Book cover of Constructing a Nervous System: A Memoir by Margo Jeffersonby Margo Jefferson 

A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR  From “one of our most nuanced thinkers on the intersections of race, class, and feminism” (Cathy Park Hong, New York Times bestselling author of Minor Feelings) comes a memoir “as electric as the title suggests” (Maggie Nelson, author of On Freedom).

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York TimesTIME Magazine, Oprah Daily, The New Yorker, Washington Post, Vulture, Buzzfeed, Publishers Weekly

The Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and memoirist Margo Jefferson has lived in the thrall of a cast of others—her parents and maternal grandmother, jazz luminaries, writers, artists, athletes, and stars. These are the figures who thrill and trouble her, and who have made up her sense of self as a person and as a writer. In her much-anticipated follow-up to Negroland, Jefferson brings these figures to life in a memoir of stunning originality, a performance of the elements that comprise and occupy the mind of one of our foremost critics.

Interview with the Author

Podcast art for the Free Library of Philadelphia PodcastFree Library of Philadelphia 
Margo Jefferson | Constructing A Nervous System: A Memoir
5/4/22           53 min


Podcast art for Poured Over from Barnes & NoblePoured Over 
Margo Jefferson on CONSTRUCTING A NERVOUS SYSTEM
4/23/22           44 min


Podcast art for London Review BookshopLondon Review Bookshop Podcast 
Margo Jefferson & Colin Grant: Constructing a Nervous System
7/27/22           63 min


Podcast Art for LA Review of Books PodcastLA Review of Books 
Margo Jefferson’s “Constructing a Nervous System”
4/29/22          48 min


Podcast art for Shakespeare and CompanyShakespeare and Company: Writers, Books, and Paris 
On imagining what hasn’t, can’t and won’t imagine you, with Margo Jefferson
4/27/22            51 min


Podcast art for ThresholdsThresholds 
Margo Jefferson
1/27/21            47 min


Podcast art for Fully Booked by Kirkus ReviewsFully Booked 
Margo Jefferson
5/10/22           42 min