photographed & produced by MYAH WILLIAMS

NY Times visual Op-Ed columnist Charles M. Blow explores building identity in his recently published memoir, “Fire Shut Up in My Bones.” Myah Willams’ intimate, one-on-one conversation with Blow is more like a journey than an interview. To her, he speaks as he rarely did with journalists on other stops along his national book tour, about their shared background, growing up in Arkansas. Blow shares his inspirations for penning his deeply personal book, based on the people and places of his youth and such public figures as Martin Luther King Jr. and Prince Charles. His revelations are a springboard for Williams, who reflects in this podcast on her own family and her mother’s memoir in the first of a series of audio essays focused on race and identity.