Maud Newton is a writer, critic, editor, and occasional speaker and teacher. Her first book, Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation (Random House), is a best book of 2022, according to The New Yorker, NPR, The Washington Post, Time, Esquire, The Boston Globe, Garden & Gun, Entertainment Weekly, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Chicago Tribune. It was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection and Roxane Gay Book Club selection, and a finalist for the 2023 John Leonard Prize, awarded by the National Book Critics Circle for a first book in any genre. Ancestor Trouble has been called “a literary feat” by the New York Times Book Review and a “brilliant mix of personal memoir and cultural observation” by the Boston Globe, and praised by Oprah Daily, NPR, Vanity Fair, Vulture, the Los Angeles Times, Wired, and many other publications.

Maud Newton:

Website:

Podcast:

Website: ⁠

https://jakewarinnerpodcast.com/

Spotify: ⁠

https://open.spotify.com/show/3kiojUxYZFyVdHOGl727jR?si=31164e616f1846a9

Apple: ⁠

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jake-warinner-podcast/id1711278585

Timestamps:

0:00 - The Making of Ancestor Trouble

17:37 - Personality 

25:52 - Creativity

36:05 - Spirituality

42:49 - Maud’s Ancestor Veneration Practice

52:51 - Forgiveness

58:24 - Impact on Maud’s Perspective

1:04:41 - How to Explore Your Family History

1:07:46 - Where to Find Maud