Harriet Tubman harnesses hip-hop in Bob the Drag Queen’s delightful debut novel.

On this episode of Fully Booked, Bob the Drag Queen joins us to discuss his provocative, funny first novel, Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert (Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster, March 25). Fresh off a star turn on the reality competition The Traitors—now streaming on Peacock— the television host, actor, activist, and Season 8 winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race shares the inspiration behind this delightful work of speculative fiction featuring renowned American abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor Tubman, whom he calls “the first Black superhero.”

Here’s a bit from our review of Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert:

“The literary debut by Bob the Drag Queen—Instagram star, Madonna concert emcee, and winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race—imagines a host of famous figures returning to life: Cleopatra is a fashion influencer, John D. Rockefeller is a robber baron all over again, and Harriet Tubman, a key figure in the Underground Railroad, wants to share her story via a Hamilton-style album. To assist, she’s assembled a backing band called the Freemans as well as the narrator, Darnell, a producer who’s down on his luck for reasons revealed later in the novel. For the moment, though, the project is an opportunity for him to ‘reconcile what it means to be Black, queer, and American all at once.’ Bob doesn’t explain why Tubman’s resurrection has occurred, or why Tubman is, of all things, a musical talent—the novel is mainly a thought exercise about what Tubman’s ferocity and determination might mean in our current moment.”

Bob and I discuss how it feels to be a debut author and what inspired him to make his first book a novel. He describes Harriet Tubman as a work of historical fiction and explains why hip-hop would be the ideal mode of expression for Tubman today. He introduces listeners to the book’s narrator, Darnell, a Grammy Award–winning recording artist who went off the grid after a public embarrassment. We talk about the challenges of telling chronological narratives; Harriet’s backup band, the Freemans; English-born abolitionist Benjamin Lay; Bob’s longtime obsession with Tubman; Sojourner Truth; and the first known “queen of drag,” William Dorsey Swann. Bob shares the emotional experience of holding a finished copy of Harriet Tubman for the first time, and we talk about how he plans to celebrate publication day.

Then editors Laura Simeon, Mahnaz Dar, John McMurtrie, and Laurie Muchnick share their top picks in books for the week.

EDITORS’ PICKS:

I Am the Swarm by Hayley Chewins (Viking)

Earthrise: The Story of the Photograph That Changed the Way We See Our Planet by Leonard S. Marcus (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Mad House: How Donald Trump, MAGA Mean Girls, a Former Used Car Salesman, a Florida Nepo Baby, and a Man With Rats in His Walls Broke Congress by Annie Karni and Luke Broadwater (Random House)

The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue (Summit)

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:

The Brightest Light of Sunshine by Lisina Coney

Homeland by Joseph Love

Crow River Justice by C. Stewart

When Bible Meets History by Stephen Lee Crane

Fully Booked is produced by Cabel Adkins Audio and Megan Labrise.