Sapphire (Ramona Lofton) is an American author and performance poet who is best known for her debut novel, Push. This talk followed a screening of Precious, the Academy Award-winning adaptation of Push starring Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, and Mariah Carey.

Precious is set in 1987 and follows Claireece P. ‘Precious’ Jones, an obese, illiterate 16 year old who lives in Harlem with her abusive mother. The film focuses on Precious’ efforts to escape physical and sexual abuse, as she discovers she is pregnant for a second time. The film received wide critical-acclaim and won prizes at 2009 Sundance Film Festival, and the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.

In this talk Sapphire discusses her novel The Kid, which is the follow-up to Push. She talks about her inspiration for the book, and the themes, ideas and narrative techniques that underpin the story.

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Bristol Festival of Ideas

A Festival of Ideas event in partnership with Watershed.

Posted on Wed 24 Aug 2011.

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