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Author
Q&A
1. What do you
like to do in your free time?
My all-time favorite
hobby is fishing. It allows
me to think, relax, and conceive new ideas to write about.
Although fish only bite half the time one spends
at the water, the serenity and silence rejuvenates my mind
and I always come back from the lake having traded mental
chaos for clarity. If I could fish every single day,
I would most certainly do so.
2. What kind of music do you like and
why?
I am a gospel music
lover, precisely because it keeps me reminded
of the bigger picture—that,
in truth, the insignificant things matter not. Rather,
one's ability to love every soul one meets and one's ability
to be clear that the world is, ultimately, governed by
something far superior to humans keeps joy flowing in
my soul and keeps depression at bay. Also, the strength
and power of black voices belting to the world about how
they and their God made it over, always reminds me that
I come from a people who shall never be defeated.
3. What's your favorite movie and why?
I'm not sure I can choose one, but I'll
never forget how Antoine Fisher moved
my heart. Here's this talented, beautiful
young black man whose flawed parentage
makes him believe that he is nothing
but a reflection of his parents’ weaknesses.
However, another black man enters Antoine's life
and loves him enough to mentor him into
self-love and self-awareness. By the
end of the movie, Antoine has connected
with his larger familial community and
he understands that his greatness is
his own to create--he is not simply
the composite conglomeration of a crack
mother and an absent father. His ability
to circumvent what often destroys so
many others and his mentor's willingness
to help him do so makes this movie one
of my all-time favorites.
4. What's your favorite novel?
Of course no real writer can ever name
one favorite book, but the beauty and
language of Paule Marshall's The
Chosen Place, The Timeless People can
hardly be matched, it seems. The introduction
and development of Merle, the protagonist,
is a character development most excellent.
Anyone who loves literature must read
this book!
5. Who is your favorite writer?
James Baldwin is probably my favorite
writer. His eloquence and profundity
have yet to be comprehended. I love
how, in his essays, he challenges Americans
to grow up and to understand the world
as a complex web of people, differences,
and cultures, and I bow in reverence
to his bold way of asking Black people not to become the
oppressor we claim to despise. Baldwin was absolutely
a prophet of his time.
6. What do you like best about being
a writer?
I think I like best
the therapeutic, cleansing feeling I get
after expunging an idea I've carried for
years. I often feel as though my calling
is to press the citizens of America--and
indeed the world--toward a liberty which
allows EVERYONE to be themselves without
fear of others' judgment. Every time I
write, I consider the
very real possibility that my words will
usher in that freedom and, instantly,
I am reenergized.
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Donna Hill
Brenda Jackson
Francis Ray