Note: This is an encore edition of Reader's Corner. The episode originally aired in April 2022.
On today’s program, Brendan Slocumb talks with us about his debut novel, The Violin Conspiracy. The book centers on Ray McMillian. Of modest means and growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray’s future looks anything but bright. Yet Ray has an unlikely dream of becoming a world-class violinist, battling his own humble upbringing, the racism surrounding him, and even his own family doubts. But on the eve of his great debut, his great-great-grandfather’s beat-up old fiddle – discovered to be a priceless Stradivarius – is stolen, threatening to dash his dream forever.
Brendan Slocumb holds a music education degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. For more than 20 years he has been a public and private school music educator and has performed with orchestras throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. The Violin Conspiracy is his first novel.
