A book of essays. A memoir that’s truly a family history and an American history. And—soon—a novel. Morgan Jerkins talks starting a writing career as a millennial, the privileges necessary to survive (financially) in New York City while pursuing a writing career and fighting the urge to let other people decide whether to take your work seriously.

We cover so much ground in this interview, from #publishingpaidme to interviewing skills to figuring out how much of your self belongs in your work, that we barely even grazed the surface of how much Morgan’s current book, Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots, taught her—and teaches the reader—about Black American history and how hidden it still remains from most of us of any heritage. If you enjoyed Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration or Caste, you’ll love Wandering—and even if you didn’t, if you’re a fan of memoir, interested in family history and legend or are just a product of the typical white-centric education in American history and wish you knew more about the many other sides of the story, grab it.

Find Morgan Jerkins:

On her website: www.morgan-jerkins.com

and on Twitter: @MorganJerkins

#AmReading

Morgan: Girl, Woman, Other: A Novel by Bernardine Evaristo

Temporary by Hilary Leichter

Severance by Ling Ma

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

KJ: Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Sarina: Uncanny Valley: A Memoir by Anna Wiener

Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit, and Obsession by Sarah Weinman

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