Episode QS68: Kiese Laymon + Robert Jones, Jr. (September 23, 2021)

Critically acclaimed author Kiese Laymon and Robert Jones Jr. (The Prophets) discuss and celebrate the newly revised and reissued Long Division, Laymon’s 2013 debut novel. Described by the New York Times as “a time-traveling metafictional romp set in Mississippi that probes fame, creativity and the toll of racism,” Long Division upends conventions of narrative time, genre, and the expectations and assumptions mantled on Black characters by what Laymon and Jones identify as a a culture “trying to get us to write ourselves out of existence.” Their brilliant conversation reflects upon and contributes to a watershed moment in literature by Black authors. (Recorded June 7, 2021)