Mat Johnson appears in the following:
A Satirical, Dystopian Future That's All Too Familiar
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Author Mat Johnson joins us to discuss his new satirical novel Invisible Things, in which a far-future society has all the problems of our present.
My Great-Grandfather Narrowly Escaped A Lynch Mob — He Was 11 Years Old
Friday, May 04, 2018
The horror of lynchings has always been a part of my ancestral memory. But knowing the real story of my own family's brush with lynching? It made it real.
A Novelist Forces Himself To Press On After Losing 100 Pages In A Tech Glitch
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Mat Johnson's recent hard-drive failure wasn't the first time he experienced data loss. This time, despite losing more work than ever before, he's less panicked: "I can write new words," he says.
Looking Back With Gratitude On Obama, And His Optimistic Vision Of America
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Writer Mat Johnson reflects on what the Obama presidency meant to his biracial family. "I didn't always agree with Obama," he says. "But I always respected — and will always respect — that man."
'Loving' Shows A Quiet Couple In The Eye Of History's Storm
Friday, November 04, 2016
Jeff Nichols' new film tells the story of Mildred and Richard Loving, the Virginia couple at the center of the 1967 Supreme Court decision legalizing interracial marriage.
As His Mother's Multiple Sclerosis Progresses, A Son Shifts To Caregiver
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Novelist Mat Johnson's mother spent decades trying to escape her MS diagnosis. Johnson looks back on her journey — and what it meant when the disease finally caught up with her.
'I'm Petrified For My Children': Will Racism And Guns Lead To America's Ruin?
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Novelist Mat Johnson says the nation's unresolved racial legacy, our love of guns and our method of policing have put the country on a fatal and disastrous path.
What It's Like To Be A Part Of The 'Vanishing Middle Class'
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Mat Johnson grew up poor, but managed to land in the middle class as an adult. Still, he says, opportunities for advancement are few and far between, and it's all too easy to slide back economically.
Oreo: A Comeback Story
Friday, July 17, 2015
“Oreo,” Fran Ross’s 1974 novel about a biracial teen’s search for her father, was a misfit for its times. More than 40 years later, are audiences finally ready for this satirical tale?
Author Explores Mythical Black Homeland in 'Pym'
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Imagine a search for identity on an epic scale, and you’ll have some idea what the novel "Pym" is about. It tells the story of Chris Jaynes — a professor who becomes obsessed with finding a mythical black homeland referenced by Edgar Allen Poe in his only full-length novel, "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket." But "Pym" is more than a novel; it’s a biting satire of how Americans see race, and see themselves, in the 21st century.
