Book Date No. 18
A trip to The Ripped Bodice with writer Akwaeke Emezi.
I read Freshwater in college when I was getting back into reading. It cut through me and put the author Akwaeke Emezi on my radar. They’ve written prolifically in the years since, publishing 10 novels across genres. Their latest, Son of the Morning, is romantasy, and follows a woman who falls in love with the devil. Emezi and I met up in late October at The Ripped Bodice, a romance bookstore in Park Slope, where we talked about their favorite books, ceramics and sustaining a writing routine.
Read about our date below.
Can you state your name for the record?
I’ve been saying your name correctly and I’m so proud of myself.
You should be. A lot of people fuck it up.
What do you do?
I tell stories.
Where are you from?
Nigeria.
How did growing up there shape you?
My parents deeply encouraged reading. I read so much as a kid. We had a secondhand book market in the town I grew up in, where you didn’t need money, you just needed books. You could show up with 20 books and exchange them for 20 more books. It was this massive book swap. I would go all the time and get through 20 books in a week. My mom thought I was not reading that fast, and then I was, and she was like, oh, okay, we need to get you more books.
What books were you reading?
I read hundreds of books in my childhood. A lot of Enid Blyton. A lot of James Harriet. A lot of Nigerian writers, CS Lewis. Anything I could get. I read magazines. I read the labels on every product in the house. I read my dad’s Readers Digest condensed novels. I read everything I could get my hands on.
Were there any books that shaped you?
All of them did. I liked stuff that had magic in it. I was like, magic is real. I stand by that position.
How many books did you read last year or this year?
I don’t count. I read a lot. An average novel takes about two hours to read. I don’t track my reading. I read, return it to Libby, and push through. More than a hundred for sure.
A standout book?
The Paladin series by T Kingfisher. I’m a sucker for fantasies that involve Gods. Give me a fantasy that has Gods in it and I’m all in. This one involves a murdered God and the saints who used to serve that God who are left behind. Rebecca Roanhart did a fantasy series that’s about indigenous Americans and involves Gods as well. N.K. Jemisin. People be talking about the Broken Earth trilogy but there’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.
So that should be my entry into Jemisin.
That was my entry. Broken Earth is really intense. I read that series once and I was like, this devastated me, and I do not think I’ll be reading it again.
If you had to give someone a book to understand you, what book would that be?
My memoir, Dear Senthuran and Freshwater. Here you go, Akwaeke starter pack.
Freshwater fucked me up.
Fucked me up to write it.
How would you describe your literary taste?
It definitely veers speculative. A lot of people think that I read literary fiction because I started in literary fiction, but that was actually just a marketing move. When I was a baby writer and I was looking at the industry I thought if I start writing speculative, I’m going to get stuck in speculative. Literary fiction is the “most respected” so no one questions if you’re good. I started there and kept detouring into YA, but speculative has always been my favorite genre. I primarily read fantasy and romance. People will tell me a literary fiction book came out and I’m like, I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Who are your favorite fantasy and speculative authors?
