Welcome... to The Daily Show.
-Thank you for having me. -And can I just say,
as someone who grew up living in books, I...
Like, nothing gives me more joy
than seeing writers treated like rock stars.
Genuinely. I love it. Like-like...
-(applause and cheering) -People love what you do.
People really love what you create.
This book is just being met with so much praise
and so many accolades.
Red at the Bone.
-It's a story of two families... -Mm-mm.
...who are brought together because of a pregnancy.
-But it's also the story of class and of race. -Yes.
And when you are compiling a story like this,
and you're... and you're telling this... this tale,
is it hard for you to combine all of those elements,
or do you just tell the truth, and it-it comes through?
I think it's a combination.
It's hard, and I tell the truth, and it comes through.
And I think, one thing that happens is,
the story begins to evolve.
The more I put those characters on the page,
the more I figure out about them,
the more complex the story becomes,
and that became a very complicated story.
It also feels like, when you tell the story,
you rely on the reader to do work for themselves, you know?
So for instance, if you're... if you're reading this book,
-it-it starts in a familiar place, you know? -Yeah.
It's-it's human beings. I mean, that's what most stories are.
-Yeah. -It's human beings, it's love, it's family,
and then, there's the conflict, you know?
There's-there's this pregnancy, but what's interesting is,
not a lot of people would-would think of a world
where there's a black family
-that doesn't like another black family... -Mm-hmm.
...and they're separated by class.
Yeah, and it happens.
I think, um, one thing that I was trying
to talk about in Red at the Bone is, um...
is black wealth, versus black income,
and mainly how this country has
again and again annihilated black wealth.
-And so, when someone is able... -(thudding)
-Oh, shucks. -Is that your ph...?
-Yes. -Oh, it's your... No-no worries.
-Okay. -We can still hear you. That's fine.
When someone's able to, um,
hold on to their wealth, what does that look like?
And when someone is not, what does that look like?
And so, it made sense to have these two families come together
to create that conflict.
Right. You-you talk about black wealth,
-or your tell the story in and around it. -Mm-hmm.
But what are you hoping the reader will take away from that?
You know, like, what are you hoping a young kid
who might read the book would take away from the story?
I'm hoping, first and foremost, that they have a good story.
I think one thing that happens when you read a book
that makes you think-- it changes you, as well.
It creates empathy.
Um, it creates understanding
of people who you might not otherwise meet in the world.
-Mm-hmm. -And so, that's what I hope the takeaway is.
I hope... There's a great scholar
named Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop,
and she talks about the importance
of kids having both mirrors and windows in their books.
And so, this is an adult book, but it creates the same thing.
It creates windows for the people who come to that book...
-Right. -...and see themselves in it.
And also windows for people who would never meet characters
like the ones that exist in that book.
It-it is interesting, because, you know,
you're known for children's literature,
and... I-I know it sounds weird to say,
but it feels like you wrote this book for the child in us.
It's not a difficult read, but it is a difficult subject
for many people to talk about.
Some people say, "Oh, no, why do you write about these things?"
And, I mean, it's similar topics
that you write about in your children's books as well.
Why do you feel it's important
to have those topics spoken about?
Why do you... why do you write about difficult subjects?
Because they exist.
And I think one thing that happens
when you have a book that can tell a story this way,
people have someplace to go to to begin a conversation.
-Mm-hmm. -And I think that's what books are so great at doing
is getting us to talk, uh, and kind of taking away
some of the fear about the conversation.
I think people, uh, it's hard for people to talk about race,
it's hard for them to talk about economic class, sexuality,
gender, all of these different points of views,
and when you have a book, you can say:
Well, let's start by talking about Red at the Bone
and what happened in there, and maybe this happened to me,
or maybe this happened to my friend.
And so you can begin to gather and have these conversations
-across different... -Right. It-it really is...
I mean, that's-that's how I've seen the world.
That's how many people see the world.
Like, you-you read a book,
-Mm-hmm. -you feel like you know the characters,
you feel like you know the world of the characters,
and interestingly enough, you become more fam...
-you become comfortable with it, you know? -Yes.
I used to think that magic was a horrible thing,
and then Harry Potter changed my views on all of that.
Now I understand it. I genuinely am more open to it.
It feels like that is what you're doing with race,
with sexuality, with-with genders,
with identities-- it's a powerful story to tell.
If somebody reads this book and they just love the story,
what is the one thing
you hope subconsciously will happen to them
when they think about the journey black people have had
in America with regards to their wealth?
Ooh, that's such a great question.
-(laughter) -I-I try.
I...
I would love for there to be more empathy in this country.
You know? I would love for people to really see each other.
And what I hope people take away,
again, is first and foremost a good story
that really makes them feel something
-Mm-hmm. -and think something and change some kind of way.
Um, and so I hope they fall in love
with the characters in there, and it, um...
makes them want to create some kind of change.
Um, whether that's change around people's economic status,
whether that's change about how they look at people
from different economic statuses,
whether it's change about how, you know,
if it's white folks coming to this book,
how they think about black folks,
whether it's black folks coming, that they know the history
of what happened in black communities
-Right, right. -around economic struggles.
So lots of different stuff,
depending on who's coming to the narrative.
I honestly think you'll achieve that and a hundred more things.
It's one of the most amazing books ever.
-Thank you so much for being on the show. -Thank you.
-(cheering, applause) -Red at the Bone
is available now.
Please go and get the book. Go read the story.
Jacqueline Woodson, everybody.