- Issa Rae has optioned Tayari Jones' 2011 novel Silver Sparrow as a film.
- The creator and star of Insecure will also produce the project.
While Insecure may not be returning to television until 2020, its star and creator Issa Rae officially has her next exciting new project: Bringing to life the acclaimed novel Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones.
Jones confirms to OprahMag.com that Rae has optioned the film and will produce—exciting news for all kinds of reasons, but not least because Jones tells that while “An American Marriage is my breakout book, Silver Sparrow is my heart.”
Jones also added why, specifically, the brains behind HBO's hit series was the perfect fit for her project.
“Issa Rae is an artist who has a real understanding and commitment to presenting the lives of young women with complexity, humor, and heart,” Jones tells us. “I wrote Silver Sparrow as a tribute to my sisters. With Issa this labor of love is in safe hands.”
It's easy for readers of the 2011 novel—Jones’s third—to imagine the story on the big screen. Set in Atlanta, the story opens with the line: “My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist.” The novel’s narrator, Dana, is Witherspoon’s secret child, the product of an affair Dana’s mother, Gwen, had with Witherspoon. As far as the rest of the world knows, Witherspoon’s only wife is Laverne and his only daughter Chaurisse. As a result, for the first part of her life, Dana lives in the shadows, ashamed of her “illegitimate” status and trained to protect her father’s standing in society.
Workman Publishing Silver Sparrow
Silver Sparrow is the tale of how Dana learns to accept the situation she was born into—to stop being envious of her half-sister and instead learn to embrace her. O, The Oprah Magazine named it one of the best books of the year in 2011, and Judy Blume observed: “Silver Sparrow will break your heart before you even know it.” In 2016, it was added to the National Endowment for the Art's Big Read Library of classics.
Last year, An American Marriage was named an Oprah’s Book Club selection, with the O of O saying that "It's among Tayari's many gifts that she can touch us soul to soul with her words." And on Twitter in February, she announced plans to turn that story into a movie, too.
An American Marriage has also been nominated for many prizes, including being longlisted for the National Book Award. Last month, it won the Aspen Words Literary Prize. One thing's for sure: We'll be first in line at the box office to see both of these stories.
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Leigh Haber is Vice President, Books, Oprah Daily and O Quarterly. She is also Director of Oprah's Book Club.
