though the book might offend some, he has always written this way.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's book today. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. I think it's fair to say that a lot of people
0:07.8	don't know how to have sex, or at least think they don't, basing that off of the sheer amount of
0:14.7	advice columns, call-in shows, podcasts, sub-ridates, and of course books trying to help people
0:19.5	navigate their sex lives. Today we've got two
0:22.5	novels where characters examine their own sex lives. In a bit, we'll hear from acclaimed author
0:27.2	Edmund White about his new book, A Previous Life, that has a couple writing letters back and forth
0:33.0	about past relationships. But first, I want to tell you about Yinka. She's a Christian and actually hasn't
0:39.1	had sex yet because she's saving her virginity until marriage, which has been a bit of an obstacle
0:45.6	in her quest to find a partner to marry. She's the main character of the book Yinka,
0:50.8	Where is Your Husband? And author Leslie Damilola Blackburn tells M.'s Jeremy Kamen why it was important to have her character stick to her religious principles.
1:00.2	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
1:05.0	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on
1:12.4	the ground bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter
1:17.3	here at home. Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:25.2	Looking for a husband isn't easy. Throw in a family that really wants you to find one, and it can be
1:31.4	pretty stressful. And if deep inside, you are longing for that companionship too, well, that's a special
1:38.3	kind of pain. It's a dilemma Yenka finds herself constantly facing. She's in her 30s, unmarried, and on the verge of
1:45.9	eternal loneliness, well, at least according to her mother. Will her aunties ever stop loudly
1:51.8	praying for her to find a spouse? Will she find love, and on her own terms? All of that is
1:58.2	explored in the new novel, Yinka, where is your Husband? And author Lizzie Damolola Blackburn
2:04.2	joins me now from Milton Keynes, England. Welcome to the program. Hi, thanks so much for having me.
2:10.2	The protagonist in your story, Yinka, is feeling something that I think many women have felt, many people
	...

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