Electric Avenue

Between jet lag and this never-ending cold, I haven’t gotten a lot of sleep this past week. But my four days in London produced nearly 4000 words so I’ve still managed to be productive, and stepping outside of my Brooklyn life helped me to shift my focus from The Door at the Crossroads to The Ghosts in the Castle. On Monday I arrived with a migraine but checked into my lovely hotel and an hour later went over to Hammersmith to meet another indie author, Tina Olajide. The first book in her Hey Emi series is very popular here in the US, and we talked about ways to expand access to libraries and schools. I learned of Tina through radical Oakland librarian Amy Martin who’s on a mission to add diverse titles to her youth collection by connecting with indie authors. I wish there were more librarians like her! Tina and I swapped stories about the self-publishing process until my energy ran out and I went back to the hotel. There’s something about being in a bubble that helps me write; I can produce here at home but when I’m abroad, there’s a greater sense of urgency. I knew I only had 4 days, and I knew I wanted to see my former editor from Amazon, and I had to tour Windsor Castle once more, and I was invited to tea with a dear friend, her daughter, and granddaughter. I actually might write Brown’s Hotel into my book since I conclude with a tea party between Zaria and her stern Aunt Prudence. In so many of the British books I read as a child, the eccentric aunt takes an interest in—and leaves her fortune to—her most unlikely heir. But instead of passing on her fortune, Aunt Prudence will share her memories of the 1981 Brixton Riots. I spent a couple of hours in Brixton before heading to the airport on Thursday. I found a downloadable walking tour map online and picked out the marketplaces since I needed a shop or vendor where the two children might buy an Ethiopian necklace. After browsing a bit and talking to an Algerian vendor about gentrification in Brixton and Brooklyn, I went to the Black Cultural Archives for lunch. The kitchen was closed but I wrote for a while and chatted with two women there who pointed me in the direction of an Ethiopian shop where I got a necklace and scarf. The Ethiopian woman running the shop and a nearby cafe hadn’t heard of Prince Alemayehu (pictured above), and I wondered if The Ghosts in the Castle would ever circulate in the UK. There are two protagonists, one Black British boy and his African American cousin, but it’s her outsider perspective that drives the narrative. Zaria comes to England as I did for the first time over 20 years ago, with a head full of stories about British castles and wizards and fairies. What she learns at age 8 is what I didn’t learn until my 20s: that British imperialism devastated the countries and cultures of people of color all over the world.

On Monday I’ll have a guest blogger, Ambelin Kwaymullina. We’re doing a series of blog posts starting next week about decolonizing kid lit so stay tuned…