In this episode, we hear two interviews with author Namwali Serpell. Her two novels look at some variation on what it means to be part of a mixed-race family. First, NPR's Scott Simon talks to Serpell about her 2019 debut The Old Drift in which the author considers how immigrants that came to Zambia gave the country a new identity through unity and love. Then, Serpell and NPR's Juana Summers discuss her second novel The Furrows, which looks at grief – and how it doesn't necessarily get easier with time.