Ta-Nehisi Coates in conversation with Aldith Hunkar

In the spirit of George Orwell, Ta-Nehisi Coates examines how reality is both revealed and distorted through stories, whether in reportage, fiction, mythmaking, or silence.

In his striking new book The Message, he traces the power of narrative across three conflict zones. In Dakar, Senegal, he finds himself inhabiting two worlds at once: the modern African city and the haunted landscape of his imagination. In Columbia, South Carolina, where his own books are banned, he confronts the enduring myths America tells about itself. And in Palestine, he witnesses with searing clarity the tragedy that unfolds when competing stories collide with lived reality.

Coates is the author of several acclaimed books, including Between the World and Me, which won the National Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He currently serves as the Sterling Brown Endowed Chair in English at Howard University.