![]() ![]() ![]() I note the new cloth banners decorating most of the city as I trek north, braided together in ropes of green, blue, and gold-green for the earth blue for the sea gold for the gods. Ta-Nehisi Coates on Writing 'The Water Dancer'. ![]() It’s a rare pleasure to walk here without whispers following in my wake, and there’s another reason not to be sent home yet: Dakari is waiting for me. It isn’t likely I’d get in trouble if the city’s anointed warriors caught me, but they’d almost certainly make me turn back, and I don’t want to. I weave through its empty roads, darting between the flickers of sconce-lit streets, and pray I don’t run into one of the patrolling Sons of the Six. Outside, the air is temperate, the rolling gray clouds overhead thick with the promise of monsoon season, but Lkossa remains a city bathed in silver moonlight, more than enough for me. I hesitate a second longer before slipping into the embrace of night. Sometimes, I wish I was that responsible girl. Perhaps in the repose of their dreams, their daughter is different, a responsible girl instead of one who sneaks out. It’s easy to envision them, two brown bodies curled against each other under a threadbare blanket, both worn out from a hard day’s work in the harvesting fields. In the next room, my parents are fast asleep Mama’s snores are gentle, my father’s thunderous. This late its scent is distinct, a sharp blend of ozone and pine. I hold my breath, relieved the front door doesn’t creak as I nudge it open and relish the evening breeze on my skin. We predict that Ayana Gray's Black Girl Magic is just beginning.Ĭheck out an exclusive excerpt from the book below.īaba says only wicked things happen after midnight, but I know better. She worked with Evangelista and Executive Editor Stacey Barney to get it just right. "#DVpit was a game-changer," Gray says.įor the book's cover, designed by Penguin's Art Director Theresa Evangelista, Gray wanted something that hinted at the magic inside the book. Through that, she found her agent, and the rest is history. Gray put pedal to the metal in order to participate in the event. There's a Twitter event called #DVpit-a literary pitching event for marginalized creators. The impetus Gray needed to finish the book after years of toiling alone, immersing herself in books on craft, and spending time with critique partners, came from a Twitter deadline. And of course, Black Panther comes to mind, which Gray says made her feel "overjoyed, excited, happy-and I wondered how my life would have changed if I'd seen the movie as a 10-year-old Black girl." Gray's language is rich and powerful-she counts Toni Morrison as among her literary heroes, along with Richard Wright, George Orwell, and others. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to play Gray had also read novels by Octavia Butler, a Black writer of speculative fiction-the first time she'd read books in that genre that featured Black people. During college, she traveled to Ghana and was struck by its beauty, which is clearly present in the book. I'm excited to share this story with the world, and especially with readers who haven't seen themselves centered in magical stories nearly enough." Gray was influenced in the creation of the characters and setting by her reading of Greek and Roman mythology, but it was her discovery, later on, that there were also African gods and goddesses and mythical creatures that really fired up her imagination. "Growing up," Gray tells, "I fell in love with stories steeped in magic and promised myself that one day I'd write my very own that allowed me to celebrate and explore my heritage and my roots. Beasts of Prey is a young adult fantasy novel in which two Black teenagers venture into a magical jungle to hunt down a monster who's been menacing their city for almost a century. ![]()
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