Show Notes
"I'm a bad liar. So I'm just like, I'm really good at telling the truth.” - Brandy Colbert Going down internet rabbit holes and discovering everything there is to know about random subjects is a relaxing way to spend an evening, according to Brandy Colbert. This passion for research is part of the secret sauce that helps her build such deep and believable characters in her fiction work. In her nonfiction writing, Brandy’s ability to bring humanity to the real “characters” in the story is what brings history to life.
Brandy is a true acolyte of the writing craft. She spent her youth creating stories of her own and occasionally borrowing and reinterpreting tales from TV. After studying journalism in college she spent the early stages of her career contributing to niche magazines, where she honed her research prowess.
Today, Brandy brings all those skills together to write gripping, detail-oriented, character-driven fiction and nonfiction stories. Brandy Colbert is known for works such as "Little & Lion," which won the Stonewall Book Award, "The Only Black Girls in Town," and "Pointe". Meanwhile, her nonfiction book about the Tulsa Race Massacre, "Black Birds in the Sky" won the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award.
In this episode, she tells us where she developed and honed her research skills, how she brings characters to life, and why a character by any other name is just…. not the same character. *** Connect with Jordan and The Reading Culture @thereadingculturepod and subscribe to our newsletter at thereadingculturepod.com/newsletter. *** In Brandy’s reading challenge, "Powerful Nonfiction" she challenges us to read a list of nonfiction books that she says will, “open minds, challenge assumptions, and highlight the power of historical truth.”
You can find her list and all past reading challenges at thereadingculturepod.com.
Today’s Beanstack Featured Librarian is Cindy Philbeck, Teacher-Librarian at Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. She told us a heartwarming story about a student's discovery of Sabaa Tahir's All My Rage.
Contents Chapter 1 - Reading in the Ozarks (1:47) Chapter 2 - Early heartbreaks (5:54) Chapter 3 - A Midwestern college experience (11:57) Chapter 4 - A Humanist View (14:00) Chapter 5 - Women’s muscles (17:43) Chapter 6 - Rejections (19:58) Chapter 7 - Write what you know research (23:55) Chapter 8 - A bad liar (27:37) Chapter 9 - Black Jewish Lesbians (exist) (30:19) Chapter 10 - Powerful Nonfiction (36:55) Chapter 11 - Beanstack Featured Librarian (37:44)
Links The Reading Culture The Reading Culture Newsletter Signup Brandy Colbert Brandy Colbert (@brandycolbert) • Instagram photos and videos TRANSCRIBED as PUBLIC SERVICE Toni Morrison at Portland State, May 30, 1975 Transcribed by Keisha E. McKenzie The Reading Culture on Instagram (for giveaways and bonus content) Beanstack resources to build your community’s reading culture
Host: Jordan Lloyd Bookey Producer: Jackie Lamport and Lower Street Media Script Editors: Josia Lamberto-Egan, Jackie Lamport, Jordan Lloyd Bookey
More from The Reading Culture
Three years strong, y’all! We’re back with our favorite tradition: The Reading Culture Yearbook.
“When we are making books, we are making little homes for our readers that they can return to hopefully again and again and again, just as we return to books and find a sense of home, we return to the person we once were, when we were reading that book.” — Sophie Blackall
“The library is where I felt, I'm safe here. I have friends in Encyclopedia Brown, Junie B. Jones, Amelia Bedelia, Stanley Yelnats, and all these various characters. I think that's the beauty. That's the sanctuary, the sacredness of that physical space.” – Mychal Threets Mychal Threets grew up among the stacks and, from a young age, experienced the magic and shelter of the library. Today, he is a librarian, a social media sensation, a mental health advocate, and the new host of the beloved show Reading Rainbow.
“It's important that my perspective stays flexible because my perspective could need updating, it could need to be changed based on new information.” — Nic Stone
“It’s that old expression that I love, which is ‘wherever you go, there you are.’ So you never really get out of the limbo, because the limbo is you.” — Erin Entrada Kelly There are seasons when life slows down, even as our minds continue to race. When we find ourselves caught somewhere between motion and stillness, haunted by what came before and reaching for what’s next.