In her latest conversation with her favourite author, literary influencer Hena J. Bryan (some know her as Bookish Babe) asks the questions we’ve all been wanting answered.
Interviews
“Children’s books should be for all children”: A conversation with Jasmine Richards
Storymix is an inclusive fiction studio with social purpose that creates high-quality, original concept series with inclusive casts of characters, putting children of colour at the centre of the action.
“Books work better when illustrators are allowed to shape the story”: A conversation with Dapo Adeola
Dapo Adeola spills on everything from how the publishing industry mistreats its illustrators, to how he pulled off publishing an 18-illustrator picture book in under a year.
“I really wanted to write the book that I wish I’d had at 15”: A conversation with Danielle Jawando
Danielle Jawando on mental health, the need for Northern representation, and the impact of covid on And the Stars Were Burning Brightly.
“We’re not getting fresh voices, we’re getting fresh faces”: A conversation with Formy Books
A sibling of publishers like Lantana and Knights Of, Formy Books are out to increase Black representation within children’s publishing. What makes them different is that they are a family-run CIC.
“I wanted to write about how black societies could evolve without white hegemony”: A conversation with Okezie Nwọka
Okezie Nwọka on what and who inspired God of Mercy, the difficulties of duality, and adapting Igbo language and culture for the foreign page.
“I needed to write a book that reflected reality”: A conversation with Lọlá Ákínmádé Åkerström
Lola Ákínmádé Åkerström talks freely about how In Every Mirror She’s Black upends mainstream ideas about Nordic society, her difficult journey to publication, and writing Black women.
“This book was the way to offer a kind of solidarity”: A conversation with Emmanuel Iduma
A Stranger's Pose is a dreamy travelogue and memoir through west and north Africa that explores the nature of estrangement, identity, and grief.
“I want the book to create space, especially psychic space in our imaginations”: A conversation with Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah gives us her perspective on The Sex Lives of African Women's genesis, ethos, and her best book recommendations.
“I hope Black girls will leave the book feeling that alrightness”: A conversation with Tamara Winfrey Harris
Tamara Winfrey Harris talks about her work, the Black girl experience, her reading recommendations, and what she's got coming.
“I felt that I had grown up and become Jewell Parker Rhodes”: A conversation with Dr. Jewell Parker Rhodes
Dr. Jewell Parker Rhodes sheds light on her remarkable journey from not knowing Black people write books to writing some of the best ones around.
“I grew up obsessed with this alternate version of myself”: A conversation with Safia Elhillo
Safia Elhillo on the inspiration behind Home is Not a Country, her roots, and writing a world that reflects the one she grew up in.
“I’m writing the stories I need to write”: A conversation with Dean Atta
Dean Atta is bright and bubbly, talking effusively about his writing and bouncing between topics with that palpable joy that is so characteristic of his work.
“I am not a planner”: A conversation with Chibundu Onuzo
Chibundu Onuzo on her relationship to writing as a profession, what it's like for a non-planner to fashion a novel out of a PhD, and how Sankofa relates to the cultural coordinates that orient it in modern-day Ghana.
“I learned to read between the lines”: A conversation with Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa's pioneering novels have put Afro-Latinx history on the literary map. She shares her inspirations and expands on the power of historical fiction.