Interviews

Waytu Moore, author of SHE WOULD BE KING and founder of the nonprofit One Moore Book, shares the publication journey for her debut novel and reflects on art, writing craft, commerce, and more.Filmed at Succeed2gethers Montclair Literary Festival 2019.

WHAT WE COVER

0:35 Writing a draft of SHE WOULD BE KING and exploring identity as an African in America and as an African-American2:19 Pressures writers put on themselves, writing craft, and not resenting your art3:26 Writing discipline and respecting your art4:01 Publishing industry trends4:23 Waytu Moore's next novel is about mermaids5:32 Publishing SHE WOULD BE KING6:00 Meeting literary agents at conferences7:06 Editing a manuscript with a literary agent and making a book as strong as possible7:54 "If you're writing for yourself, keep a journal, but if you do commit to writing for others and being mindful and considerate to the sensibilities of others, then you do need to be conscious of what readers would be in to, how they would process your work. . ."8:23 Shopping a manuscript to publishers, dealing with rejections, and the reality of when art meets commerce9:14 Publishing SHE WOULD BE KING through Graywolf and the benefits of being with an indie press12:00 Cover design and avoiding cliches designers use for African, Islamic, and Indian narratives15:04 The meeting of art and commerce as well as time and capacity in Big Five publishing15:59 Versify, an imprint by Kwame Alexander, and One Moore Book, a nonprofit serving children who rarely see themselves in print

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WAYTU MOORE

Waytu Moore is the author of She Would Be King, released by Graywolf Press in September, 2018. Her memoir is also forthcoming with Graywolf.Moore is the founder of One Moore Book. One Moore Book is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization that encourages reading among children of countries with low literacy rates and underrepresented cultures by publishing culturally relevant books that speak to their truths, and by creating bookstores and reading corners that serve their communities. Her first bookstore opened in Monrovia, Liberia in 2015.Her writing can be found in The Paris Review, Frieze Magazine, Guernica, The Atlantic Magazine and other publications. She has been featured in The Economist Magazine, NPR, NBC, BET and ABC, among others, for her work in advocacy for diversity in childrens literature.Shes a graduate of Howard University and the University of Southern California, and is currently a Margaret Mead Fellow at Columbia University Teachers College, where shes researching the impact of culturally relevant curriculum and learning aids in elementary classrooms of underrepresented groups. Moore is an Africana Studies lecturer at City University of New Yorks John Jay College and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

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