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EXCLUSIVE: Michelle Obama Reads From Her Forthcoming Memoir 'Becoming'

NPR host Audie Cornish interviews former first lady Michelle Obama about her memoir <em>Becoming</em> in Chicago, Ill., Nov. 2.
Chuck Kennedy for NPR
NPR host Audie Cornish interviews former first lady Michelle Obama about her memoir Becoming in Chicago, Ill., Nov. 2.

Michelle Obama's new memoir Becoming, about her life from childhood through the White House years, comes out Tuesday. NPR was provided an exclusive listen Monday to two sections of the audio book, read by Obama herself.

In the first, Obama focuses on her impressions of Princeton, being a minority there, and college life. "The hope was that all of us would mingle in heterogeneous harmony," she says of the university's vision for the various races. But, she says, the burden was placed on the minority students.

In the second excerpt, Obama reads about the period of time when her husband, former president Barack Obama, was an Illinois senator — and they were trying to start a family. "I treated it like a mission," she says. "No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't seem to come up with a pregnancy." She had a miscarriage and, later, the couple conceived their two daughters through IVF treatments.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Meghan Collins Sullivan is a senior editor on the Arts & Culture Desk, overseeing non-fiction books coverage at NPR. She has worked at NPR over the last 13 years in various capacities, including as the supervising editor for NPR.org – managing a team of online producers and reporters and editing multi-platform news coverage. She was also lead editor for the 13.7: Cosmos and Culture blog, written by five scientists on topics related to the intersection of science and culture.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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