Inspired by her grandfather as she remembered in a documentary the pieces i am released earlier this year. My grandfather. Said it was illegal in his life to marry out of. That word. Before becoming a writer morrison made her way up the male dominated world of new york publishing always fearless she soon realized that she and not the old white males around her was the smartest person in the room i was more interesting and. She turned the status quo of white perception on its head when talk show host dick cavett asked her a provocative question. I prefer. Well im tired of people as being the. Later Oprah Winfreys book club helped Toni Morrison become a household name her novels such as the bluest eye song of solomon and beloved went beyond bestseller status they contributed to a shift in africanamerican storytelling a style that embraced ruthless honesty. Toni morrison empowered countless readers and will be remembered as a force of nature in the world of literature and beyond. Colleague David Leavitts joins me now as mentioned this years molnar runs and she was a force of nature and its so inspiring just watching her and some of those old interviews you know whats so inspiring about her is that as an author and as a person she stood for dignity in the face of hardship and racism and oppression you know when she started writing when she published her 1st novel as a single mother at age 40 stories about black americans were not considered literature for everyone they were really put in a box but she made stories about black americans World Literature and she showed a lot of people along the way both in america and around the western world that great literature does not have to be just about white people and we sold in the piece barack obama giving her the president ial medal of freedom and indeed weve just heard from obama on twitter hes just said Toni Morrison was a National Treasure as good a storyteller a captivating in person as she was on the page a rise he was a beautiful meaningful challenge to our conscience and moral imagination what a gift to breathe the same. If only for a while. Well yeah wow it is great he writes quite well what has impact on the United States as a whole well shes largely credited with un censoring big chapters of American History if you will to do with racism to do with slavery and in her books and also shes captured a mayor an africanAmerican History and experiences in a way that a lot of black people in america didnt feel that they had been understood before and when someone. Really understands you really sees your rights great literature about you thats an inspiration and beyond being an inspiration as an editor Toni Morrison made a lot of room on the shelves for many other great black authors including angela davis and. Beloved was a most famous book but i know theres another book particularly struck youre right well she did write 11 novels she wrote childrens stories she wrote books of essays but actually her very 1st book the bluest eye that she brought out and 1070 is one that people are still reading and and its a really compelling story about not just racism but internalized racism its about a young girl named pick koehler who grows up in morrisons hometown in ohio and shes taunted by the other kids because of her dark features and her dark hair and her dark eyes so much so that she actually believes that she is ugly and she prays to god for him to give her blue eyes now its also a story about sexual abuse because it is raped by her father and whats really amazing about the way that Toni Morrison tells the story and tells other stories is she puts you so much in the heads of her characters she she doesnt demonize because father she actually humanizes him by telling you about his trauma and that doesnt excuse him but that was really her greatest gift was humanizing her characters do you live it thank you very much Tony Robbins Marson fantastic rise of a fantastic woman as well thank you. Moving on now and i have to say im not the most relaxed fly a but if i had to choose to a form of Aerial Transport it would be a horse a balloon its all my bucket list of things to do and when i see a beautifully designed balloon up in the skies it gets my interest going again like now were off to one of the biggest balloon festivals in the world in france. Played there yes. The event is one of the biggest of its kind in the world. Haha share ballooning enthusiasm to the festival in champlain in northeastern france is the place to be. It was started 30 years ago by a man from a family with the legendary ancestor. Of. My wrong while the father say. I was seeing the true album and. Bush. I mean the story because its my dwelling wrong wrong wrong or spit out what it was. That was in 1793. This year of the ground its monday ill ever loan so nearly 500. 00 balloons lift off bought the people who pallet them a still pretty rare so theres a real novelty element to deal driving of the balloonists from some fulci different nations at the launch area over the 10 days of the festival some 500000 visitors will watch them lift off twice a day in the middle of the rain great nature palm. Women are still in the minority among the lunacy its. One of the full she women pilots is from not feel. Good more than 500 hours in the air shes among the most experienced pilots. But even for her this kind of mass launch is a special challenge. A politician sure of course reverse if we all fly alone or if youre fired just because some belongs in the sky its less this. Mr arrington. Private one of the work on the balloons its just its just a bench in the bench because i dont want to disturb any other more than of course done done done which my balloon and its. Its usually about so he said again and they did say. One of the highlights of the festival is the night when the balloon stay on the ground that are inflated so they closed from within its a special spectacle from an impressive festival in the motherland of hot air ballooning. I just think its got to be the best way to see the earth not just go to pluck up courage to go up in the hall to have a live anyway. Is changing the whole experience a visiting a museum or mentored reality can show you the real painting and an altered version side by side thats exactly what the author vive does it can add a digital there to an artwork thereby opening up a whole new world when it comes to viewing a painting for instance you can now see how the painting changed as the artist painted it. Busy busy diving into an image losing ourselves inside it. Is that enough for us. Possible. Busy busy here in a life of a painting by egon schiele that has been revealed thanks to all commented reality the Technology Makes the earlier versions of the work visible not just under an x. Ray but on a smartphone as well. Mentioned reality puts digital layers over the actual artwork and you dont need special goggles to see it were still in the here and now but the smartphone allows us to expand what we see download the app hold just phone up to the picture and voila pictures suddenly come to life on walls on the streets and in museums. This is the birthplace of the art. Its one of several startups trying to make a mark internationally with the concept. Its a new art form just like film or photography at the end of the 19th century and were seeing that augmented reality is truly becoming an art medium. For. The start up is also a Gallery Artists exhibit their works there and give importance for the further development of the app. The artist little has been involved from the start. Thanking you reach a point where its just finished with reality you have the added component of time so you can show something over a certain period of time. Overlap. The picture on the wall is the art was the combination of it with a digital elements. The process is the most important part but a starting point remains the annual cost of tanking busy. So perhaps the smartphone is only an intermediate stage and in the future will stand in front of paintings swiping away certainly things apps are also gimmicks but who doesnt like secret insights and useless bits of detailed information and after all the artworks themselves remain. Soon you wont need to go to a museum with a mixture of Virtual Reality youll be able to experience it all in your living room but i shouldnt say that please support museums there are wonderful institutions thats over this edition of arts and culture more on the website of course dot com slash culture on facebook. For not. Being. China is hunting down the eager payoff. Detention brainwashing torture huge prison like compound stretch across the western sheen john reach an official called the reeducation camps. But theyre more like indoctrination presence china noice people under threat. Close up 30 minutes on d w. D a 121 official estimates more than 1200000 venezuelans live in colombia legally and illegally. Already uncle walter was returned to vast whaler. To visit friends he said i dont think id ever go back there to live you know what i live there again i dont know so im not sure. Witness global news that matters. Made for mines the finest early voters guide for germanys booming i love berlin. 50 nations 50 stories and 15 very personal tips all berlins very best features. Book now planet berlin our hero max series every week on d w. This is deja vu news live from berlin russias losing battle with massive wildfires firefighters are struggling to contain the blazes now covering an area the size of denmark tell you why this is being called a climate catastrophe also coming up millions in zimbabwe on the brink of starvation