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''Absorbing and darkly funny'' (San Francisco Chronicle), James McBride is the author of the National Book Award winner The Good Lord Bird, in which a young boy born into slavery joins abolitionist John Brown's doomed mission. His nonfiction books include the New York Times bestselling memoir The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother and Kill ‘Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul. His other novels are Miracle at St. Anna, which he adapted for Spike Lee's film, and Song Yet Sung. Also an award-winning composer, screenwriter, and saxophonist, McBride received the National Humanities Medal from President Obama in 2016. Five-Carat Soul is a short-story collection that examines history, race, and identity in unpredictably poignant ways.  (recorded 10/11/2017)