Ask the Author: Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle
Answered Questions (6)
Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle
Ten years ago my mother said to me, "Every time I call out your brother's name in the grocery store, all of the white men turn around as if I am addressing them and I say, "No, I am talking to my son."
At that point, I knew that I had to write a book about my brother being named Sir and what that meant for Black motherhood and all of the implications of raising Black children in hostile geographies.
At that point, I knew that I had to write a book about my brother being named Sir and what that meant for Black motherhood and all of the implications of raising Black children in hostile geographies.
Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle
Reading the works of others (anything by Toni Morrison, Lucille Clifton and so many others), being a nomad and traveling across multiple geographies, time-traveling to access childhood memories, examining snippets of historical texts and research, listening to music from the African diaspora.
Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle
I am working on critical essays about the intersections of social justice, healing and art, a collection of poems about my experiences in Lagos, Nigeria and a follow up to my debut book SIR that will be focused on the women in my family.
Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle
Don't allow yourself to be defined by genres and traditional conventions. Be yourself unapologetically. Lean into all of your fears and discomforts. Let the awkward in.
Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle
Capturing visual narratives through the intricacy of written languages and being able to create intimate worlds that readers have to engage with through using their own imaginations and relationships to language and history.
Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle
I often let ideas sit for years and tend to collect phrases and images that haunt and provoke me. I lean into the blockage by trying to get to the root of what I want to say that can't be expressed and often times I just make the work about that. Also, I listen to a whole lot of music from the African diaspora and I dance. I am a visual artist in addition to being a writer so often times I am able to switch to various disciplines and have them support one another. When my paintings stop speaking I turn to the words, when the words stop flowing I turn to dance and I continue to work the stories out of me pivoting back and forth throughout several modes of address.
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