Hidden Figures author gets two-book deal

Margot Lee Shetterly, whose book Hidden Figures was adapted into the blockbuster 2016 film starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae, will write two new books with Viking, the publisher announced Monday.

In the vein of Hidden Figures, both books will examine “the idea of the American Dream and its legacy by excavating stories of other ‘hidden figures,’ extraordinary ordinary African-Americans whose contributions to American history have, for one reason or another, been untold, unseen, or overlooked.”

The publisher’s summary of the first book is as follows:

The first book takes place in midcentury Baltimore, a bustling city of strivers and immigrants, and chronicles two African-American households alike in power and vision. The Murphy family, owners of the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, were the reigning monarchs of Baltimore’s black society and the epitome of respectability. Willie Adams, whose original fortune came from the numbers racket, and his wife Victorine Adams, a schoolteacher turned politician, went on to become philanthropists, investors, and among the most ardent patrons of entrepreneurship and economic development in the city’s African-American community.

No publication dates have yet been announced for either of the two books.