But she just kept pushing me to just keep it real.īut, yeah, the book that was sold was 450 pages. When the book was sold, I was afraid that somebody was going to try to make me be something else or explain myself to white readers. But she allowed me to be my full, authentic self. She’s a young white woman, so I didn’t know how working with her would turn out. Also, I’ve been saying this in every interview: My editor Erin Wicks is a genius, and the world needs to know. HONORÉE FANONNE JEFFERS: Thank you that’s so good to hear. NYLAH BURTON: I was surprised at the book’s length because so few people are writing epic novels nowadays. Shondaland spoke with Jeffers ahead of the book’s recent release about blood memory, her relationship with her editor, and the importance of writing Black women characters who are deeply loved. “When I’m talking to other Black women about the book, I really want there to be a conversation. Du Bois is a 790-page love letter to the people Jeffers holds dearest to her heart - Black people and particularly Black women. A lot of people said, ‘This could have been shorter.’ But there’s no way you can go over 270 years of history and keep it short.” Although I love this book, I felt like it had to be that long. “I’m never writing another 800-page book again. With a deft hand, Jeffers explores these historical events while reflecting on social issues like childhood sexual abuse and colorism, all while making sure that the relationships in the book are the beating heart of the narrative - though the author says she’s never writing another epic again. Jeffers’ saga of this Black family spans from the colonization inflicted upon the Mvskoke (Creek) tribe to the horrors of slavery and the indignities of Jim Crow.

It’s about Ailey’s ancestors and her people. “There were maybe a thousand people when my mother was growing up.”īut the book is about things that are bigger than Ailey, Chicasetta, or the entire state of Georgia. “My mother taught Alice Walker - that’s how teeny, tiny that town is,” Jeffers explains. Although the book is not based on Jeffers’ life, the fictional town Chicasetta was inspired by her mother’s hometown of Eatonton, in central Georgia, where writer Alice Walker is from. Du Bois revolves around Ailey Pearl Garfield, a Black girl raised in the North but rooted in her mother’s small hometown of Chicasetta, Georgia. Recently selected by Oprah Winfrey for her book club, The Love Songs of W.E.B.

The love songs of web