“If my mother and my grandma were in this book, how would they be? And what kind of love can I show them as a writer…”  The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin brings readers to pre-Civil War New Orleans to meet a cast of strong, fierce women in a hope filled novel of freedom and liberation. Ruffin joins us to talk about the intricacies of writing about his hometown, cultural impacts on identity, building empathy through fiction and more with Miwa Messer, host of Poured Over.    This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.                    New episodes land Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays) here and on your favorite podcast app.          Featured Books (Episode):  The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin  We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin  The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr.  Ours by Phillip B. Williams  American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson  Lone Women by Victor LaValle  Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov  The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison  Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides   12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup  Trust Exercise by Susan Choi