author lauren wilkinson. >> the thing tha was after was creating a very complicated female characternfelt that the spy genre is a really good opportunity to talk about double consciousness because it is so much about -- to me, being a spy is so much about being very aware of how other people perceive you. >> this idea of the double consciousness -- i was thinking aboutalph ellison with invisible manhe says i've been a spyor in this countrys long as i can remember. >> the main charactins grandfathesible man says something very similar to him that kind of confounds the protagonist for most of the book. i think this book was my own version of exploring that idea. with the grandfather was saying when he said that he was a spy's >> in this case, it is a spy but as a black man in his case. >> i took the metaphorical idea and i made it as literal as possible. to give it a little more dimension. >> ather thing you are clearly exploring through your characters, right andng w, in the classic spy genre at least what i'm familiar with are aware of the moral ambiguities, but they fall int you don'

jeffrey brown talks uthor lauren wilkinson, part of our series, "canvas." >> brown: the west africanon of burkina faso in the 1980s, and the real-life figure of revolutionary leader thomas sankara, whom the c.i.a. is eager to be rid of.it the setting of "american spy," a cold-war espionage thriller with a twist-- its protagonist is a black woman named marie mitchell.lk author lauren son: >> the thing that i was after was creating a very complicated female character in the spy genre. i felt that the spy genre is actually a reallgood opportunity to talk about double consciousness, because it is so much about, you know-- to me, being a spy, so much about being very, very aware of how other people perceive you. >> brangham: this idea of the double consciousness, that du bois wrote about, and others have--i mean, i was thinking abt ralph ellison, of course, with "invisible man." were you-- youmain character's father says, at one point, "i've been a spy in this country for as long as i can remember."ea >> i mean, that to me was a direct hat tip to ellison. you know, that the main character