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Fresh Air Weekend: 'Opal & Nev' Author Dawnie Walton; The History Of Juneteenth

Dawnie Walton left her job as the deputy managing editor of <em>Essence</em> to write <em>The Final Revival of Opal & Nev. </em>
Rayon Richards
/
Simon & Schuster
Dawnie Walton left her job as the deputy managing editor of Essence to write The Final Revival of Opal & Nev.

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

'70s Music Journalism Gets An Overdue Rewrite In Debut Novel 'Opal & Nev': Dawnie Walton's novel is a faux oral history about an interracial rock duo. Opal is a Black proto Afro-punk singer from Detroit, and Nev is a goofy white British singer-songwriter.

Struggling Writers Steal Someone Else's Work In 2 New Suspense Novels: Chris Power's brooding literary novel A Lonely Man and Jean Hanff Korelitz's nightmare of a thriller The Plot explore the dangerous consequences of sticky fingers in the literary world.

'On Juneteenth' Historian Examines The 'Hope' And 'Hostility' Toward Emancipation: Juneteenth celebrates the day slavery ended in Texas, June 19, 1865. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed studies the early American republic and the legacy of slavery.

You can listen to the original interviews and review here:

'70s Music Journalism Gets An Overdue Rewrite In Debut Novel 'Opal & Nev'

Struggling Writers Steal Someone Else's Work In 2 New Suspense Novels

'On Juneteenth' Historian Examines The 'Hope' And 'Hostility' Toward Emancipation

Copyright 2021 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.

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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.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.