T. Noah's and other books help to write yours; new Civil Rights Baby turns 1

(PARIS) Chapter 3 of Born a Crime is called "Trevor, Pray." That chapter and several others detail the escapades in the unreliable car owned by his mom.?That 38-year-old Mr. Noah has been an avid reader throughout his life is probably at the root of his accessing and organizing his memorable episodes and selecting the spot-on words to allow readers to empathize.?He tells the stories so engrossingly that readers root for the mother and son to find a ?win? over the situations in front of them. He writes this about youthful Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah's mindset before she gave birth to him.

"Working for the family in Soweto, my mom had no more freedom than she'd had in Transkei, so she ran away. She ran all the way down to the train station and jumped on a train and disappeared into the city, determined to sleep in public restrooms until she could make her own way in the world."

And:

"Just as she let the past go, she was determined ... that my childhood would bear no resemblance to hers."

If you’re in the #Nanowrimo writing group that I'm hosting online with the Augusta - Richmond County Public Library, or at any location, here’s an idea to fortify your writing. Read with intentionality. Read a lot. I highly recommend Trevor Noah's Born a Crime, which I finished earlier this month.

I read between 12 and 15 memoirs in the two years directly preceding my writing Civil Rights Baby: My Story of Race, Sports, and Breaking Barriers in American Journalism.?When people ask me about the rich details and the smart word choices, I tell them that effect writing comes from reading.

Some books that I read during the training period before writing my memoir--and that I now recommend to spur your writing force--are: In My Place (@CharlayneHunter-Gault), #JustMercy (@BryanStevenson, @JustMercy), All Over but the Shoutin’ (@RickBragg), My Life, My Love, My Legacy #KingCenter (Coretta Scott King and Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds), Believer (@DavidAxelrod), I am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (@MalalaYousfzi with @PatriciaMcCormick), Rosa Parks: My Story (Rosa Parks with Jim Haskins), My Song (Harry Belafonte), and Eye on the Struggle (the?biography of Ethel Payne, written by @JamesMcGrathMorris).?

Reading boosts writing.

For me, it stimulates detailed images in my mind to the point that I can feel a physical presence. Reading turbo-boosts my vocabulary and hands me a battery of power words. I most often read on my topic, nonfiction books about people’s rights and opportunities, but a writer can benefit from reading on any topic on the terrain.

Special word to memoir writers and/or biographers. Reading the stories of other lives wakes?up my sense of anticipation in the way that a heated-stones message once kept me on the edge of anticipation. ?

I read the teen edition of Malala Yousafzai’s book, and found the devastatingly painful events easier to swallow than I imagine the adult version would have been. The original version of Trevor Noah’s #BornACrime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016) was not specifically targeting the young reader like 2019's does.

"The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting,? says the African American Literature Book Club. Go here, to?AALBC.com, to purchase Born a Crime, the new edition of Civil Rights Baby, and books by other black authors.?#AALBC #readingblack

The ?hamster wheel? in Hood, Sweet Hood and where you fit

Memoir writers need to tread honestly about themselves and their surroundings. While a memoir is personal recollections, it’s a nonfiction enterprise. The heaviness of the Bantu education system (1953 and still today), the apartheid-era fatherless black homes, and the reality of not escaping the hood are examples of publishing the not-so-bright parts of the story about a bi-racial person in South Africa. Mr. Noah confronts them.

Writes Noah: ?

?The tricky thing about the hood is that you’re always working, working, working, and you feel like something’s happening, but really nothing is happening at all ... It’s maximal effort put into minimal gain.? ?

?All your mental energy goes into getting by, so you don’t have to ask yourself the big questions. Who am I? Who am I supposed to be????

One of Trevor’s 20-something friends lands a job that offers potential. He's selling clothes in a nice store. But, he turns his back on his break, an example of an individual who succumbs to a tsunami of despair, according to Noah’s reflections.

?He sabotaged himself so that he’d get accepted back into the group again. The hood will drag you back in it. It will find away.?

BONUS CUT from Rep. Cori Bush, (pictured above). "I still remember what pain was like to be hungry, to go for days without eating, just making sure my kids ate. I remember what is was like to close my eyes at night and hope that my kids did not freeze to death in the car, while we were sleeping in the car, unhoused. I remember what is was like to be brutalized by the police back in Ferguson (Missouri) in 2014."

Wiggins marks Civil Rights Baby's first birthday leading #Nanowrimo event

The New Edition of Civil Rights Baby: My Story of Race, Sports, and Breaking Barriers in American Journalism's one-year anniversary coincides with the #Nanowrimo training on Oct. 12.

You're invited by the Augusta-Richmond County Public Library to SIGN UP:

"Have you considered writing a memoir??If so, join us as our special guest Ms. Nita Wiggins, an author and TV broadcaster-turned-professor, discusses her book?Civil Rights Baby: My Story of Race, Sports, and Breaking Barriers in American Journalism.?Ms. Wiggins will also give guidance on writing a memoir to help you prepare for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November.?Currently living in Paris, France, she is a Macon, Georgia native, a former Augustan, and a member of the Authors Club of Augusta.?The program will be held virtually via Google Meet.?You may view the program in the computer lab at Headquarters (there is limited seating) or via the Google Meet link.?To register, call (706) 821-2615 or email?Jor'danan?Curtis at?[email protected].??Best for ages 18 and up."??

Nita Wiggins teaches journalism at Sorbonne University's CELSA campus and at ISFJ in Paris. She will comment on the U.S. mid-term elections on France 24 TV on Nov. 8. **Her Civil Rights Baby memoir was accepted into The (Jimmy) Carter Center presidential archives in Atlanta, Ga., in early 2022. Purchase it from your local bookstore or go here, www.NitaWiggins.com for worldwide buying options. ISBN: 978-1-7375805-0-8?and Ebook ISBN: 978-1-7375805-1-5 ?