Leila Mottley bounces into the hotel waiting room to meet me. I waste no time with my questions on Nightcrawling, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2022, making this twenty-year-old the youngest author ever to have been nominated.
Interviews
“She wrote exactly how it was to live, love, and be in endz”: A conversation with Lemara Lindsay-Prince
“For so many of us Black Brits, the anonymous writer of Keisha The Sket—Jade LB—is as fundamental to the canon as Shakespeare or Dickens.”
A rapid-fire Q&A with Abi Daré
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.
“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
What makes Formy Books different is that they are an independent, family-run CIC (Community Interest Company). The core team consists of Editorial Director, Curtis Ackie, and their partner, Ebony Lyon serving as Head of Marketing.
“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
Borne out of her doctoral research on the West African Student Union of 1920s London, Sankofa marks a departure from Chibundu Onuzo's first two novels.
“I learned to read between the lines”: A conversation with Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa is a veteran of historical fiction whose pioneering work has put Afro-Latinx history on the literary map.