Actress publishes memoir

By Ron Wynn

Award-winning actress Uzo Aduba has an important and inspiring story to tell. She’s sharing it this fall with the release of her memoir “The Road Is Good: How a Mother’s Strength Became a Daughter’s Purpose” (Viking).

The book is an homage to Aduba’s late mother Nonyem, who died in 2020. It includes anecdotes from her mother, aunts and uncles — as well as her findings from her trips to Nigeria and New York for auditions to tell a “unique coming-of-age story” and a “timely examination of Black immigrant identity.”

“When I initially started thinking about writing a book, I thought I would only be telling funny stories of my life and work and the quirky, wise advice my mother had handed out to me over the years,” Aduba told “People” magazine last week. “I had no idea that mixed in with that, I would also be making a final account of her life. I didn’t know that, in real time, I would be learning how to apply the best of myself, which is the best of her, into my greatest growth.”

Aduba has earned Emmy Awards for her role as Suzanne “Crazy

Eyes” Warren in the Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black” and her portrayal of Shirley Chisholm in the Hulu mini-series “Miss America,” and is set to appear in Shonda Rhimes’ upcoming Netflix murder mystery series “The Residence.”

Aduba is also an advocate for human and women’s rights; she serves as Heifer International’s ambassador to Africa and as an ambassador for Stand Up to Cancer. Aduba’s book will be released this fall.