Danielle Deadwyler's Secret Obsession with Toni Morrison Books

[calm intriguing music]

[chuckles] I see you sneaking in on me.

Hey there, I'm Danielle Deadwyler,

and I am obsessed with literature,

specifically the works of Toni Morrison.

Come on, everyone, with down your cameras, let's read.

[Danielle and interviewer laughing]

[gentle chiming music]

Beloved, Song of Solomon, Sula, God Help the Child,

all of her quintessential, beautiful works.

Novels, poetry, you give it to me, I'll lead it up.

She talks a lot about race, about gender,

about family, about class, and you identify.

It ruptures your world,

and then you are radicalized into the Toni world,

and you start doing things way different

than you did before.

Writer Kiese Laymon, he talked about his mother, saying,

If you haven't reread, than you're not really reading.

After reread, you have to learn revision.

That's what we get to do every day as humans.

To be quite frank, you're different every day.

You've had a different experience with the milkman.

I'm lying, who has a milkman today, but nonetheless,

the mailman, the malewoman, the the kids on the block, the,

your child's teachers, whomever you are interfacing with,

and so you come into contact with the text every day.

Something lifts off the page in a different way.

[Interviewer] Is there a Tony work

that you just read and reread?

I mean, Sula is my reread.

But then, Sula, how is a woman charging,

meaning energetically charging the space,

charging the community?

And then what is held in the relationship between women?

Something else.

[Interviewer] What made you make the decision

to get a master's degree in poetry?

Oh, I went back 'cause I have nothing else to do,

but to get student loans, I love film.

No,

I wanted to dive deeper into poetic construction

because it's about the truth.

Poetry is like jazz,

there's nothing but the truth to the experience of it.

How do you find yourself through others?

Additionally,

I love and have had a history of education,

taught fourth and fifth grade.

I've taught arts education,

I've taught GED, I've taught ESL.

I wanted to enhance my ability to do that with students.

Okay, everyone, I'm going back into the text.

Appreciate your little visit, toodles.

[calm intriguing music]

Stop looking.

[calm intriguing music]