Akwaeke Emezi Interview, plus links to author biography, book summaries, excerpts and reviews

An interview with Akwaeke Emezi

A Conversation with Akwaeke Emezi on You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty.

What inspired your foray into the romance genre and how you are able to seamlessly move from one genre to another.

I've been reading romance since I was a preteen, and I wanted to write a story that had a happy ending. Genre is a loose concept for me, and because I read across genres, it feels natural to write across them as well.

Who were these characters inspired by? Were they purely birthed from your imagination, or do they represent anyone in your life who already exists or who you hope to attract?

Purely imagination! The friendships are reminiscent of friendships I had myself while living in Bed-Stuy.

How did you decide on a love story between two artists dedicated to their respective crafts? How do their crafts act as a vehicle for their intimacy?

I find artists quite interesting to write because so much of who they are is communicated in their work, and it adds another layer to their relationships.

Food plays such a huge role in this novel, heightened by the fact that one of our main love interests is a chef. How did you come up with these lyrical descriptions and multidimensional concepts around food?

My rough draft of the book had a hodgepodge menu I'd created from watching cooking shows, but it would have been incoherent to an actual chef, so I commissioned one to make a menu specific to Alim's character. For me, if I'm going to put art in a book, then the art has to be as good as my writing.

It's safe to say that Joy is the voice of reason for all of us; she's all of our best friends now. Will we ever get the full story of Joy in the Fool of Death universe?

Perhaps! If I can find the time to write all the books clamoring in my head, haha.

What was the reason, if any, why you left the location of the island where Alim lives undisclosed?

It's a fictional Caribbean island, and honestly, I just never got around to creating a name for it.

This novel, while ultimately cathartic and inspiring, gets there by being a little messy. What inspired this unconventional path to love, especially one that defies the expectations of its genre?

Who doesn't want to read a DILF novel?? (Actually, quite a few people.) In the words of the Marie Kondo meme, I love mess. I think it's fascinating what people will do when they prioritize their pleasure.

What do you hope readers take away from this novel? Was there a specific reader you wanted to be able to touch?

I think it's a little fun to have a reader hear the premise of the book and decide what Feyi and Alim did was unconscionable, but then to actually read their story and end up sympathetic toward them. But that's a very specific reading experience; it's just one I find satisfying.

What are you reading now? What would you like to read in the near future?

I'm reading an advanced copy of Chinelo Okparanta's Harry Sylvester Bird, which is this delightfully subversive novel coming out in July 2022, and I'm looking forward to reading Warsan Shire's new poetry collection, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head.

Unless otherwise stated, this interview was conducted at the time the book was first published, and is reproduced with permission of the publisher. This interview may not be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the copyright holder.