{"podcast":{"title":"PASSAGES: On Morrison","slug":"passages-on-morrison-7850883","podcast_index_feed_id":7850883,"rss_url":"https://feeds.libsyn.com/618475/rss","website_url":"https://sites.libsyn.com/PASSAGES","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/7/c/2/2/7c22934eb2d8089316c3140a3186d450/SERPELL_OnMorrison_HC_podcastart_3000x3000_1.jpg","author":"Sara McCrea","episode_count":4,"summary":"PASSAGES takes reading on the road. Come along with Namwali Serpell, novelist, critic, and Harvard professor, as she joins fellow writers and skilled readers in conversation to pore over excerpts of Toni Morrison's prose. Recorded on book tour for ON MORRISON—Serpell's electrifying, critical exploration of the author's oeuvre—each episode welcomes listeners into rooms full of readers and discussions of how Morrison made her words sing. This show is the record of a traveling salon, a celebration of Morrison's extraordinary work, and a love letter to reading closely in community. You can purchase ON MORRISON wherever books are sold or through this link: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/752344/on-morrison-by-namwali-serpell/ PASSAGES: On Morrison is a production of the Random House Publishing Group. Cover art includes \"Toni Morrison as Song of Solomon\" by John Sokol (1981).","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/passages-on-morrison-7850883"},"episode":{"title":"2. Flying into SONG OF SOLOMON with Hanif Abdurraqib","slug":"2-flying-into-song-of-solomon-with-hanif-abdurraqib","published_at":"2026-05-21T09:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/passages-on-morrison-7850883/2-flying-into-song-of-solomon-with-hanif-abdurraqib","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/passages-on-morrison-7850883","url":"https://2a988e69-f377-4f2d-8d6f-d1eeb255e567.libsyn.com/flying-into-song-of-solomon-with-hanif-abdurraqib","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/2a988e69-f377-4f2d-8d6f-d1eeb255e567/For_Upload_POM_Episode_2.mp3?dest-id=5394360","summary":"For the launch of Ohio's year-long, state-wide celebration of Toni Morrison, Namwali Serpell flies to Columbus to talk with poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib. With the help of the audience, they read the ending of Morrison's SONG OF SOLOMON and then open up the scene's quiet violence and ambiguous action. The passage leads them to discuss the challenges of adapting Morrison's novels for film, the power of evoking the inexplicable, and the influence of African folk tales on Morrison's work. Here is the passage Hanif reads from SONG OF SOLOMON: \"Now he knew why he loved her so. Without ever leaving the ground, she could fly. 'There must be another one like you,' he whispered to her. 'There's got to be at least one more woman like you.' Even as he knelt over her, he knew there wouldn't be another mistake; that the minute he stood up Guitar would try to blow his head off. He stood up. 'Guitar!' he shouted. Tar tar tar, said the hills. 'Over here, brother man! Can you see me?' Milkman cupped his mouth with one hand and waved the other over his head. 'Here I am!' Am am am am, said the rocks. 'You want me? Huh? You want my life?' Life life life life. Squatting on the edge of the other flat-headed rock with only the night to cover him, Guitar smiled over the barrel of his rifle. 'My man,' he murmured to himself. 'My main man.' He put the rifle on the ground and stood up. Milkman stopped waving and narrowed his eyes. He could just make out Guitar's head and shoulders in the dark. 'You want my life?' Milkman was not shouting now. 'You need it? Here.' Without wiping away the tears, taking a deep breath, or even bending his knees—he leaped. As fleet and bright as a lodestar he wheeled toward Guitar and it did not matter which one of them would give up his ghost in the killing arm…","meta_description":"For the launch of Ohio's year-long, state-wide celebration of Toni Morrison, Namwali Serpell flies to Columbus to talk with poet and essayist Hanif Abdurr…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1878,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/passages-on-morrison-7850883/episodes/2-flying-into-song-of-solomon-with-hanif-abdurraqib/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/passages-on-morrison-7850883/2-flying-into-song-of-solomon-with-hanif-abdurraqib.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}