Ep. 160 Antonio Michael Downing

Ep. 160 Antonio Michael Downing

February 27, 2026 · 26 min

About this episode

Antonio Michael Downing discusses his memoir and novel, exploring themes of identity and writing.

Antonio Michael Downing is the author of the memoir Saga Boy, My Memoir of Blackness and Becoming, in which he show us how he had become, like his father and grandfather before him, a Saga boy, a Trinidadian playboy and almost loses everything of value himself until he rescues himself and becames the musician and writer he was born to be. In his new book, a novel entitled Black Cherokee , we meet the unforgettable Ophelia Blue Rivers, a mixed-race Black girl fighting for her identity in a South Carolina Cherokee community. Listen in as he and I speak about writing into identity, and so much more. The QWERTY podcast is brought to you by the book The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. Read it, and begin your own journey to writing what you know. To learn more, join The Memoir Project free newsletter list and keep up to date on all our free webinars, instructive posts and online classes in how to write memoir , as well as our talented, available memoir editors and memoir coaches, podcast guests and more.

People in this episode

Guest: Antonio Michael Downing

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Products: The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life

Books & works: Saga Boy, My Memoir of Blackness and Becoming, Black Cherokee, The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life

Places: South Carolina

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