April 6: Lawrence Otis Graham ’83’s Book Produced for TV Series

Fox is producing a drama for the 2021-22 season titled “Our Kind Of People,” inspired by Lawrence Otis Graham ’83’s book, Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class. Graham died in February. — Deadline
 
The first performance on a Broadway stage since the pandemic began was held at the St. James Theatre owned by Jordan Roth ’97, who called the show “the first step home.” — The New York Times

“I think it’s helpful to work on fiction in the pandemic, because I want to escape. I want my mind to run free as it can — and a lot of times that stretches right into the fantastic, right into the surreal.”

— Author Morgan Jerkins ’14, whose first novel, Caul Baby, about three generations of Black women in Harlem, debuts in April. — Time

While researching her new book about photographer Dorothea Lang, titled The Bohemians, Jasmin Darznik *07 found “many haunting parallels between 1920s San Francisco and today,” including the Spanish Flu pandemic and a rise in anti-Asian violence. — Datebook
 
CNN legal analyst Laura Coates ’01 called testimony given by Lt. Richard Zimmerman in the George Floyd trial “damning” and said it “blows out of the water the notion that Derek Chauvin was trained to do that which he did.” — CNN
 
Young people are to blame for the recent rise in COVID-19 cases, said CBS News medical contributor Dr. David Agus ’87, as the vaccine has been rolled out to older people and proved effective. — CBS News
  
An event with Yo-Yo Ma and University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel ’79 on April 15, “Mapping Without Boundaries,” will kick off the renowned cellist’s new residency with the university. — Michigan News

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