Kionna Walker LeMalle
Author Interview - Kionna Walker LeMalle
Author of Behind the Waterline
When Hurricane Katrina approaches New Orleans, teenaged Eric and his grandmother and many of their neighbors decide to ride out the storm. After days of heat, dwindling supplies, and relentless rising water, neighbors begin to disappear and Eric’s grandmother, already known as an eccentric, begins to falter. It is then that Eric—in a dream, a hallucination, or something else—discovers a room beyond his closet wall that he has never seen. What he discovers inside sends him on a path to uncovering his grandmother's long held secrets and his family's untold legacy. In the aftermath of the storm, that history continues to unfold, and only one thing is certain--neither Eric, his grandmother, nor his newly established friends will ever be the same.
Author Interview - Kionna Walker LeMalle
Author I draw inspiration from:
Toni Morrison - Beloved
Author Interview - Kionna Walker LeMalle | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
Anywhere with comfortable seating and a warm temperature
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
I'd much rather be stuck in the elevator with the author who created the character. So I'd say Toni Morrison. She had a knack for deep internalization of a diverse palette of characters over the years, including some extremely vile characters. She's spoken on this before, but I'd like to ask her if she ever felt afraid of being judged by those who just don't get it, who don't understand the fiction writer's task is to be true and authentic to both the beauty and the evil of the world. I am pretty sure she would say she wasn't afraid because those were not the people she was writing for. She was writing for those with the courage to face ugly head on and also with the humanity to empathize with the unforgiven. But I wonder how she became so brave, and I think I'd come out of a conversation with her more fearless and also more loving.
Author Interview - Kionna Walker LeMalle | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
I was very young, hardly writing words. But I loved language and story, and I knew I could do something powerful with those tools.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
Hardback jackets are like words of art. If I had room, I would frame these and place the all over my walls. I don't like that they almost always end up worn, and the book underneath is so dull.
I love paperbacks. They are easy to manipulate and light to carry. There's really nothing I dislike about a good paperback, except that I keep running out of room for them.
I don't like e-books at all. I like to mark up my books, flag the pages, and dog-ear the corners. You can't do that with an e-book. It's awful.
Ironically, though I don't like e-books, I do quite enjoy audiobooks. I listen to books while driving, as I am on the go a lot, and I am not a fast reader. If the book offers a lot to learn (about life or writing or both), I order the hard copy and start over at page one.
The last book I read:
A Time for Everything by Karl Ove Knausgaard
I thought it contained some of the most masterful examples of detail, gesture, free-indirect style, and dialogue. I thoroughly enjoyed how he played with genre, often using non-fiction techniques in the novel. I read it with my students, and I had to keep reminding them (in the beginning) that the book was fiction. When you have to remind yourself that you're reading a novel, you're reading a very good novel. But I didn't like the ending, which Knausgaard titled Coda. It seemed to digress from the thread I had been following, and yet that made me want to start over to see what I missed. Again, a sign of very good writing.
Author Interview - Kionna Walker LeMalle | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
My handwriting is horrible, and my hands ache. The computer is a lifeline.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
Mary Logan, the mama in Mildred Taylor's Logan Family Saga (and when I was a little girl, it was Cassie). This family's story has always resonated with me. As a kid, I loved Cassie's resolve, but as an adult, it's the mother who speaks to me. I'd love to sit at her feet and take in her wisdom and strength.
Author Interview - Kionna Walker LeMalle | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
Well, I am an executive writer and a writing professor. So, there you go. I'd still just be me, and I'd still be trying to figure out how to be a published author.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
Honestly, I'm not that into fashion. I like what I like. I don't follow trends, and I especially appreciate that today's teens seem to borrow from the other decades. I guess they like what they like, too.
Place I’d most like to travel:
Harlem, New York. I've been before, and I'm ready to return. There's a collective creative spirit in that place from its history of literary forerunners: Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Nella Larsen, and so on. I was in graduate school before I realized these writers were not widely considered part of the American literary canon. It was then that I fully understood their strength.
My signature drink:
Nonalcoholic
Favorite artist:
Floyd Newsum (visual artist). I lived too many years without knowing him, but once I met him and was introduced to his work, he rose to the top. He was not only a special artist but a very special person, and he encouraged me to not get pigeonholed into any one genre but to use my gift fully and without boundary.
Number one on my bucket list:
Life's been so busy lately. If I'm honest, I most look forward to slowing down, kicking my feet up, and resting without having to set an alarm. Maybe that's boring. People always think they need to go, go go. I'm one of those people. I'm a workaholic, so resting is hard. I don't know how to do it. That makes it a thing to pursue.
Anything else you'd like to add:
I have been married to my husband, who is also my pastor for almost 30 years, and my writing often features pastors. One of the main characters in Behind the Waterline is Pastor Charles Ray III. I have a secret fear that people will think I've based him on my husband. I didn't. I just know the work, and I think it's important that people see pastors as human. Charles Ray III is very human, so is my husband. But they are very different from one another.
Find more from the author:
www.writerteacherfriend.com
https://www.instagram.com/kionnalemalle/
https://x.com/KionnaLeMalle
https://www.facebook.com/kionna.lemalle
About Kionna Walker LeMalle:
Author Interview - Kionna Walker LeMalle
Kionna Walker LeMalle crafts stories and poetry from the distinct culture and history of
the American South. She earned her MFA at Houston Christian University, where she now teaches in the Department of Narrative Arts. Behind the Waterline is her debut novel and winner of the Lee Smith Novel Prize.
