Lisa is solo today and joining her is Zakiya Dalila Harris who spent nearly three years in book publishing before leaving to write her debut novel The Other Black Girl which she and Lisa talk about in this interview. Prior to working in publishing, Zakiya received her MFA in creative writing from The New School. Her essays and book reviews have appeared in Guernica and The Rumpus. She lives in Brooklyn.
Here are some of the things Lisa asks Zakiya. Listen to the interview to hear all of the questions and answers:
In your book, a young woman Nella Rogers has been the only black person working at Wagner Books, a publishing house in Manhattan. She has to deal with a lot of microaggressions from her white co-workers and one day, another black woman shows up at Wagner. Nella is thinking, we can talk about black music, black hair, commiserate about micro-aggressions, but things go another way. Have you had an experience like Nella, feeling both hyper-visible and ignored?
Let’s talk hair. I love how you focused on the ways hair can both connect and divide black women.
Not only can hair be a divider but Nella and Hazel are pitted against each other in meetings, Hazel playing both sides, publicly siding with white insensitive co-workers and telling Nella in private that she supports her. Can you expand on this?
One of the things Sunni and I talk about is showing up to work, to life in general after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmed Arbury, George Floyd and so many others. Nella feels the trauma but still has to show up to work with a smile. Can you talk about this in your own life?
One of the first things I noticed was the way you play with structure and how readers occasionally jump between the present and the past in different chapters. When did the structure come to you?
Book description:
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A Good Morning America, Esquire, and Read with Marie Claire Book Club Pick and a People Best Book of Summer
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by Time, The Washington Post, Harper’s Bazaar, Entertainment Weekly, Marie Claire, Bustle, BuzzFeed, Parade, Goodreads, Fortune, and BBC
Urgent, propulsive, and sharp as a knife, The Other Black Girl is an electric debut about the tension that unfurls when two young Black women meet against the starkly white backdrop of New York City book publishing.
Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she’s thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They’ve only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust.
Then the notes begin to appear on Nella’s desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW.
It’s hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there’s a lot more at stake than just her career.
A whip-smart and dynamic thriller and sly social commentary that is perfect for anyone who has ever felt manipulated, threatened, or overlooked in the workplace, The Other Black Girl will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last twist.