I tried different approaches-I had a collection of stories, personal essays. But I would work on it, and then I'd need to put it aside to work on some deadline or other, and then I'd go back again. NG: I started writing it thirty-nine years ago. Why do you think you decided to publish this memoir now? And after I wrote a few more stories she said, 'Now, if there was just some way to tie them all together…' So she got me to write a novel without ever using the word. I had been working on a collection of stories, and editor Phyllis Fogelman said, 'You know, it would be lovely if you could just write a few more stories.' Okay, I can do that.

My first book was a novel, although I didn't know it was going to be a novel, because 'novel,' for me, was the n-word. Because there's no such thing as a cheap French restaurant, I'd saved up for that. I remember with my very first book, I took a friend to a local French restaurant. You celebrated quietly with a good friend, and that was it. NG: Well, there was nobody to tell us they were important. RS: Do you remember back when we were young, when pub dates weren't so major? Nikki Grimes: Today! It's out in the world. Roger Sutton: Today's the pub date for Ordinary Hazards, right? Congratulations.

Why it took so long is just one of the questions Nikki and I discussed on a phone break during an exceptionally busy pub date for Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir. Talks with Roger is a sponsored supplement to our free monthly e-newsletter, Notes from the Horn Book. To receive Notes, sign up here.Īs detailed below, Nikki Grimes started this verse memoir thirty-nine years ago.

Growin' by Nikki Grimes