Robert Jones Jr. joins Andrew, Mary, and Ceren in The Ivory Tower Boiler Room to discuss his 2021 New York Times bestselling novel, The Prophets. He provides a behind the scenes discussion of how this much talked about Black queer love story came to be. Our discussion dives deep into who Robert turns to for literary inspiration, specifically Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison. He explains the musicality of his prose, and you'll be surprised with one of the major inspirations. As Robert says, his novel really "needed to sing"! There is much to ponder and reflect on in this episode and be ready for many important book suggestions.
As author Marlon James reminds us on the cover of The Prophets, Robert Jones Jr.'s Black queer love story is "Glorious...What the American novel is, should do, and can be."
Follow Robert Jones Jr. on Instagram, @thesonofbaldwin and Twitter, @SonofBaldwin. Make sure to follow Robert Jones Jr.'s Son of Baldwin which is a social-justice, social-media community that he created and curates on Facebook, @SonofBaldwin.
To purchase The Prophets head here: https://bookshop.org/books/the-prophets-9780593295502/9780593085684
To hear actor Karen Chilton beautifully read The Prophets head to Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Prophets-Audiobook/0593287002
Listen to our entire unedited interview with Robert Jones Jr., including an extra 40 minutes of discussion! So head on over to our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/ivorytowerboilerroom
Follow Ivory Tower Boiler Room on Facebook, @ivorytowerboilerroom, Instagram, @ivorytowerboilerroom, TikTok, @ivorytowerboilerroom, and Twitter, @IvoryBoilerRoom! Email us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you about the podcast and are always interested in interview suggestions.
Many thanks to the Ivory Tower Boiler Room podcast team:
Andrew Rimby, Executive Director Mary DiPipi, Chief Contributor Ceren Usta, Marketing Director
Thanks to Anne Sophie Andersen and Meghan Ames for our theme song, "Loverman."