On episode 12 of the podcast, I’m dipping into my podcast archives to bring you one of my favorite author interviews. My guest is novelist Lauren Francis-Sharma. Lauren is a child of Trinidadian immigrants, and is the author of Till the Well Runs Dry and Book of the Little Axe. Lauren’s most recent writings can be found in The Lily, Electric Literature, Barrelhouse, Salon, as well as Marita Golden’s anthology, Us Against Alzheimer’s: Stories of Family Love and Faith.

Lauren is also the Assistant Director of Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference at Middlebury College, and she is a book reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle.

This episode was originally recorded in 2020, just a couple of months after the debut of Book of the Little Axe. 

 

Book of the Little Axe takes place at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century and tells the story of Rosa Rendon, a Black Trinidadian woman who flees her island home and finds herself living among the Crow Nation in what is now Bighorn, Montana. She becomes the wife of a Crow chief and raises three mixed-race children with the nation. When her son begins to struggle with his identity, Rosa is forced to reckon with her past and so the story unfolds.

During our conversation, Lauren shares how and why she left her career in corporate law to become a novelist, the 10-year journey to getting her first book published, why Trinidad is always a character in her work, and everything that went into writing the epic masterpiece that is, Book of the Little Axe. She also shares the painful truth of what it was like to launch a novel in the early stages of the pandemic. 

 

This is an insightful and inspiring episode, and I’m sure Lauren’s story of perseverance and pushing through life’s challenges to come out triumphant as an award-winning novelist, will leave you #Lit!

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Just because I’m taking a podcast break for the summer, I still want you to stay inspired to write. So, please enjoy these “Best of… Author Interviews” and keep writing. 

 

Links from the show:

To learn more about Lauren Francis-Sharma, visit her website at LaurenFrancisSharma.com

To purchase a copy of Book of the Little Axe, visit the Read Write and Create online bookstore powered by Bookshop.org. A purchase from our bookstore supports the production of this podcast and independent booksellers everywhere. 

For more literary resources and inspiration, visit ReadWriteandCreate.com and follow me on Instagram @LoriLTharps and Twitter @ReadWriteCre8.