Safiya Sinclair stopped by the Today show to discuss her memoir, How To Say Babylon.
Sinclair’s book, published earlier this month by Simon & Schuster, tells the story of her experience growing up in Jamaica as the daughter of a strict Rastafarian father. The book was a finalist for the 2023 Kirkus Prize, with a critic for the magazine writing, “More than catharsis; this is memoir as liberation.” It is also the current pick for Jenna Bush Hager’s Today show book club.
Sinclair appeared on the morning show with Hager, Hoda Kotb, and members of the Harlem branch of the Mocha Girls Read book club.
One club member noted parallels between Sinclair’s book and Tara Westover’s memoir, Educated, and asked Sinclair, “Did you receive any pushback from your family members with writing your story?” (Some members of Westover’s family have said the author’s book was inaccurate.)
“I have been really lucky in that my family has been very supportive,” Sinclair replied. “They kind of see me as the keeper of the stories, and the keeper of the history of our family, and so I’m deeply grateful for that.”
Another book club member asked Sinclair how she felt telling the story of her life in the memoir.
“A lot of it was hard to write, honestly, because a lot of it meant I had to sit with the memories to fully evoke what happened, how it felt,” Sinclair said. “I couldn’t just do it halfway, so that made it a really intense writing session, every time I sat down.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
