{"id":62914,"date":"2022-06-19T22:34:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-19T22:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=62914"},"modified":"2022-06-19T22:35:44","modified_gmt":"2022-06-19T22:35:44","slug":"my-life-in-the-sunshine-searching-for-my-father-and-discovering-my-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=62914","title":{"rendered":"My Life in the Sunshine: Searching for My Father and Discovering My Family"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Life in the Sunshine: Searching for My Father and Discovering My Family<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Viking<\/a> (an imprint of Penguin Random House<\/a>)
\n2022-06-07
\n320 Pages
\n5-1\/2 x 8-1\/4
\nHardcover ISBN: 9780593295960<\/p>\n

Nabil Ayers<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

A memoir about one man\u2019s journey to connect with his musician father, ultimately redefining what family really means<\/strong><\/p>\n

Throughout his adult life, whether he was opening a Seattle<\/a> record store in the \u201990s or touring the world as the only non-white band member in alternative rock bands, Nabil Ayers felt the shadow and legacy of his father\u2019s musical genius, and his race, everywhere.<\/p>\n

In 1971, a white, Jewish, former ballerina, chose to have a child with the famous Black jazz musician Roy Ayers<\/a>, fully expecting and agreeing that he would not be involved in the child\u2019s life. In this highly original memoir, their son, Nabil Ayers, recounts a life spent living with the aftermath of that decision, and his journey to build an identity of his own despite and in spite of his father\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

Growing up, Nabil only meets his father a handful of times. But Roy\u2019s influence is strong, showing itself in Nabil\u2019s instinctual love of music, and later, in the music industry\u2014Nabil\u2019s chosen career path. By turns hopeful\u2013wanting to connect with the man who passed down his genetic predisposition for musical talent\u2014and frustrated with Roy\u2019s continued emotional distance, Nabil struggles with how much DNA<\/a> can define a family\u2026 and a person.<\/p>\n

Unable to fully connect with Roy, Nabil ultimately discovers the existence of several half-siblings as well as a paternal ancestor who was enslaved. Following these connections, Nabil meets and befriends the descendant of the plantation owner, which, strangely, paves the way for him to make meaningful connections with extended family he never knew existed.<\/p>\n

Despite his father\u2019s absence, Nabil, through sheer will and a drive to understand his roots, redefines what family truly is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A memoir about one man\u2019s journey to connect with his musician father, ultimately redefining what family really means<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[395,1245,11,8,17,20],"tags":[27592,25857,32863,24638,23490],"class_list":["post-62914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autobiography","category-biography","category-books","category-media-archive","category-monographs","category-usa","tag-nabil-ayers","tag-penguin-random-house","tag-roy-ayers","tag-viking","tag-viking-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62914"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63380,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62914\/revisions\/63380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}