16 years ago, almost to the day, I moved to Paris with two boxes of books, my teddy bear - Serge 🤓and the goal of writing a novel. @jasonclampet and I lived here, in a tiny apartment, in this beautiful building, in the Marais. It was a roller coaster of a year. When I left Paris, I was happily pregnant but I thought I had failed because I couldn’t figure out how to make the novel that was in my head, work on the page. A few weeks ago, my friends @londonmegumi and @debseager kindly indulged me on a very hot day and we all went back to Rue Castex so I could take this picture. I wish I could go back in time and tell my younger self that I didn’t fail. I made/published a hell of a kid, who is now 15. I still have Serge -🤩 It was so brave of me to move to Paris without sponsorship or real support. I read so many books. I wrote - every.single.day. I walked. I dreamed. It wasn’t about that one book. It was about teaching myself how to be clear about what was in my heart and committing to the work, regardless of the outcome. It was about practicing possibility. ✍🏾💥🎡
Ida, in Love and in Trouble
Pub date: September 2024
A love affair from start to finish.
Beautiful cover illustration by @_mohtz 🎨
Edited with an abundance of patience and grace by @mraymo11 📝
#historicalfiction #idabwellsbarnett #bookstagram #yalit #authorsofinstagram @littlebrownyoungreaders #history #books
For the past couple of years, I have been working on a historical y/a novel about the life of Ida B. Wells. From the beginning, no matter how hard the work, it has been a pleasure to be in Ida’s company.
Earlier this year, I stole away for a weekend to a hotel in Oxfordshire. I have a family and a *very* full time job, so my writing retreats are brief but usually powerful.
I had a suitcase full of lined notepads — I write every first draft by hand - and research books. It was so heavy. 😂 I gave myself two days to gently think about structure. It also ended up being a time to grieve the pages I knew I would have to throw away. I spent hours, shuffling and shuttling chapters and scenes, telling myself to see the hard choices not as failures but muscular decisions that would make a better book.
This selfie was taken the morning before I checked out of the hotel. I love it because I can see in my face that this was the weekend I’d fallen back in love with my book. Back in love with Ida. I still had many rivers to cross, but I knew, finally, that I was going to make it.
Tomorrow, I’ll post the cover of the book. 💗
#historicalfiction #idabwellsbarnett #bookstagram #yalit #authorsofinstagram
#5amwritersclub
“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.” Jane Austen #averyfinejaneyear #janeausten #writersofinstagram
Happy Birthday Ella. 👸🏽It is a gift to live in a world that is so very full of your music. 🎶💥
📸 Gilles Petard #ellafitzgerald #jazz What’s your favorite Ella song? 🎶
If you are feeling the Artemis II high, you might enjoy a beautiful piece that the poet @adrian.matejka wrote for @nytimes about our journeys to the moon.
The first image in the slideshow is by the great #nealboenzi a photographer at the Times. Guests at the American Museum of Natural History watching the Apollo 11 splashdown on January 24, 1969.
In the piece Adrian writes, in part:
And yet why we wanted to go there — to put human feet on this distant, distrustful land — is as human as any want can be.
We want to be where we can’t be instinctually.
There is velocity in that want, just as velocity is the primary mover in locomotion on Earth and beyond.
The world of we, upward and magnificent, marveling at finally leaving this terrarium of wants, even as the turbulent systems of oppression on the planet stay the same.
Cheers to the astronauts who reminded us of the power of dreams, hope and connection. 👩🏾🚀 Gift link in my stories. #artemis @nasa #astronauts #moon
We thank honoree Veronica Chambers for giving us the reminder we did not know we needed. The award winning author, writer and editor issued a charge: Do not just consume. MAKE something. It does not matter what it is — make it yours and put it into the world. Because the world needs YOUR something. ✨
We received that fully. We are going home and we are going to CREATE. Thank you for your words, your legacy and your unwavering belief in what Black women bring to this world. 🌹
@vvchambers
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Made a little reel to capture some of the magic of an unforgettable evening. @mobrowne as we say in Spanish, sin palabras.💥 Who you are, what you create, on and off the page, and the generosity with which you give us your *everything* is extraordinary. 👸🏽 Happy to read you. A true honor to know you.
Inspired and replenished by the words of my fellow honorees, the great Patricia Smith, V @eveensler and @qween_jean As Mahogany has said, you prove that matriarch is a verb.
Also have to shout out a new friend, @jaymc86 whose words were like Sunday candy on a Thursday night @lincolncenter
Finally, gracias and abrazos to my crew who took planes, trains and automobiles to be with me that night including @libadhb@carolinekimoh@dimitryleger@kmooregreene@yesimwhitneywhite@beingbrina@suzanne.rust@ms.jones_ms.jones and Stacey-MarieNoIG. You make me brave and hopeful. 👸🏽💞🙌🏾
#blackgirlmagic @blackgirlmagicball #sisterhood #hermanas #authorsofinstagram
More to come but a pic from last night’s Black Girl Magic ball. 🪩 With my hermana, @libadhb
I was so honored to receive a Matriarch award from thee @mobrowne
In my speech, I talked about how when I was first starting out as a writer, I used to fall asleep listening to Toni Morrison reading her Noble Prize speech. The hope being that some of her genius might seep into my brain as I slept. 🤓
I’m wearing a custom @batshevadress with an embroidered quote from that speech: “they sang so softly their breath was indistinguishable from the falling snow.”
But I wanted to share the full quote which is: “Tell us about a wagonload of slaves, how they sang so softly their breath was indistinguishable from the falling snow.”
I know that I am here because of the singing that helped my ancestors outlive centuries of unimaginable horrors. I am here, descended from those I can never fully thank for their dedication to a future when we would be free. And that as Coretta Scott King said, “Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.’
Meant a whole lot to be in that room @lincolncenter last night and to be clothed in the words of one of my most beloved matriarchs. 👸🏽💞✍🏾@blackgirlmagicball #blackgirlmagic #writerswrite #fancydress #tonimorrison #corettascottking
My amazing colleagues @amypadnani@marcellehopkins@aburgessphoto@gianordoli & @leslie.delavega made this beautiful interactive featuring obits of 100 extraordinary women. Gift link in my stories. Happy International Women’s Day. 💥 And as a great modern philosopher once said, females be strong as hell. 🙌🏾 #internationalwomensday #josephinebaker #womenshistorymonth
I’ve been a fan of Helen Beard’s beautiful hand painted ceramics for years now. Her work depicts the people and places of London life that I so adore.
I’ve been trying, at least once a month, to plan an Artists’ Date, a la the Artists’ Way by Julia Cameron. So it was a thrill when @helenbeardceramics invited me to visit her London studio. Then the joy multiplied when my friend @tricia.brock said she would join me.
So here’s a few pix of me hanging with two gobsmackingly gifted, funny, smart and kind women and a glimpse of some of Helen’s gorgeous work. You can see more (and shop!) at HelenBeard.com #artistdate #theartistsway #ceramicstudio #london
