Zadie Smith looks back at her debut novel 'White Teeth' 25 years after its release

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

Zadie Smith's White Teeth marked its 25th anniversary in January. The now canonical novel tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a shy Englishman named Archie Jones and his friend Samad Iqbal, a devout Bengali Muslim. Both men are trying to pass on their religious and moral beliefs to their children. In today's episode, we revisit a conversation between Smith and NPR's Liane Hansen that aired shortly after White Teeth's release. Then, we'll hear some of Smith's conversation last month on NPR's Wild Card with Rachel Martin in which Smith reflects on the novel's anniversary. The two discuss the author's distance from the person she was when she wrote White Teeth and the novel's place among the canon of books for teenagers.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Ampair's book of the day. I'm Andrew Limbong. Zadie Smith's debut novel,
0:07.0	White Teeth, is one of those big monumental novels. If they're still making lists surrounding
0:12.7	up great books in 100 years, I'd bet that White Teeth would make the cut. That book recently
0:18.6	marked its 25th anniversary, and Smith talked to NPR about what it's like looking back, not just on the work, but on the cut. That book recently marked its 25th anniversary, and Smith talked to NPR about what
0:22.1	it's like, looking back, not just on the work, but on the person she was when she wrote it.
0:26.7	But if you've never read White Teeth before, we've got you covered. We dug up Zadie Smith's
0:30.8	interview with NPR 25 years ago talking about white teeth, and it's a really interesting time
0:36.4	capsule. She spoke with NPR's
0:38.1	Leanne Hanson, and they got into why, of all things, Smith chose to write about faith in her
0:44.2	debut novel. That's ahead.
0:46.8	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky
0:53.1	conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
0:56.3	On our new show, Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of
1:00.7	real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:05.9	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:11.4	25-year-old Zadie Smith just had her first novel published.
1:16.5	White Teeth is long, almost 500 pages, and it has several grand themes, immigration, race, religion, history, love, and genetics.
1:27.4	Smith was born in England. Her father is British,
1:30.0	her mother, Jamaican. White teeth is set in Smith's North London neighborhood, and the author
1:36.2	gently pokes fun at her characters, fears, and their struggle to find, as well as maintain
1:42.0	an identity. It is a 20-year chronicle of the daily lives of people,
1:47.4	both sane and insane. Now the children knew the city, and they knew the city breeds the mad.
	...

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