The Untold Story Of Lyndie B. Hawkins

Hidden Brain

• Episode: The Untold Story Of Lyndie B. Hawkins
• Website: Hidden Brain
• Feed URL: http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510308
• Duration: 00:50:04
• Published: 2020-07-21 01:11

In 2019, a novel by a new author, Gail Shepherd, arrived in bookstores. The True History of Lyndie B. Hawkins tells the story of a young white girl growing up in the South. The book has been well received, but it is not the book Shepherd intended to write. In her original drafts, Shepherd, a white author, created a Lyndie who was Vietnamese-American, and dealing with issues of race in the deep South. This week we look at what it means to be a storyteller in a time of caustic cultural debate and ask when, if ever, is it okay to tell a story that is not your own?