Kenyan literary giant Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is 87 and has struggled with his health in recent years, but he still hopes to complete a new book.

Amherst is on a path toward providing reparations to Black residents for past injustices following the town council's adoption of a resolution calling for the community to become an anti-racist town. President Joe Biden has even expressed support for creating a federal commission to study Black reparations, a proposal that's languished for decades in Congress. Anderson and other Black residents are taking part in virtual conversations this spring to talk about what reparations should look like. Can you put a price tag on trauma?”Miller and Andrews, meanwhile, have looked to Evanston, Illinois as a potential model, inviting a leading alderman from that community to speak with Amherst's Black residents next month. Driver believes the town’s higher education institutions — UMass Amherst, Amherst College and Hampshire College — should be part of the solution because of the role they've played in the town's racial divide.