Author statement

As a storyteller, I like to mix things up temporally, spatially and stylistically – to cross the borders of genre, culture and history. My Afro-diasporic interests have led me to writing books that connect ancient and modern history with our contemporary society. For example, in my books Blonde Roots and The Emperor’s Babe where I employ lashings of anachronisms to create worlds with shifting time frames that explore the relationship between the past and the present. In Lara I created multiple, inter-generational, inter-racial and inter-continental voices that examine the multicultural roots of the eponymous, mixed-race Lara. In Soul Tourists the past is revisited through ghosts of colour based on real people from European history.  One of my aims as a writer is to explore the hidden narratives of the African diaspora, to play with ideas, conjur up original and innovative fiction and forms, and to subvert expectations and assumptions. Writing is an adventure, a journey into the unknown, and I enjoy liberating myself from the shackles of convention.

‘As a storyteller, I like to mix things up temporally, spatially and stylistically – to cross the borders of genre, race, culture, gender, history and sexuality…’