Margaret Wilkerson Sexton on ON THE ROOFTOP

“…In this particular book, I think I wanted to combat the feeling that we were already inundated with, and even the feelings that are attached to social justice issues. I wanted to combat the feelings of anger and helplessness and all of that with joy.” Margaret Wilkerson Sexton follows her NAACP Image Award-winning novel The Revisioners with On the Rooftop, a stunning novel about a mother whose dream of stardom for her three daughters clashes with their own desires in a rapidly gentrifying 1950s San Francisco. Margaret joins us on the show to talk about wanting to write a book that sits in conversation with Fiddler on the Roof, how her research led her to the Harlem of the West, writing a love story for an older couple, her literary inspirations and much more with Poured Over’s host, Miwa Messer.

Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

 

Featured Books (Episode)

On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

The Yellow House by Sarah M Broom

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

All Aunt Hagar’s Children by Edward P. Jones

The Known World by Edward P. Jones

 

Featured Books (TBR Topoff)

Swing Time by Zadie Smith

Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout

 

A complete transcript of this episode is here.