Bud, Not Buddy… and Definitely Not Buick - Christopher Paul Curtis

About this episode

Christopher Paul Curtis discusses his journey from factory worker to acclaimed author, exploring themes of perseverance and censorship in children's literature.

Christopher Paul Curtis didn’t set out to become a literary legend—he was clocking 10-hour shifts on the General Motors assembly line, fighting exhaustion and monotony one car door at a time. But in stolen moments on the factory floor, he found escape through writing—stories scribbled between bolts and metal that would later earn him the Newbery Medal and redefine children’s literature. In this revealing interview, Curtis shares the unlikely journey behind Bud, Not Buddy and The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, born not from privilege, but perseverance. He opens up about navigating life as a Black man in America, the childhood moment his mother gave him permission to imagine, and how censorship threatens to erase the very history his books work to preserve.

People in this episode

Host: Christopher Lau

Guest: Christopher Paul Curtis

Topics covered

• literary journey
• children's literature
• censorship
• Black identity
• perseverance

Keywords

• literary legend
• Newbery Medal
• writing
• Black man
• censorship
• children's books
• imagination

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Bud, Not Buddy, The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963

Places: America

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