"I enjoyed the sound of our voices following one another. Sounded like a favorite song from the radio they no longer p…"

""Enough people in the world trying to silence us. Girl, you better speak up.” (p238)"

"That was how I knew Sister Mukumbo was a real teacher, aside from her welcoming smile and her blackboard penmanship. …"

""If you knew what I knew, seen what I've seen, you wouldn't be so quick to pull the plow." (p110)"

"It was a strange, wonderful feeling. To discover eyes upon you when you expected no one to notice you at all. (p214)"

"Children were a big part of the Black Panther Movement. At that time there were no books about the roles children pla…"

"(What advice do you have for aspiring writers?) Write a little bit every day. I began by writing 500 words a day, but…"

"(In a note included with advance editions of the book, referring to slavery and its legacies, you wrote, “At no other…"

"My intention is that the more humanity we see, the better we can judge, acknowledge, understand and even indict. Ther…"

"[asked what readers can expect from her book] Surprises and to challenge our own ideas of humanity. Novels are the ho…"