"Deacon King Kong" by APB Speaker James McBride Is Oprah’s Latest Book Club Pick
29 Jun 2020
Oprah Winfrey has chosen New York Times bestselling author and APB speaker James McBride’s Deacon King Kong for her latest book club read. McBride’s novel is set in a Brooklyn housing project in 1969 and centers on the shooting of a drug dealer by an aging and tipsy church deacon. This book also pays tribute to community and to James’ own childhood in a Brooklyn project. "In a moment when our country roils with righteous anger and grief," Oprah says, "Deacon King Kong reminds us that when we come together as a community in compassion and empathy, our love triumphs."
McBride, a talented saxophonist and composer, also authored Miracle at St. Anna, The Color of Water, Song Yet Sung, and The Good Lord Bird, which won the National Book Award in 2013 and was turned into a series on Showtime. President Barack Obama awarded McBride the 2015 National Humanities Medal "for humanizing the complexities of discussing race in America. An inspirational, sought-after diversity speaker, he uses examples from his own life and the lives of those he’s encountered to encourage young people to embrace their history and identity, and appreciate the differences of those around them