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In Every Mirror She's Black


An arresting debut for anyone looking for insight into what it means to be a ...
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Author Biography

Autobiographical?

Created: 09/04/21

Replies: 9

Posted Sep. 04, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
linz

Join Date: 08/12/15

Posts: 167

Autobiographical?

I found it most interesting that the author is Nigerian-American, and moved to Sweden. She seems be someone most like Kemi. She is an intelligent, educated person who wants to be accepted for what she contributes. What do you think are the reasons she moved to Sweden and why does she stay there? And what do you think she is saying about racism in the world?


Posted Sep. 05, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
janines

Join Date: 11/21/16

Posts: 102

RE: Autobiographical?

I wondered if their were some autobiographical aspects to this book. The author is a woman of color living in Sweden. Her last name appears to be Swedish, so I wondered if she was married to a Swedish national as Brittany is in the book. She is Nigerian-American as is Kemi and as her bio says, she is "based on Sweden," which while not like the refugee Muna, has a displacement like quality. Beyond that, I'm not sure how autobiographical aspects of the story are but I have to believe that in a predominantly white society the author must have encountered racism which is a theme that underlies this book.


Posted Sep. 05, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
melanieb

Join Date: 08/30/14

Posts: 265

RE: Autobiographical?

I think so in some aspects, primarily because Black women have a degree of shared experiences just because racism and sexism exist.


Posted Sep. 06, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
RebeccaF

Join Date: 08/24/14

Posts: 45

RE: Autobiographical?

I, too, wondered how autobiographical the novel might be for the author. I imagine there are aspects of all three women's experience that came from hers. She has tried to distance herself from Kemi specifically in this Q&A: https://www.bookbrowse.com//author_interviews/full/index.cfm/author_number/3567/lola-akinmade-akerstrom


Posted Sep. 06, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
beverlyj

Join Date: 12/22/11

Posts: 154

RE: Autobiographical?

I felt the author wrote with the truth about the experiences of Black women who live in Sweden and as the author is a Black woman I am sure that she has experienced some form of racial bias.

As a lot writing advice says write what you know.

Because she writes about three Black women in Sweden I do not know if I would say the book is autobiographical unless the author says so.


Posted Sep. 08, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
lesleyf

Join Date: 05/14/11

Posts: 119

RE: Autobiographical?

Yes, there would be elements of her autobiography in all three of the women whose stories she tells. Part of the reason I wanted to read this book is that it was written by someone who knew what was what. That by no means suggests that it is HER story.


Posted Sep. 12, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
nancyh

Join Date: 06/25/13

Posts: 347

RE: Autobiographical?

I do not think this book is really her life, although she would probably relate more to Kemi than the other. I suspect though that some of the things that happen in the have either happened to her or other black people she has known in Sweden.


Posted Sep. 25, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
gaylamath

Join Date: 02/11/20

Posts: 39

RE: Autobiographical?

I think most every book written has some autobiographical content to it, at least in these genres. The author has experienced racism, being in a foreign country and the countless other things she wrote about, but was this an "autobiography", no I do not think it was.


Posted Oct. 02, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Kathy Ann

Join Date: 04/11/21

Posts: 8

RE: Autobiographical?

This was interesting in the regards to the autobiographical elements, but it does not feel completely autobiographical as the author is a travel writer and not a corporate executive, airline stewardess, or a refugee immigrant. All immigrants feel some degree of outsideness when moving to a new culture so that may be the autobiographical link.


Posted Oct. 02, 2021 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
linz

Join Date: 08/12/15

Posts: 167

RE: Autobiographical?

Not every author started out as an author! She could have been any of those things. or something else. But being a Black woman in Sweden gives her an interesting perspective on the main characters.


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