“When my mother left home, her family sat shivah for her, more because my father was not Jewish than because he was black.”

American writer and musician

James McBride is an American writer and musician. He is known for his fiction and for work that bridges literature and music. He received the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction for his novel The Good Lord Bird. That recognition placed him among the notable American voices in contemporary fiction, with a career shaped by both writing and music.