Brendan Slocumb is a musician, teacher, podcast host and author and his February 2022 release The Violin Conspiracy instantly hit bestseller lists. People are still raving about this one, so I lept at the opportunity to speak with Brendan about his first novel, which was recently released in paperback.
The book follows a young Black musician, Ray, who discovers his instrument, a family heirloom, is worth a fortune and is stolen just before an international classical music competition. Brendan’s own experiences with racism as a Black classical musician inspired some of the events in the book.
I recently spoke with Brendan Slocumb about the impact of racism, his writing process, and how his rigorous musical training prepared him for publishing. Here's our conversation.
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The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb was published by Vintage.
Marginalia was produced at KMUW Wichita and is part of the NPR Podcast Network.
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- Beth Golay - host
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