Feeding the Fire

In Yaa Gyasi's powerful sophomore novel, Transcendent Kingdom (after Homegoing, her 2016 debut), Gifty, the American-born daughter of a Ghanaian immigrant, reckons with her brother's addiction, her mother's faith, and her own complex feelings about romantic love as she works toward her doctorate at Stanford. Here, Gyasi shares three inspirations while writing the book.

"(NO ONE KNOWS ME) LIKE THE PIANO"

by Sampha

"Sampha's song, a tribute to his childhood piano and to the loving mother who recognized his soul's need, never fails to move me."

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN

by James Baldwin

"Go Tell It on the Mountain was the first literary novel I read that took evangelicalism, its wonders and its contradictions, seriously, a novel that reckons both with family and with God."

CHEWING GUM

"Recently I've been watching Michaela Coel's genius unfold on / May Destroy You while reflecting back on her first brilliant show, Chewing Gum, about a young religious girl on a quest to lose her virginity."

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