Jacqueline Woodson on Telling Stories of our Ancestors
Podcast: Borrowed & ReturnedPublished On: Thu Jul 09 2026
Description: When award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson sat down to write her family’s story of the Great Migration, she wanted to make it accessible to all kinds of readers. So she wrote a children’s book called This Is the Rope. In this episode, Woodson talks about the importance of preserving the stories of our ancestors, and of course… her love of Brooklyn. Show notes:How many books have you read? Check out BPL’s full list of 250 books that influenced America. Then check out our booklist with all the titles Jacqueline mentioned in this episode.Learn more about Baldwin for the Arts, and listen to the Baldwin-Emerson Elders Project.Watch the rest of Jacqueline Woodson’s talk with Edwidge Danticat at BPL back in 2016.Want more interviews with authors on BPL’s 250 for 250 list? Check out the following interviews: Jose Antonio Vargas, Dear America; Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer; Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States; Art Spiegelman, Maus; N.K. Jemisin, The Fifth Season; George M. Johnson, All Boys Aren’t Blue
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