Georgia Today: Federal govt. shutdown continues; Author Oyin Sangoyomi

Sofi Gratas: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast. Here we bring you the latest reports from the GPB newsroom. On today's episode, as the federal government shutdown continues, state resources are distributed for furloughed workers. And a Georgia author's new book is an epic work of medieval African historical fiction.

Oyin Sangoyomi: In the kingdom of Ghana, the king, he did not live in a palace. He lived in kind of like a city is how big his palace was. And it was filled with gleaming gold.

Sofi Gratas: Today is Friday, Oct. 3rd. I'm Sofi Gratas, and this is Georgia Today.

Story 1:

Sofi Gratas: As the federal government shutdown continues, the Georgia Department of Labor is providing resources for furloughed workers. GPB's Sarah Kallis reports.

Sarah Kallis: The federal employees can access unemployment insurance. Georgia Labor Commissioner, Barbara Riviera-Holmes says:

Barbara Riviera-Holmes: There are certainly personal decisions that furloughed workers will have to make, but it's important for us to share that there are resources available.

Sarah Kallis: Assistance for filing unemployment insurance is available on the Georgia Department of Labor website. The employees will have to pay the benefits back once the shutdown ends and they receive back pay. But the benefits can help them make ends meet while they are not being paid. The Department of Labor can also help connect job seekers with private sector positions in the state. For GPB News, I'm Sarah Kallis.

Story 2:

Sofi Gratas: As prospects fade for a quick end to the shutdown, Georgia U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is stressing budget impacts to health care as reasons his Republican colleagues should blink in the impasse. Speaking to NPR this morning, the Democrat highlighted his recent visit to Evans Memorial Hospital in Southeast Georgia's town of Claxton.

Raphael Warnock: That hospital may well lose its ICU. It's already lost its labor and delivery unit. And not only that hospital: the other three that are in the area. That's part of the urgency of this moment.

Sofi Gratas: Republicans blame Democrats for the funding lapse while Democrats demand an extension to health benefits offered under the Affordable Care Act.

Caption

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks in the Fulton County Government Center during a news conference, Monday, Aug. 14, 2023, in Atlanta. Donald Trump and several allies have been indicted in Georgia over efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.

Credit: AP Photo/John Bazemore

Story 3:

Sofi Gratas: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will testify in front of a special Georgia Senate committee about her handling of an election interference case involving President Donald Trump and the 2020 election. Josh Belafonte, the legal counsel for the committee, says Willis' lawyers have agreed on a date for questioning.

Josh Belafonte: We will reissue the subpoena for Nov. 13, 10 a.m. And that her counsel has indicated that she is available on that date and will honor the subpena subject to certain limitations in the scope of questioning.

Sofi Gratas: Only the chair of the committee, Republican Sen. Bill Cowsert, an attorney and Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones will be allowed to question Willis. The announcement comes after months of legal battles over the panel's legal authority to issue subpoenas. Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill in May clarifying subpoena procedures for legislative committees.

Story 4:

Sofi Gratas: Researchers at Georgia Tech have released a new study on a wearable robot designed to help stroke victims reclaim lost mobility. GPB's Chase McGee has more.

Chase McGee: The device is a small exoskeleton or a robot that supports the body's own motion. And while you might imagine something out of science fiction, this robot is small and one day could be integrated into your clothing. Aaron Young is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech. He describes how the exoskelton actually learns what movements you need the most help with.

Aaron Young: Over time, it's learning how you're walking so that basically it can synchronize better to your pace, to your, you know, asymmetry, potentially, and other factors in the gait so that it's well aligned.

Chase McGee: That learning doesn't require an internet connection, just a computer on the user's back. Young says the next step is a clinical trial and then coverage approval by insurance agencies. For GPB News, I'm Chase McGee.

Story 5:

Sofi Gratas: The oyster season has begun on Georgia's coast. The state Department of Natural Resources' Coastal Resources Division announced the opening of this year's commercial shellfish harvest on Wednesday. Georgia oyster production was valued at nearly $383,000 in 2024. The agency says as of Friday, 14 entities have leases for 23 water bottoms for shellfish harvesting, which also includes clams.

Story 6:

Sofi Gratas: Like many people, Oyin Sangoyami spent the COVID summer of 2020 working on a personal project. Then an English major at Princeton University, the young Nigerian-American wanted to know more about medieval African history and her research turned into her debut novel. Her book, Masquerade, earned her recognition as a finalist for 2025 Georgia Author of the Year Award. Now living in Georgia, she joined GPB's Orlando Montoya to talk about her epic work of fiction and some of the real history behind it.

Orlando Montoya: Masquerade has all these big themes, including self-determination, betrayal, love, war, the gods, but in the end, it's about a young woman who rises above her circumstances. Can you briefly describe the main character, Ododo, and what happens to her as the story begins?

Oyin Sangoyomi: Absolutely. So in Masquerade, we follow Ododo, who's a young blacksmith, and at this time in West Africa, blacksmiths were largely ostracized for their profession. It was seen as unnatural. So she's kind of at the bottom of the social ladder, to say. And one day she's kidnapped by a king and she's brought to his home where he lives in luxury, and there's a lot of politics to navigate and also battle. And Ododo, above all, what she sees there is power. And she begins to imagine a life for herself that she could have that power for herself, too.

Orlando Montoya: She ascends from her humble beginnings to become the bride of the King of Yorubalan, the most powerful man in a kingdom, and her position in the royal city should be untouchable, but in fact, it's very precarious, to say the least. Why is she constantly mistrusted, betrayed, undermined and placed in danger?

Oyin Sangoyomi: At the beginning, she fantasizes about kind of being a noblewoman. She thinks that is what having power is, that that alone is enough. When she goes to the royal palace, she sees that noblewomen aren't actually treated much better than blacksmiths are. And she realizes that the common thread in all this is just the way that women are treated in this society. It doesn't matter if they're rich or they're poor. As long as they are subjected to the will of a man, they will never be treated well.

Orlando Montoya: Ododo obviously gains a lot as she transitions her life from poverty to power, but she also loses a lot, I think. She transforms from a demure young woman nicknamed Little Flower, to someone more calculating, steely and violent — and the book is not shy on violence. In the end, do you think she trades away some of her heart for that power?

Oyin Sangoyomi: I do think so. And I think that was something that I wanted to cover with the novel, that basically when you are seeking power, you can't go through that process unchanged. Y'know, there will have to be sacrifices that you make, usually sacrifices in relation to your humanity and maybe even your morality. And that's something that Ododo has to grapple with a bit, she has to learn to be okay with that, essentially, if she wants to be a powerful person.

Orlando Montoya: Ododo's relationship with her husband-to-be, the King Aremo, is hot and cold. The reader is never quite sure if their love will last. And the fact that this question stays with the reader until the very last chapter is great writing. Did you have any model to draw on for such a stormy, high-stakes relationship?

Oyin Sangoyomi: Not personally, no, thankfully. But I — going into this book, something that I was thinking about a lot was actually a concept that I heard from Toni Morrison first. And basically in one of her books, to paraphrase — I don't remember the exact quote — but she said something like, the love is no better than the lover. And so, stupid people love stupidly, violent people love violently, weak people love weakly, mean people love meanly. And so going into this, I knew that Aremo, he's personality-wise, he's pretty charming, but you can't forget that he's conquered so many lands and he's brought misery to so many people and that's who he is. So even though the love that he shares with Ododo is genuine — he really does love her — it's also, he's a violent person. And so the way that he loves isn't always good.

Orlando Montoya: The story is familiar in a way. It resembles many novels about royal intrigue or the shenanigans of the rich and powerful. And with Ododo's abduction to live with the king, it's somewhat like the Greek myth of Persephone. But it's also very different in its setting. What interests you about 15th-century Africa?

Oyin Sangoyomi: I feel that most of what we see about African history and African society, it concerns Africa post-colonization. And even when you look at African history, so many texts begin when the British or the Dutch or the French arrived. And I really wanted to explore Africa before all of that because when you see those types of things, it sets the narrative that Africa didn't have a history or like it didn't even exist before Europeans came to colonize it. But the truth is there was a very long and rich history before the continent was ever visited by Europeans. And I wanted to show those societies and the way that they functioned in themselves outside of the lens of the European gaze.

Orlando Montoya: What part of the story did you get from history?

Oyin Sangoyomi: It was just a compilation of all these different parts of West African history. I focused on the economical prosperity that was there and that part is very true.

Orlando Montoya: The ivory, the gold, the gleaming city, was there a place called Shangote?

Oyin Sangoyomi: No, that part is made up, but the royal city, that one is true. In the kingdom of Ghana, the king, he did not live in a palace. He lived in kind of like a city is how big his palace was. And it was filled with so many of those luxuries of the gleaming gold. And actually gold was so common at this time that it wasn't even as coveted by West Africans. Bronze and copper were much more coveted and I show that, too. And just the fabrics and the richness because they're so, I feel like Nigerian culture is so beautiful and rich. And I really wanted that to come across in my book.

Orlando Montoya: I noted that this book started out as a pandemic passion project. Many people started projects back then but never finished them, including me. So what advice would you give to people who may have 2020 visions that are still unrealized?

Oyin Sangoyomi: I mean, the only way this got finished was through passion. And it was something that I genuinely cared about and that I looked forward to doing. And I think that what the pandemic really allowed me was kind of that silence and not having the feedback of others to maybe even discourage me from writing the book. I would just say to listen really to what you want to do and what's really driving you and outside voices try to shut it out.

Orlando Montoya: Oyin Sangoyomi is author of Masquerade. Thanks for sharing your story with us here on GPB.

Oyin Sangoyomi: Thanks so much for having me.

Credit: Peter Biello / GPB News

​​​​​​​Story 7:

Sofi Gratas: In Georgia sports: Now that Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker has announced he won't be returning to his role next season, speculation is ramping up on who might replace him. David Ross, the former Atlanta catcher and Chicago Cubs manager said on Thursday that he's ready to manage again and that returning to the Braves, quote, "would be amazing." The Bainbridge native led the Cubs to the NL Central Championship in 2020. Two coaches on Snitker's 2025 staff have experience as a manager, Walt Weiss and Freddy Gonzalez. Other possible candidates include former Braves infielder Mark DeRosa, Cubs bench coach Ryan Flaherty and former Marlins manager Skip Shoemaker.

And tickets for the 2026 FIFA World Cup are officially on sale. FIFA says 4.5 million fans applied in a lottery for the first chance to buy seats with winners notified by email this week. The tournament will span 16 cities, including Atlanta across the U.S., Mexico and Canada, but the full match schedule won't be set until December. Prices range from about $60 for early matches to more than $6,000 for the final. FIFA says the demand shows global excitement for what will be the largest World Cup ever, running June 11 through July 19.

Sofi Gratas: That's it for today's edition of Georgia Today. Thanks for listening. If you want to learn more about these stories and hear more too, visit GPB.org/news. If you haven't yet subscribed to this podcast, take a moment right now and do it. Keep us current in your podcast feed. If you have feedback, we would love to hear it. You can email us at GeorgiaToday@GPB.org. I'm Sofi Gratas.

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