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| photo: Jason Frost Photography | |
Victoria Christopher Murray, five-time NAACP Image award nominee for Outstanding Literary Work, is the co-author, with Marie Benedict, of The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies (Berkley), a novel about the bond that developed between a civil rights activist and a President's wife. A graduate of Hampton University and the New York University Stern School of Business, she has written more than 30 novels, several of which have been turned into movies for Lifetime. She lives in Washington, D.C.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
The First Ladies is the story of Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune forging an unlikely friendship during a time of segregation and Jim Crow.
On your nightstand now:
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? is the debut novel by Crystal Smith Paul, a really compelling contemporary story about a family overwhelmed with secrets, combined with a brilliantly written historical novel. When the past meets the present, Hollywood collides with the Jim Crow South, and this book is really hard to put down.
Favorite book when you were a child:
B Is for Betsy by Carolyn Haywood. Actually, Mrs. Haywood wrote close to 50 books, and I read and loved them all. But it all began with that first one for me.
Your top five authors:
Richard Wright, Eric Jerome Dickey, Lolita Files, Tayari Jones, Sadeqa Johnson.
Book you've faked reading:
Oh my goodness. I didn't know anyone else had done this. But I fake-read A Tale of Two Cities. I really tried, but after that wonderful opening I was completely lost (really, not interested) by the second page. Maybe I should try it again, now that I'm long past 11th-grade English Literature.
Book you're an evangelist for:
There have been several, but most recently it's Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson. I've never read a book that almost stopped me from completely breathing--several times. It is both brutal and beautiful. Any writer who could combine those two words together is brilliant to me!
Book you've bought for the cover:
This happened to me just recently. I saw a book, When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar, and I immediately reached for it. I think it was a combination of the cover and the title (I have only sisters), but it was the way the cover flowed. The images of the sisters were moving, and I couldn't tell if they were coming together or moving apart. The cover filled me with questions, and made me want to read the book to get all of my answers.
Book you hid from your parents:
This is a funny story, because I thought I was hiding this from my parents. My dad was reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I was 10 years old and had just heard about Malcolm X, because he'd been recently assassinated. But I knew my parents would never let me read the book. So whenever my father put it down, I would sneak and read a few pages. Then, when he left for work, I'd search to find where he'd left the book and read as much as I could after school until he came home. I folded the corners of the pages, just a little, so that I'd always keep my place. I was glad I was sneaking--because this book was so good. I couldn't believe some of the things Malcolm X had done as a young man! For the first few days, it was hard to find the book, but soon my dad became careless and left the book in the living room or kitchen. Still, it was taking some time to finish, because I could only read when my parents weren't around. Then, one day my dad said to me, "Would you hurry up and finish that book so that we can discuss Malcolm X?" I was stunned! How did he know? But I finished, and that book was the start of my father and I reading books together until he passed away.
Book that changed your life:
Falling Leaves of Ivy by Yolanda Joe helped me transition from a voracious reader to a reader who also was a writer. In the mid-'90s, I saw Ms. Joe on a television interview, and it was the first time I'd ever seen a Black author on television discussing a novel. I ran out the next day, bought that book, and read it in just a couple of days. It was a wonderful mystery that I couldn't put down, but it was also the impetus (along with serious encouragement from my husband) that pushed me to finally putting pen to paper and writing my first novel.
Favorite line from a book:
"There's no sweeter stench than the scent of a burning baby." Okay, let me explain. That's not my favorite line as a reader, but it is my favorite line as a writer, because this was proof that the first line of a book could pull a reader in and never let her go. That's what happened to me when I began Child of God by Lolita Files. I read that sentence twice and then kept reading, taking few breaks. That was in 2001, and I have never forgotten that line.
Five books you'll never part with:
I've thought and thought and thought about this question. And I have hundreds of books that I will never part with. If I buy it, I almost cry when I have to donate it because I've run out of space. If it's a book, I'm keeping it. It's a book! Who parts with books? You can have my shoes instead.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones. Ms. Jones was a young child during the time of the Atlanta murders. Then, as an adult, she told this story from her childhood memories and from three points of view. The author chose to write the story in first person and third person--and second person, which I found fascinating. I'd love to discover everything about that story again.