Episode 272: Black History Month: Attica Locke's 2019 Novel Explores Race and Justice in East Texas

Hopeton Hay Podcasts

In September of 2019 Diverse Voice Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Attica Locke, author of HEAVEN, MY HOME. Republishing this interview is part of DVBR's Celebration of Black Authors for Black History Month. Attica was the first African American writer to win the Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America with her 2017 novel, BLUEBIRD, BLUEBIRD.
With HEAVEN MY HOME, Locke continues her exploration of race and racism in America through the prism of her crime novels. She displays it through her protagonist’s reception by the local towns people in Jefferson, Texas. She also explores it through the debate his uncles that raised him engaged in on, and I quote, whether forgiveness made black folks saints or stooges. She also includes as an integral part of her story a historic black community in the area, Hopetown, that was founded by blacks after the civil war and is home also to Caddo Indians.
Attica Locke is the award winning author of five novels and a screenwriter. Her novel, Bluebird, Bluebird, was the Winner of the Mystery Writers of America 2018 Edgar Award for Best Novel. She was also a writer and producer on the Emmy Award winning Netflix series about the Central Park Five, When They See Us.