Hello, Hello, Ebe. How are you doing today. I'm good,
Arrow, Thank you so much for having me. I love your name.
There has to be a story here, Ebe, because I mean, this
is not a normal, every day on the street name. So what's the
journey here. I did change my name, just like my character in Nigeria
Jones. My mama did not name thebe as a boy. It started out
as a pen name, and because of so much confusion around pen names,
I decided to change it legally. I'm so glad that you brought that up,
because Arrow's not my real name. And when I write, I don't
sign it arrow or I don't sign it as CT. I sign it as
m apostrophe e, which means may the sunrise above your tears. Oh that's
fascinating. I love the creativity that goes into naming yourself. That's autonomy.
The book Nigeria Jones. You know this is going to be a summer read
this right here is a window into the world of who so many people are,
and they're going to be speaking your lange, which absolutely I hope so
yes to get it into the hands of the readers. I mean, okay,
we go to the bookstore or we read about it online, but in
order to have them open the book and become a part of that story.
My wife is an avid reader. I love it when I see people reading.
I love when people read as well or else, I don't have a
career. You know, this is a page turner, but it's it's a
page turner in that it makes you think and it makes you wonder about the
people who are raised very differently than us, especially in this country. If
we watch movies or TV shows, we think everybody's the same, but we
are not. The way that you have disciplined Nigeria is the fact that she's
a well disciplined person, from the homeschool to being seventeen years old to being
a leader discovering more about herself. This right here is it's such a perfect
example of people who want to be that but don't know how to be that.
But Nigeria is going to help open that door for him. Right she's
raised, she's homeschooled, and she's raised as a vegan because of a very
strict and militant father who is the leap of a community that is into social
activism. But after learning some things about her mother, she decides to forge
her own path and starts a school, starts a new school for the first
time, has new experiences, and makes new friends. And even though this
her community and her family seem enticing to people, as an average teenager,
she's questioning whether or not that was that's the right choice for her. So
as sixteenth year old do she forges her own path and finds her way.
But you know, but conflict and different different paths changing and stuff like that,
because when when her mother disappears, all of a sudden, her eyes
open and her heart becomes stronger. Absolutely. You know, a lot of
young people are raised with parents who are either divorced or a parent is not
in the home, and that sort of break in the family forces you to
question which path you want to choose. And sometimes young people have to decide
whether they stay with mom or the whether they stay with dad. But in
this particular book, it's about ideas. Whose idea is She's she going to
gravitate towards. Is it her father's militant ideas or our mother's open, inclusive
ideas. And she's questioned everything and she has no answers. By the end
of the book, I won't tell you what the what happens in the end?
Yeah, this is a coming of a story where you initiate the process
of becoming your own self. Speaking of paths, the way that you make
paths with your words, I mean, do you are you writing to yourself
when you're putting these books together? Or do you are you like a radio
person we envision a listener being there. Every character in every book that I
write is a part of myself. While I was not raised like Nigeria Jones,
I am an immigrant. I was born in Haiti, and there's a
lot to say about the immigrant experience in terms of having different culture at home
and grappling with your school life. And you feel very different when you meet
other kids who are regular teens. But when you come home, you have
to do what your mama says. And this is what Nigeria has to do.
All of my books are young people who are coming to terms with different
parts of themselves and have to forge their own path in the world. Why
A readers are the most faithful readers. They will support all the way through
and I love the fact that you give them an opportunity to seek out the
truth. But I always wonder, though, when what we think is the
truth. When we find out the real truth, it changes us personally,
yes, and that truth changes depending on our worldview and our perspectives as well.
You know, it's a process that starts in the on adult, on
the adulthood, and it doesn't end in adulthood as well. I think you
and I both are still finding ourselves, right. It's an endless journey.
But what I love about Teethhood and Ya is that this is where it starts,
It initiates, and it's an initiation process. I love how Nigeria's father
describes her as a warrior princess. I love that because we you know,
we've been taught through history that warriors were guys, and it's like, no,
Nigeria Jones is a warrior princess. Oh yes. Her father really has
some strong beliefs about how he should raise his daughter, and he wants her
to be strong and self reliant and really really believes in his constitutional rights.
So he's kind of raising her as the son he never had. And that's
a bone of contention for my character. When did you realize that you had
a writer's voice? Because I mean, so many different authors will talk about,
well, this is my seven book, this is my you know,
such and such number of attempts, because I mean, a writer has got
to have a story telling capability. Oh my god, you've got it.
Oh yes, I believe, I really know that it begins with the imagination.
I was just an imaginative child who's just ideas and visions just ran the
gamut. And you know those young people in your life who are constantly draped,
they dreaming and don't seem to be paying attention. Superstars even if they're
chatty, you know. And I'm I'm sure many interviewers or you know,
or our TV or radio personalities were chatty children. So everything about ourselves when
we were children ends up being to our benefit. I truly believe that Native
American medicine men, they would walk through the streets and they would look for
the silent one, the chatty one, the creative one, because they knew
they were going to be the future medicine man. Oh wow, that's fascinating.
Yeah. I wish we would have medicine men now in our culture.
Put them in the in the school and have them point out, you know,
who the who these special people are. Absolutely, you've got to come
back to this show, anytime in the future. I love talking to you.
You've got a beautiful heart. Thank you so much for recognizing that,
and thank you for those great questions. Will you be brilliant today? Okay,
thank you so much.