Why did you become an author?
My work first landed in print when people from my communities asked me. For that, I am incredibly grateful. I became a writer to have an independent voice, to understand my own creative agency. To grow. The act of writing reveals. It is always an act of vulnerability.
What are you reading right now?
E. Patrick Johnson’s Black. Queer. Southern. Women (University of North Carolina Press)
Have you ever been to the Bronx? If so, what's a favorite memory you have? If not, what do you know or think about the Bronx?
One of my favorite collective memories is Margarita Cuevas-Cruz’s soft launch event for her independent interview series MargaritaOnMargaritas. Margarita figured out how to bring the house party to the town hall. At Mott Haven Bar and Grill, she produced an afternoon and evening of artists, performers, drinks, and even casual networking. The energy of that night felt different, and similar to home, at the same time. I ran into so many friends and made new ones. After all the performances, Margarita opened the floor to all of us. She welcomed all news, saying, “It’s time to talk ya shit!'” By this time, the audience was overflowing the spot—it was beautiful. There was so much joy and solidarity. Each person who approached the mic was shown so much love. It felt like a reunion.
What is a quote you live by?
“She [Sula] is a New World black and New World woman extracting choice from choicelessness, responding inventively to found things. Improvisational. Daring, disruptive, imaginative, modern, out-of-the-house, outlawed, unpolicing, uncontained, and uncontainable.” —Toni Morrison, Unspeakable Things Unspoken: The Afro-American Presence in American Literature.
