It all started with a tweet. John Fram, frustrated by the police and too angry to sit down and write like he usually would, took to twitter to question what he saw as “a huge blind spot” with respect to how Americans, especially white American writers, depict police.
You know what would make my fucking day? If white American crime novelists, especially those writing police procedurals, would have a fat juicy reckoning with the way they’ve helped turn a slave-catching militia into our country’s most trusted institution.
— John Fram (@johnsfram) May 29, 2020
Soon after posting the tweet (shown above), it went viral. Fram admits that, at the time, he only felt prepared enough to offer his own “hot take” on this topic via twitter, but after a crazy weekend of reflection and research, he expanded his thoughts in an op-ed piece for The New York Times, “How White Crime Writers Justified Police Brutality.” With that, this debut crime novelist had unwittingly made a name for himself before his novel was even released.
Fram joined BookTrib’s Facebook Live for an in-depth interview about his eye-opening NYT op-ed and his upcoming novel, The Bright Lands (Hanover Square Press), which will be released July 7. The interview was conducted by Casey Barrett, a crime author in own right, as well as a frequent BookTrib contributor. The conversation examines many aspects of the modern police procedural and looks critically at their own work as white crime writers.
If you missed the live interview, watch it here:
RELATED READS
Want more Fram? Check out BookTrib’s review of The Bright Lands and his op-ed in The New York Times.
Interested in Casey Barrett’s work? Check out BookTrib’s review of The Tower of Songs and Against Nature, as well as his essay “Romancing the Drunk.”
Click here for previous interviews and a list of upcoming author events.
