Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing explored in Sena Jeter Naslund's "Four Spirits"
Series: New Letters on the Air
From: New Letters on the Air
Length: 00:29:02
Novelist Sena Jeter Naslund, author of the acclaimed novel Ahab?s Wife, discusses her latest novel, Four Spirits, which is set in her native Birmingham, Alabama during the Civil Rights movement, an era through which she lived and was an active participant.
?I wanted to weave together my own coming of age, my own sense of developing identity with the changing identity of the South,? Naslund says. ?I promised myself that if I wrote about this time, that first of all I would tell the truth. Although Birmingham was a city I loved, and do love, I would tell how bad it was in Birmingham; I would be truthful about the horrors of the situation.?
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Piece Description
Novelist Sena Jeter Naslund, author of the acclaimed novel Ahab?s Wife, discusses her latest novel, Four Spirits, which is set in her native Birmingham, Alabama during the Civil Rights movement, an era through which she lived and was an active participant. ?I wanted to weave together my own coming of age, my own sense of developing identity with the changing identity of the South,? Naslund says. ?I promised myself that if I wrote about this time, that first of all I would tell the truth. Although Birmingham was a city I loved, and do love, I would tell how bad it was in Birmingham; I would be truthful about the horrors of the situation.?
Broadcast History
Uplinked to the PRSS originally on June 22, 2005. Re-run February 1, 2006.
Timing and Cues
PROMO: New Letters on the Air begins Black History Month with a tale of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. Renowned novelist Sena (SEEN-uh) Jeter Naslund weaves together the lives of blacks and whites, racists and civil rights advocates, and the events of peaceful protest and violent repression in her novel FOUR SPIRITS. Listen to Sena Jeter Naslund on the next NEW LETTERS ON THE AIR.
UPLINK DATE: 02/01/2006
PROGRAM LENGTH: 29 minutes
INCUE: (music) "For NEW LETTERS ON THE AIR, I'm Angela Elam inviting you to..."
OUTCUE: "...Thanks for listening to NEW LETTERS ON THE AIR."
NOTE: THERE IS A READING THAT BEGINS AT 18:45 INTO THE PROGRAM WHICH CONTAINS SOME VIOLENCE. AT 22:12, A CHARACTER IN THE READER SAYS "I married me a man, not a nigger."
Additional Files
- 30 second promo (05P20060201SenaJeterNaslund30.mp2)
- 60 second audio promo (05P20060201SenaJeterNaslund60.mp2)
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