National Writers Series: Jodi Picoult

Enjoy literary sensation Jodi Picoult's conversation with Detroit News columnist Neal Rubin on the National Writers Series stage at the City Opera House in downtown Traverse City.

[@jmz8210]

Aw, man. The poor guy's hands are shaking 🙁 He did great tho, and Jodi is an amazing author!

[@heerocolin]

Hi my name is Jodi, I'm a late 40s something white woman who is upper middle class. I'm a successful writer by profession. I've always wanted to write a book about race, but one of my large concerns is not offending people which is easy to do when talking about race. Oh, not because it's personal to me or for reasons of moral worthiness to do so. That too of course though.
For 20 years I was going back and forth about how best I could write a story where I tell people of color how hard their lives are. That's also the primary lens of how I see them as well, just in general.
But then some news happened that I finally noticed. Involving a skinhead and a black nurse in a hospital, and how the hospital administration handled the situation.
I learned, that people just like me, you know, the good kind of nice white people, could be racist too. *Surprised Pikachu face*
NO ONE else who's white must know this either, or do any kind of work/activism/art about it. I will take up this burden and write a story so my fellow good whites can learn this lesson too. I'll make sure to tell them in a supercilious manner in interviews how important this conversation is to have amongst ourselves. It's up to us to solve it all of course.
Don't worry, I know these topics are complex enough that Nobel prize winning authors from marginalized groups have spent whole lifetimes and professional careers covering these topics, but I did my research. For me it only took the last 3 years to get there.