There's so much talk of representation in politics and entertainment - it's everywhere - but I didn't realize representation was important until really my senior year of high school.
Tomi AdeyemiRead
The power of fantasy is that you can make people understand the deeper realities of our world in a way that they wouldn't normally be able to because of all the things in our world that closes them off.
Interpretation
Fantasy allows for a unique expression of truth that can reveal deeper realities to people.
In this quote, Tomi Adeyemi highlights the transformative power of fantasy as a literary genre that can convey profound truths about the human experience. It suggests that through imaginative storytelling, authors can break down barriers created by the complexities and distractions of the real world, allowing readers to grasp deeper meanings and insights that would otherwise remain obscured.
In practice
Using this quote during a discussion on the role of fantasy in literature and its impact on society.
There's so much talk of representation in politics and entertainment - it's everywhere - but I didn't realize representation was important until really my senior year of high school.
I want a little black girl to pick up my book one day and see herself as the star. I want her to know that she's beautiful, and she matters, and she can have a crazy, magical adventure even if an ignorant part of the world tells her she can never be Hermione Granger.
You're never wasting your time as long as you learn from every single thing you do, whether you feel like those attempts are successful or not.
For readers of color, and especially black readers, black girls, I just want them to feel seen. And not just seen - I want them to feel epic and know that they are epic.
I had a lot of different reasons for writing the book, but at its core was the desire to write for black teenage girls growing up reading books they were absent from. That was my experience as a child. 'Children of Blood and Bone' is a chance to address that. To say you are seen.
What's demanded from us black creatives is both a blessing and a curse, because it pushes you to be your absolute best. You cannot be anything less.
When you're traveling constantly, every day you become inspired, and it shows in my work, sonically, lyrically, visually. Conversations with women with different accents and stories told in those accents. I like to create characters based on different people I've met, and relationships. I like to tell stories loosely based on real-life events.
Being in a band turns you into a child and keeps you there.
I can’t worry too much about the everyday things. Otherwise I’d lose touch with my own world, that helps me as an artist, but it’s frustrating for the people around me. I’m vaguely functional, but there’s always something slightly off.
A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.
A photograph is neither taken or seized by force. It offers itself up. It is the photo that takes you. One must not take photos.
I've always felt writing a song was a bit like going on location. That's true in an almost literal sense. Where you are seeps in somehow.
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