Kem Joy Ukwu Interview
Kem Joy Ukwu Interview by Kim Coleman Foote
Mosaic Literary Magazine
In 2016, I met my long-lost twin, figuratively speaking. I was at Brooklyn’s Manhattanville Reading Series, where I had been invited to share my work along with a few other writers, including Kem Joy Ukwu.
I was struck by the excerpt Kem read from her story, “The Glowing Conqueror,” where at the beginning, a young black girl dares to envision herself living in a fairytale, even though in the fairytales she’s been exposed to, “none of the princesses looked like her” and “none of the villains looked like her either.” Beyond that, the girl uses this fantasy as a coping mechanism to reinterpret unsettling childhood experiences. Or so it seems. Perhaps the girl is a veritable superhero in the making.
When Kem mentioned to me not being able to publish this story, it sparked a conversation about racial politics and the publishing industry. Kem had published several other short stories, including in literary magazines like Jabberwock Review and PANK, but many of those characters’ race was ambiguous. “The Glowing Conqueror” not only explicitly revealed the protagonist’s race but was also set in an urban Bronx of the ‘80s, with hints of an illegal economy—an environment not often seen in mainstream literature.
This story and several others were part of a collection that was named a finalist for the 2016 New American Fiction Prize, but around the time I met her, Kem’s energy in trying to get the collection published was waning. It was a feeling I could definitely understand, myself having spent several years trying to publish my novel. In fact, I would soon discover that there was so much about Kem I could relate to, beyond the similarity in our names.
In our adult lives, we had both juggled our writing with full-time work advising and mentoring college students. We had both written fiction linked to screenplays. We both currently lived in the other’s home state—Kem in New Jersey and myself in New York. And we both started writing fiction in elementary school and had dreamt of seeing our first books in print for a long time.
Luckily, Kem didn’t let the rejections she received along the way stop her, because less than two years after our initial conversations, she achieved her dream. Earlier this year, Brain Mill Press published her short story collection, entitled Locked Gray / Linked Blue. With nods to Kem’s upbringing in the Bronx, her Nigerian heritage, and her love of comic books, these stories lift the curtain on the everyday lives of black folks—their emotional complexity, their moments of connection and disconnection from family and friends, their hopes and fears for the future. As I read, they made me recall Gwendolyn Brooks’ fiction, only set in urban and suburban New York instead of Chicago.
Kem has told me that she considers me to be one of her mentors, but now it’s she who inspires me. In addition to persevering with publishing Locked Gray / Linked Blue, Kem has sharply crafted stories with so many distinct voices, many of them with backstories detailed enough to fill the pages of a novel. I have been taking notes for my own in-progress story collection!
There are many daughters, many mothers, and a teenage boy who prefers his absent father’s love to the child support checks. The glowing conqueror, who gets her moment to shine—literally—as an unexpected inheritance and a commitment to education give her a new life with a secret mission. And one of my absolute favorites, Olive, a 58-year-old single woman with arthritic knees, who is faced with deciding between the uncertainty of a sexy-fine lover and the security of a friend.
I shared the following questions over email with my literary twin.
Kim Coleman Foote: When did you start writing, and what inspired you to write?
Kem Joy Ukwu: I wrote a story in elementary school for an assignment but it wasn’t until I was a pre-teenager that I started writing stories just to write them. Writing stories gave me an opportunity to have agency with my creativity. I loved the idea of creating stories and writing them on paper.
KCF: Who are some of your literary heroes, and why?
KJU: I have realized that literary heroes are not only the amazing writers of works that have moved me, but also the works themselves. Therefore, some of my literary heroes include Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans (writing and voice both brilliant), Citizen by Claudia Rankine (super powerful writing), Kindred by Octavia Butler (writing and storytelling both amazing) and If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This by Robin Black (writing and storytelling both with emotional potency).
KCF: How did growing up in the Bronx impact you as a writer?
KJU: The elementary school I attended in the Bronx celebrated the writing of its students and promoted reading. I remember Scholastic newsletters where I could order books. I spent most of my childhood in Parkchester, where I used to go to its library. I remember comic books being sold at a newsstand by the 6 train station in Parkchester and a grocery store close to where I lived. There were many opportunities to read stories growing up in the Bronx. I believe that helped to inspire me to write and create my own stories.
KCF: Tell us about your writing name, especially “Joy.”
KJU: I wanted to have a writing name that was slightly different from my full name to help me keep my writing and day job identities separate. “Joy” is one of my middle names and my grandmother’s name.
KCF : There might be writers out there who think that a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in creative writing is necessary for getting published. You and other writers have shattered this myth, but can you tell us your thoughts on the MFA degree and why you haven’t pursued it?
KJU: As a writer currently without an MFA, this past March, I moderated a panel that I composed, proposed, and coordinated about writing without or on the way to an MFA. It took place during the Montclair Literary Festival. The panel featured amazing writers who either had never enrolled into an MFA program or who had enrolled but had not yet received an MFA at the time of the festival. All of the writers on the panel either had at least one book published or had work published in journals, magazines, online periodicals or both. This panel was informative not only for the audience but also myself. I was inspired by their stories of how they navigated through their writing and networking journeys. The panel was additional proof that a person does not need an MFA to be a productive writer and/or to be a published one.
