Urban-Reviews.com - Inside Out with Nathan McCall

Nathan McCall

Nathan McCall was born in 1955 and grew up in the Cavalier Manor section of Portsmouth, Virginia. As the son of a Navy man, McCall also grew up in various locations, such as Morocco and Norfolk, Virginia. After serving three years in prison, he studied journalism at Norfolk State University. He reported for the Virginian Pilot-Ledger and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before moving to The Washington Post In 1989. He has dedicated his career to improving race relations in the United States.

Nathan McCall released his autobiography Makes Me Wanna Holler in 1994 and it went on to become a New York Times bestseller. The book also won the Blackboard Book of the Year Award for 1995. In Makes Me Wanna Holler, McCall provides a detailed story of his life and the hardships he experienced growing up with racial profiling and class difference. His second book, What's Going On used personal essays to discuss some larger issues such as social, cultural, and political tensions that affect the modern day United States.

After the success of his books, McCall was in demand as a speaker. He left The Washington Post for the lecture circuit. Today he continues to write while holding a position at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia as a journalism teacher.

His newest release, Them, is his first work of fiction.

Read An Excerpt from Them: Click Here

Order Your Copy of Them: Click Here
Order Your Copy of Makes Me Wanna Hollar: Click Here
Order Your Copy of What's Going On: Click Here

Urban Reviews: Start by telling our readers about Them.
Nathan McCall: This is a story about a man, Barlowe Reed, whose relative peace in his black, working class neighborhood is shattered with the arrival of whites abandoning the suburbs for the inner city. When a white couple moves in next door, Barlowe develops a reluctant, complex friendship with Sandy Gilmore, the woman of the house, as they hold probing - and often frustrating - conversations over the backyard fence. Racial tensions flare up in the neighborhood, as blacks and whites struggle to come to terms with their alien world-views and the unsettling realities of gentrification. The story is set in Atlanta, Ga., in a neighborhood that happens to be the birthplace of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Urban Reviews: Readers will find that one of the central themes of this novel is about gentrification and race relations in a historic Atlanta neighborhood. What inspired you to create this particular storyline and the main character, Barlowe Reed?
Nathan McCall: I was riding my bicycle through that neighborhood one day and came upon this scene: African Americans strolling up and down the sidewalks, while a white man stood in front of his newly purchased home, sweeping the steps. I knew that variations of that scene are playing out in urban centers across the country. As I stood there, I tried to imagine how this brand of gentrification looked to the black people whose roots were tied to the place. I was also curious about the whites moving in. So, using my imagination and my real-life sense of the awkward dance that we in this country do around issues of class and race, I created this tale.

Urban Reviews: You started your literary career with your national bestselling autobiography Makes Me Wanna Holler. What led you to want to pen your first novel?
Nathan McCall: The journalist in me sensed that I had an important story to tell about gentrification. The difficulty came in deciding how best to convey that story. I eventually concluded that the story would likely command little public interest if presented in a straightforward, nonfiction fashion, as we journalists tend to do. I decided that this would have to be a story that informs and entertains, and also one that explores some of the questions burning in my own head. In writing the story as fiction, I had the flexibility to take readers inside the heads of blacks and whites. I would not have lackd that flexibility otherwise.

Urban Reviews: Was it an easy transition from writing an autobiography to writing a fiction title?
Nathan McCall: It was very difficult making the transition to fiction. My entire career has been focused on nonfiction. When I wrote my autobiography, as well as the book of essays, I essentially drew from factual material that was already in my head. The primary challenge with those projects was structuring the material. With this fiction project I essentially had to start with an idea and create a whole new world of characters from scratch. I had to construct their personalities, imagine them visually and make sure the psychology of their behavior was consistent throughout the book. At times, I felt as if I inhabited two worlds simultaneously – the real world I’m living in, and the imaginary world I was working to create. I often struggled trying to find a balance. Finally, I had to spend a lot of time reading and studying novels, to teach myself how to do what I had set out to do. That’s why it took me such a long time to write this book.

Urban Reviews: Do you have any upcoming projects in the works?
Nathan McCall: I actually have started work on another novel. I won’t say what it’s about, but I’ve got a good bit of it written.

Urban Reviews: Who would you say are some of your favorite authors?
Nathan McCall: Of course, Toni Morrison ranks among those at the top of my list. She has created a body of work that transcends time. I also like Ernest Gaines and Phillip Roth. Moreover, I enjoy the works of two South African writers, Nadine Gordimer and J.M. Coetzee, because they confront, head-on, the pressing racial conflicts in that country.

Urban Reviews: What are some of the biggest things that you've learned about the literary industry?
Nathan McCall: I have learned how much the literary industry has changed so dramatically since the last time I published. Like the rest of corporate America, the industry is so profit-driven that concerns about producing quality literature seem secondary.

Urban Reviews: What are your goals as an author?
Nathan McCall: My goals an author are to continue to explore the issues that interest me, especially as they relate to politics, class and race. There are several more books that I want to write. I hope to grow with, and learn from, each successive project. Finally, I want to write books that are thought-provoking and timeless.

Urban Reviews: Name one thing that the world does not know about Nathan McCall-the person?
Nathan McCall: Honestly, after spilling my guts so completely in Makes me Wanna Holler I’m not sure I have any secrets worth knowing.