Namwali Serpell

kind of incredible building in the last chapter of the novel toward this moment of revelation where Nell finally realizes, as she says, we was girls together.

Oh, Lord, Sula, girl, girl, girl, girl, girl.

And the cry that she releases is

rises up in these circles of sorrow.

And when that sentence comes into my life, whether I'm reading it to teach, whether I'm rereading it to write, whether I'm reading it out loud, even just now, tears always spring to my eyes.

It's just such an incredible evocation of what it feels like to lose the love of your life, which is your friend.

That's a really good question.

I, in my book, make a similar argument to the discussion that was on the New York Times podcast.

But rather than thinking about her as a saint –

I am thinking about her and the way she's been turned into a monument.

And I find it helpful to think about Morrison's relationship to monuments as a way of reframing how we think about her because she was very skeptical.

of monuments in certain kinds of ways.

And there's – for example, I visited Ohio and I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Lorain where Morrison was born and grew up.

And in Lorain, the public library has a room dedicated to her.

This was how Morrison wanted to be honored, by a room in a library filled with books where people could come and read, which isn't the same as having a statue or having a plaque attached to a building.

They renamed a building at Princeton Morrison Hall, and she sort of very wryly said that there's a kind of inevitability to that.

She really liked the fact of this.

But at the same time, I think it's very clear to me that what Morrison wanted most of all was for people to read and to read her, that that's actually what was so important.

Thank you so much for having me and thank you for these wonderful questions.

Thank you so much, Sophie.