The Observer
Books 04.08.19 51‘Humour is
my coping
mechanism’:
Nafi ssa
Thompson-
Spires,
photographed in
Ithaca, New York
state, by Maranie
Staab for the
Observer.N a fi ssa Thompson-Spires was
born in San Diego , California
and studied creative writing as a
graduate student at the University
of Illinois and Vanderbilt University
in Nashville, Tennessee. Her debut
short-story collection, Heads of
the Colored People , which portrays
the lives of contemporary African
Americans, was described by
Booker prize winner George
Saunders as “vivid, fast, funny, way-
smart and verbally inventive”. The
collection has been shortlisted for
the Gordon Burn prize.Th e title of your collection comes from
the 19th-century abolitionist James
McCune Smith and his sketches Heads
of the Colored People. What led you to
engage with his work?
My husband is a professor of
literature and he writes a lot
about McCune Smith and other
19th-century writers who were
publishing sketches in [abolitionist]
Frederick Douglass ’s newspapers –
he would come downstairs excited
and talk about this research. Much
of it is dealing with the same issues
we’re dealing with today – and now
we have a president who is very
vocal about his racism. I wanted to
think about what it means to be a
black person today but also respond
to what James McCune Smith was
theorising almost 200 years ago.What else motivates your writing?
I want to read more about people
who have had experiences similar
to my own. I’d grown up feeling
like I was the only black person
like myself, though of course that
wasn’t the case. I wanted to see
more stories about awkward, nerdy
black people, and black people who
were the only ones in a particular
space, and what it meant to navigate
the many different kinds of identity
construct. You write what you
want to read. You’re re shaping an
ongoing conversation.Th e stories also explore aspects of
physicality...
I didn’t set out to write a book
about the body – I think that was
all subconscious stuff that was
trying to come out of me, that I was
fi ghting against. I’ve always beenmigraine – and that was on my
mind. I was asking: “Why are we
all so sick and what is it a response
to?” Probably the conditions under
which we live.Do you think it’s important that
writers should tackle areas that may
be taboo?
Absolutely. I think the goal of a
writer should be to tell the truth in
some way, even if it’s to tell it slant- or to imagine a better version of
the truth. We have to fi nd ways to
confront diffi cult subjects.
What appeals to you about using
humour to tackle bleak topics?
Humour is my coping mechanism
in life – it’s a way I publicly deal
with trauma. In a story humour
can be helpful to disarm the reader,
to think it’s not going to get as dark
as it does. It’s a way to get to those
dark places.What books inspired or infl uenced
you?
Ishmael Reed ’s work in general- Flight to Canada was hugely
infl uential to me as a grad student,
to read it and realise you could do
certain things with structure.
What books are on your bedside table?
We’re moving house soon, so
everything’s packed up. I’m reading
Ocean Vuong ’s On Earth We’re
Briefl y Gorgeous. I’m listening to
Patsy by Nicole Dennis -Benn as an
audiobook.W ho are the writers you most admire?
Alice Walker and Toni Morrison.
Mat Johnson, Colson Whitehead,
Paul Beatty and so many great
black short story writers. I’m into
Caitlin Moran too – I can’t wait for
her new book, the sequel to How to
Build a Girl.What kind of reader were you as
a child?
I read everything voraciously. I had
more book friends than human
friends. I was really into Judy Blume.
And I loved Sweet Valley Twins and
The Baby-Sitters Club.Did you always want to be a writer?
Yes. My m om was always putting
pen and paper into my hand and
encouraging me to write. I learn ed
that I loved writing very young, and
I’m grateful to those who helped me.Do you have a writing routine?
I have OCD, literally, so I’m very
disciplined with my writing in
general. I have dedicated writing
days and try and treat writing as a
nine-to-fi ve, but I don’t get up that
early so it’s more like one-to-fi ve.Heads of the Colored People by Nafi ssa
Thompson-Spi res is published by
Vintage (£8.99). To order a copy for
£7.91 go to guardianbookshop.com or
call 0330 333 6846The African American
author on the 19th-
century abolitionist
who infl uenced herstories of black lives
under Trump, livingwith pain, and why
writers must tackletaboos. Interview by
Anita SethiNafi ssa Thompson-Spi res
‘I wanted stories about nerdy black people’
deeply afraid of bodies. As a child,
I would scare myself looking at
the pictures in medical books. But
I ended up thinking about heads
more generally. In phrenology –
there’s a head injury in one of the
stories – and heads in psychology
too; a lot of the characters are
dealing with acute mental issues.
Several of the central characters are
suffering from emotional trauma.
The body may look very well,
but you don’t know what’s going
on inside it. Fatima is dealing with
endometriosis, Marjorie is dealing
with trauma from child abuse and
probably has borderline personality
disorder, but the story doesn’t
diagnose her. She’s seeking therapy
to fi gure out why she has these
rage issues.In a Paris Review essay you sa y: “It
means something to me to be able
to produce when something is dailytrying to take me out.” Could you
tell us more about that?
My own pain was pressing
and I couldn’t get away from it
[Thompson-Spires was diagnosed
with endometriosis in 2015]. I’m
also writing about it in the novel I’m
currently working on. I’ve had the
best year of my life professionally
in many ways but, in terms of my
[health], it’s been extremely diffi cult
and the tour was very gruelling.
It has been a learning curve , and
made me more empathetic to other
people who are struggling. Many of
my friends have been sick – with
Crohn’s disease, colitis, depression,‘My mom always gave
me pen and paper and
encouraged me to write’
The books
interview
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