In conversation with Imani Perry

Ilyon Woo is the author of The Great Divorce, the “lively, well-written, and engrossing tale” (The New York Times Book Review) of a young mother’s five-year fight against her husband, the Shakers religious sect, and the norms of 19th century United States for her and her children’s freedom. The recipient of a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Writing Grant and of fellowships from the American Antiquarian Society and the National Endowment for the Humanities, Woo has contributed writing to The Wall Street Journal and The Boston Globe. Her latest book recounts the remarkable true story of an enslaved husband and wife who posed as master and slave while trekking more than a 1,000 miles to freedom in mid-19th century United States.

Imani Perry won the 2022 National Book Award for nonfiction for South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation. Her other books include, Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation, Breathe: A Letter to My Sons, and Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry. Perry is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies and faculty associate in the Program in Law and Public Affairs and Gender and Sexuality Studies at Princeton University.