By Margaret Apostolis
Q: Around what age did writing start to spark your interest?
A: I would probably say sometime in middle school. Around 7th or 8th grade, I started to recognize the fact that there were very few teenage black authors. At about 12 or 13, I solidified the idea that I wanted to produce an advice or self-help type book.
Q: Was this the driving inspiration behind your journey into writing? Or was there a specific author or novel that was a big inspiration for your work?
A: I never thought I would be a writer growing up. I always said if I knew I was going to be a writer, I would have read a lot more books. I was not the type of kid who was into reading novels; I was more of the article browser in the weekly paper because I invested in catching up on current events. The biggest inspiration behind my work is my ancestors, my personal history as an African American, and my legacy. What I mean by legacy is the art created by black people and how literature, words, and writing, are a form of preservation to sustain, clarify, and capture history through the proper perspective. I like to consider myself a legacy writer: I am writing in the tradition of this legacy as an African American to preserve it, to celebrate it, and to uplift it.
Q: How did you address this legacy within your debut novel Timestamp: Musings of an Introverted Black Boy?
A: The book is inseparable from my heritage and identity as an African-American, which is one part of my identity that I did not fully come into until I went to college. At Harvard, I came of age in every sense of the phrase: physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationally, and racially. During this four-year experience, I truly discovered writing as a medium to process and reflect on my experiences. At the time, however, I did not even realize I was writing the book. I was just writing because I felt inspired to do so. Over time, I soon realized I could use writing to also help others around me who were struggling to come of age, in whatever sense that meant. Which is what ultimately led to this book. So, to put it succinctly, had I never gone to Harvard, Timestamp maybe would not exist. But had I never come of age into my blackness at Harvard, this book would definitely not exist.
Q: On the topic of Harvard, were there any experiences you wanted to highlight?
A: Harvard was a fascinating experience. Harvard was the first time that I reckoned with my racial identity and found myself surrounded by more young black people my age than I had ever in my young adult life. My racial coming of age took place at Harvard because I realized I was black. I mean obviously, I knew I was black, but after I joined the oldest undergraduate black organization at the institution, I truly fell in love with my blackness. The choir Kuumba Singers of Harvard College gave me a legitimate diverse experience and furthered my interest in continuing the legacy discussed further in my novel. My experience attending Harvard and joining the choir sustained me during my four-year journey and ultimately helped with the production of my first novel.
Q: For my wrap up question, is there any advice you want to give to aspiring or struggling writers?
A: The journey is not an easy one. Even once you are published, you will still get rejections. Second, I think one of the things that I had to realize and encourage authors to understand themselves is that those rejections are not a measure of your value as a writer. If you write something and you believe in it enough to pour your heart and soul into it, then it has value. Believe in the work you are producing. Being published does not equate to value. Don’t ever say, “my work didn’t get published; my work doesn’t matter,” you wrote it. Your work comes from you -- it is a part of you. So, it matters.
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