Writing For Brown Children Dreaming

By Hady Mawajdeh,

Published July 15, 2015 at 12:13 PM EDT

Image of Jacqueline Woodson, who is an award-winning author, used her life experiences growing up in South Carolina as the basis for her memoir, 'Brown Girl Dreaming.'

Award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson grew up Greenville, S.C. during the '60s and ‘70s. During this period of her life, Woodson was very aware of the segregation in her community and throughout the South.

Woodson drew from these life experiences for her 2014 memoir Brown Girl Dreaming (Nancy Paulsen Books/2014). She wrote the book in verse because she says memories come to people in small bursts and verse emulates the experience.

Host Frank Stasio talks with Woodson about her memoir. Woodson discusses her work at the Chapel Hill Public Library on Thursday, July 16 at 6 p.m.

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Hady Mawajdeh

Hady Mawajdeh is a native Texan, born and raised in San Antonio. He listened to Fresh Air growing up and fell in love with public radio. He earned his B.A. in Mass Communication at Texas State University and specialized in electronic media. He worked at NPR affiliate stations KUT and KUTX in Austin, Texas as an intern, producer, social media coordinator, and a late-night deejay.

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Frank Stasio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.

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