Newbery Medal Author Amina Luqman-Dawson on Freewater

Democracy in Color with Steve Phillips

In honor of Juneteenth, New York Times bestselling author and winner of the 2023 Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award Amina Luqman-Dawson joins us to talk about her award-winning debut children’s novel Freewater. Amina shares how she learned about the Great Dismal Swamp(where Freewater is set) in Virginia, the former home to the real-life maroon colony of thousands of formerly enslaved Africans who lived there in the 1700s and 1800s. She also explains why she chose to use fiction to tell the story about this important piece of American history. She and Steve reflect on the years leading up to Amina’s successful debut and Susan’s contribution to Freewater. Amina reads a passage from Freewater and Sharline’s daughter shares her thoughts on the novel. REFERENCES: Amina Luqman-Dawson - https://aminaluqman-dawson.com // https://twitter.com/AminaLuqman Freewater - https://goodreads.com/en/book/show/58275990