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Pic of Fresh Air

Best Of: 'Opal & Nev' Author / The History Of Juneteenth

May 29, 2021
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Fresh Air

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Dawnie Walton's novel, 'The Final Revival of Opal & Nev,' is a faux oral history about a '70s interracial rock duo. Opal is a Black proto Afro-punk singer from Detroit, and Nev is a goofy white British singer-songwriter. Walton was inspired by Grace Jones, Betty Davis, Elton John and Bowie. We talk with Walton about how her career in journalism and her taste in music growing up informed the book.

Maureen Corrigan reviews 2 suspense novels: 'A Lonely Man,' by Chris Power, and 'The Plot,' by Jean Hanff Korelitz.

Juneteenth, formerly Emancipation Day or Jubilee, celebrates the day slavery ended in Texas, June 19, 1865. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Annette Gordon-Reed studies the early American republic and the legacy of slavery. Her book is 'On Juneteenth.'