‘As a person in the diaspora sometimes you ask yourself, well who will claim you? And then it really is up to you to claim a place for yourself.’
Granta Magazine’s Luke Neima speaks to Chinelo Okparanta, author of Under the Udala Trees and Happiness Like Water, about being one of Granta’s 2017 Best of Young American Novelists. They discuss homophobia, the inspiration of dreams and the challenges of having both a Nigerian and an American audience.
‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
‘I wanted to be sure to approach their resistance to Nnenna’s homosexuality from a practical perspective – one of fear, rather than one of hate.’
‘All that thought of home gave the girl a sickly feeling, the longing of something so out of reach, something she wasn’t even sure she could any longer truly remember.’
‘The cultural presentations of the students – that juxtaposition of old and new world, of tradition and modernity.’
‘The year Mama fell sick was the year Njideka confessed to me that she was a runs girl.’
Carmen Maria Machado, author of ‘The Husband Stitch’, shares five links to what she’s reading, watching and thinking about right now.
