It is with great pleasure that I welcome A. B. Kyazze onto the website today. She has worked with humanitarian organisations like Refugees international, Save the Children, and the British Red Cross for 18 years. Her work took her to Angola where her debut novel Into the Mouth of the Lion is set.
Alex: Tell me a bit about yourself.
Kyazze: I was born and raised in the Midwest in the US, in a college town called Ann Arbor, Michigan. I had a happy childhood, full of creativity, music, and exercise like cycling to parks, playing football (which we called soccer) and dance. My father is an intellectual, and the house was full of books of every kind: maths (his specialty) but also novels in many languages, art and photography books, and theatre scripts. My mother is very creative and was a voice teacher, then worked for 30 years as a costume designer for all the local and professional theatres around Ann Arbor and Detroit. I started writing by the age of 10; I went to an amazing elementary school which really encouraged creativity in all forms. I got my first camera around the same age, and my father taught me the basics and then set me loose in the world.
Alex: How would you describe your writing, and are there particular themes that you like to explore?
Kyazze: My writing varies in my novels and short stories. My short stories are quirky, playing with language, perspective, and syntax. My novels – I’ve published one, and written another two with ideas for two more after that – are all distinct but come from a place of exploring different terrain, whether that be war-torn Angola, the Balkans, or the back streets of London. I worked for 18 years for different humanitarian organisations around the world, which gave me a wealth of ideas for stories, characters and plots. My first novel, Into the Mouth of the Lion, crosses from 1960s Lisbon to London to West Africa in the final days of Angola’s civil war. My second novel goes from DR Congo to Sudan, but also has chapters set in Paris. My books often explore what it feels like to be an outsider, and how cross-cultural relationships can shape and change people over time.
Alex: Tell me a bit about yourself.
Kyazze: I was born and raised in the Midwest in the US, in a college town called Ann Arbor, Michigan. I had a happy childhood, full of creativity, music, and exercise like cycling to parks, playing football (which we called soccer) and dance. My father is an intellectual, and the house was full of books of every kind: maths (his specialty) but also novels in many languages, art and photography books, and theatre scripts. My mother is very creative and was a voice teacher, then worked for 30 years as a costume designer for all the local and professional theatres around Ann Arbor and Detroit. I started writing by the age of 10; I went to an amazing elementary school which really encouraged creativity in all forms. I got my first camera around the same age, and my father taught me the basics and then set me loose in the world.
Alex: How would you describe your writing, and are there particular themes that you like to explore?
Kyazze: My writing varies in my novels and short stories. My short stories are quirky, playing with language, perspective, and syntax. My novels – I’ve published one, and written another two with ideas for two more after that – are all distinct but come from a place of exploring different terrain, whether that be war-torn Angola, the Balkans, or the back streets of London. I worked for 18 years for different humanitarian organisations around the world, which gave me a wealth of ideas for stories, characters and plots. My first novel, Into the Mouth of the Lion, crosses from 1960s Lisbon to London to West Africa in the final days of Angola’s civil war. My second novel goes from DR Congo to Sudan, but also has chapters set in Paris. My books often explore what it feels like to be an outsider, and how cross-cultural relationships can shape and change people over time.
Alex: Are you a writer that plans a detailed synopsis or do you set out with a vague idea and let the story unfold as you write?
Kyazze: The story evolves as I write. Sometimes I have the seed of an idea, and the characters come in and start to make choices. I am always surprised by my characters, which I think makes a book more interesting. I only write the synopsis long after the book is finished and edited.
Alex: Tell us about your latest novel.
Kyazze: Into the Mouth of the Lion is the story of Lena, a young photographer, who flies into the last days of Angola’s civil war to look for her missing sister.
Alex: What was the first book you read?
Kyazze: My childhood home was full of books. I am the youngest of five siblings, so there were many books from the 1960s and 1970s, as well as comic books from the 1940s onwards from my Dad’s bookshelves as a child. I suppose my first book was probably a Dr Seuss book, Hop on Pop or Green Eggs and Ham.
Alex: How much research do you do and what does it usually entail?
Kyazze: I try not to get bogged down in too much research, as I think it can delay the writing and the story. However, if I am writing a chapter I might go back and check different sources to make sure that I have the geography right, for example the layout of the streets of Paris. Or if I refer to a piece of pop music, I check to make sure it would be released by that time period. If I have friends born a different generation than me, but similar to my characters, I ask about their experiences too.
Alex: Do you ever base your characters on people you have encountered in real life?
Kyazze: For me, more than half of the skill of being an author is that of observation. So while no character is a replica of a person I’ve known, there are elements in all my characters that I’ve observed or lived. That’s what helps to make them feel human, and also have depth. Characters have to have contradictions too, and things that they are trying to hide.
Alex: Which was the last book you read that blew you away?
Kyazze: I read Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson, and it is a brilliant debut novel. It has a very simple premise —about a young couple falling in and out of love – but the words are like poetry, and it takes place against a backdrop of police brutality and oppression in today’s southeast London.
Alex: How do you market your books?
Kyazze: Being published by Unbound, a small independent publisher with a unique business model, meant that I had to conduct a crowdfunding campaign. This was a challenge but ultimately meant that I connected early with readers all over the world who came forward to support the book. In the month before official publication, hundreds of people already had my book and were reading it and recommending it to others. That was a wonderful feeling. However, there still is a lot of marketing to do. This week I have been engaging with a book blog tour on Twitter and Instagram, and that has been great to help get the word out to a wide range of readers. As an author, that is the ultimate happiness, to know that people are reading and enjoying your writing.
Alex: What are your interests aside from writing? And what do you do to unwind?
Kyazze: There’s a quote by Isak Dinesen: “The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears or the salt sea.” I am a runner, nothing too extreme but I do need 2-3 runs a week to feel balanced and happy. I also love to get away to the seaside whenever I can, which isn’t very often, unfortunately. Otherwise, I love going to see live music, cultural events like museums and photography shows, and being with my family.
Alex: Which authors do you particularly admire and why?
Kyazze: Growing up in an American literary tradition, I have been reading and re-reading Toni Morrison since I was a teenager. I have a quote from her over my desk as I write:
“There is no time for despair, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”
I also love the work of Nadine Gordimer, Zadie Smith, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Graham Greene, and William Boyd. Recently I’ve been reading more of Bernadine Evaristo, Diana Evans, and also the laugh-out-loud commentaries by Caitlin Moran.
Alex: Thank you so much for sharing your writing journey with us.
Kyazze: My pleasure.
Kyazze: The story evolves as I write. Sometimes I have the seed of an idea, and the characters come in and start to make choices. I am always surprised by my characters, which I think makes a book more interesting. I only write the synopsis long after the book is finished and edited.
Alex: Tell us about your latest novel.
Kyazze: Into the Mouth of the Lion is the story of Lena, a young photographer, who flies into the last days of Angola’s civil war to look for her missing sister.
Alex: What was the first book you read?
Kyazze: My childhood home was full of books. I am the youngest of five siblings, so there were many books from the 1960s and 1970s, as well as comic books from the 1940s onwards from my Dad’s bookshelves as a child. I suppose my first book was probably a Dr Seuss book, Hop on Pop or Green Eggs and Ham.
Alex: How much research do you do and what does it usually entail?
Kyazze: I try not to get bogged down in too much research, as I think it can delay the writing and the story. However, if I am writing a chapter I might go back and check different sources to make sure that I have the geography right, for example the layout of the streets of Paris. Or if I refer to a piece of pop music, I check to make sure it would be released by that time period. If I have friends born a different generation than me, but similar to my characters, I ask about their experiences too.
Alex: Do you ever base your characters on people you have encountered in real life?
Kyazze: For me, more than half of the skill of being an author is that of observation. So while no character is a replica of a person I’ve known, there are elements in all my characters that I’ve observed or lived. That’s what helps to make them feel human, and also have depth. Characters have to have contradictions too, and things that they are trying to hide.
Alex: Which was the last book you read that blew you away?
Kyazze: I read Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson, and it is a brilliant debut novel. It has a very simple premise —about a young couple falling in and out of love – but the words are like poetry, and it takes place against a backdrop of police brutality and oppression in today’s southeast London.
Alex: How do you market your books?
Kyazze: Being published by Unbound, a small independent publisher with a unique business model, meant that I had to conduct a crowdfunding campaign. This was a challenge but ultimately meant that I connected early with readers all over the world who came forward to support the book. In the month before official publication, hundreds of people already had my book and were reading it and recommending it to others. That was a wonderful feeling. However, there still is a lot of marketing to do. This week I have been engaging with a book blog tour on Twitter and Instagram, and that has been great to help get the word out to a wide range of readers. As an author, that is the ultimate happiness, to know that people are reading and enjoying your writing.
Alex: What are your interests aside from writing? And what do you do to unwind?
Kyazze: There’s a quote by Isak Dinesen: “The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears or the salt sea.” I am a runner, nothing too extreme but I do need 2-3 runs a week to feel balanced and happy. I also love to get away to the seaside whenever I can, which isn’t very often, unfortunately. Otherwise, I love going to see live music, cultural events like museums and photography shows, and being with my family.
Alex: Which authors do you particularly admire and why?
Kyazze: Growing up in an American literary tradition, I have been reading and re-reading Toni Morrison since I was a teenager. I have a quote from her over my desk as I write:
“There is no time for despair, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”
I also love the work of Nadine Gordimer, Zadie Smith, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Graham Greene, and William Boyd. Recently I’ve been reading more of Bernadine Evaristo, Diana Evans, and also the laugh-out-loud commentaries by Caitlin Moran.
Alex: Thank you so much for sharing your writing journey with us.
Kyazze: My pleasure.
