the book is called "citizen: an american lyric" by claudia rankin. ghly recommend it as i did with brian's book a few moments ago. two good pieces to add to your collection. and now would be a good time to do that. claudia, good to have you on this program. congratulations on the text. >> thank you so much. >> that's our show for tonight. thanks for watching. and as always, keep the faith. ♪ >>> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. >>> hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time with the incomparable angela lansbury now on tour. that's next time. we'll see you then. ♪ ♪ >>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ) (♪) (♪) daniel mansergh: imagemakers is made possible by a grant from: celebrating the vitality and power of the moving image. and by the: (overhead train sounds)

book award. >> i'm claudia rankine. a poet, a playwright. i also teach at pomona college. i see myself as a citizen, walking around, collecting stories. and using those stories to reflect our lives through poetry, through essays, creating these hybrid texts and plays that reflect back to us who we are. in my most recent book "citizen", i wanted to try to track the moments that disrupt interactions, especially between people of different races. the book contains two kinds of aggressions. what is often called micro- aggressions or small moments. but then i wanted to begin to understand how we get to these major moments, the murders of black men. these kind of moments in 2014 when you think "how did that happen? and i wanted to track it back and say people in their daily lives by believing and saying these small things, they will add up to major, major aggressions against people just because of the color of their skin. so the book tracks the small to the large. in line at the drugstore it's finally your turn and then it's