When it came to Darren’s ascent/descent, I wanted to throw into question what it means to win if you’re losing parts of yourself along the way. Or, stated differently, what the cost of success is, and how much people, especially Black and brown people, need to pay in order to achieve it.
Race and the Startup Ecosystem: An Interview with Mateo Askaripour Read More »
Raven Leilani’s debut Luster is a novel about seeing. Edie, the 23-year-old protagonist, is a keen observer, armed with wit and a sharp, discerning gaze. Hers is an eye that cuts through exploitive structures because hers is a world that requires constant vigilance. As Edie evicts a “distressed, balding” mouse from her apartment, she sees
Time in the World: A Review of Luster by Raven Leilani Read More »
Silence is really the language of perpetrators; they tell victims, especially young children, not to say anything or else. I for one am done with silence.
Writing Silences: An Interview with Jeni McFarland Read More »
Note the first rule of an Oyeyemi book: there are many ways of seeing—nothing is more arrogant than trusting only one set of eyes.
Behind the Forbidden Door: A Review of Helen Oyeyemi’s Gingerbread Read More »
When I Skype-called Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, debut author of Friday Black, we talked about family. We began with the families in his collection, from the father whose writer son drives him into the mystic-bureaucratic maze of “The Hosptial Where,” to the mother who, when the TV goes dark from loss of electricity, says, “Good. Now
Who Cares About You? (Family and Life in Friday Black) Read More »
