And I solicited submissions from several writers and I also opened up submissions and I think I got 330. Well not academic, per se, but I was thinking more cultural criticism than memoir. When I pitched the project, I pitched it as an academic project. When you were editing Not That Bad, I wondered how it felt being in charge of a narrative, but in a different way: taking the role of a narrator but through the voices of other people? And oftentimes I think we get overwhelmed like, ‘What can I possibly do?’ But you don’t have to change the entire world.
You recognise an issue, and you address it. The thing is, you did it, which is so amazing. It’s got to be done, so I’ll get on with it.’Ībsolutely. I think that as black women, there’s something in us that’s like, ‘OK, come on then.
So I started a short story prize for writers of colour exclusively. It may not formally be my responsibility, but if we don’t take responsibility as black writers for ourselves in our community, then what the fuck are we doing? I feel the same way about queer writers and women writers and disabled writers just anyone who’s not a heterosexual, white man.Ī few years ago, I was working in publishing and quickly realised there was nothing going on in the UK for us. You strike me as someone who builds and upholds the writing community because you almost feel a responsibility to do so. She’s always been very kind online to me. I don’t know her personally, but she seems to be a wonderful literary citizen. I’m very ambitious I’ve published books, but I would love to win a Pulitzer, I would love to win a National Book Award, I would love to win the Booker… and not have to fucking share it.Īs soon as the chair said, “We’ve got two winners”, I was like, ‘Right, so Bernardine and who else?’ You just knew they wouldn’t let a black woman have it for herself. I wish I could take more time to step back and be like, ‘Damn girl, you’ve really done something here.’ It’s just really hard for me to do that, for so many reasons, not the least of which is that I have crushingly low self- esteem. But on the other hand, I find that I am not doing enough to enjoy my life as it is, to enjoy what I’m achieving. In some ways, I’m comfortable with just being OK with what I’ve achieved. When you started out, did you have any writing aspirations? Have you smashed them, or have they grown as you’ve grown? Or are you always moving your own goalposts? You know, oftentimes women – black women in particular – are expected to be emotional caretakers. For readers, we become their truth-speakers. With writing, we’re putting emotion out, so people are receiving that and finding themselves in our work. America is home for better and worse, yet Haiti is also home – for better and worse. And the more you travel the world, the more you come to understand that as challenging as the United States is to be a black American, it’s not better anywhere else. In the past few years, I’ve finally been able to travel the world in a way I never could before because I couldn’t afford it. I think of people who are living in absolute poverty and who have no visas to leave and no means of escape, and it seems so hopeless and overwhelming.
I get to go and be there in a very privileged way. It’s easy to romanticise the place until you have to actually go and live there. The reality is that it’s a very complicated country. And it’s challenging because I love Haiti. I haven’t been to Haiti in at least 15 years. But then when I go there, it’s a pretty big culture shock. Living in Britain as a minority is hard, so I have this idea of Jamaica as home in my head. Where is home to you? My family is mainly from Jamaica, and I romanticise it a lot. Not that you’re not affected by slavery in the history of it, but it’s different. And I can’t tell you what that does, not having the psychic wound of slavery the way that African-Americans have it. So I always grew up knowing my ancestors were free. My parents definitely raised my brothers and I to be Haitian. Where does it sit with you? That American/African-American/ Haitian identity? The actual history of African-Americans is short because that identity was taken away, but you have a stronger identity in knowing your parents are Haitian.