New York Times Bestselling Author Derrick Barnes
This week, we featured award winning author Derrick Barnes who has written over 10 books. His books have received many awards including the esteemed Kirkus Award which his book Crown: An Ode To The Fresh Cut won in 2018 and I Am Every Good Thing won in 2020. These are both collaborations with the amazing illustrator Gordon C. James, and winning this award two times is an accomplishment that is a first for an author.
I Am Every Good Thing is a finalist for the Goodreads Readers Choice Awards, results announced on December 8. Crown is a Newbery Honor Book, A Caldecott Honor Book, A Coretta Scott King Honor Book, A Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book, An Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award Book, An Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor Book and A Society of Illustrators Gold Medal Book. Wow, amazing!
Derrick lives in North Carolina with his wife and four boys. He grew up Kansas City, Missouri and graduated from Jackson State University with a BA in Marketing. Derrick was the first African American copywriter for Hallmark Cards where he worked before publishing his first two books Stop Drop and Chill, and The Low Down Bad Day Blues in 2004.
Thank you to Derrick Barnes for taking the time out of his busy writing schedule and life to answer these interview questions for @mommylovesbooks.
What was the inspiration for the character in I AM EVERY GOOD THING and For Ruby and the Booker Boys?
For I Am Every Good Thing, it began as a poem that I began way back in 2012 after the horrible murder of Trayvon Martin. I put it down, unfinished. Then I picked it up again in 2014 after the murders of two other unarmed Black teen boys; Mike Brown and Tamir Rice. I started to notice that there would be a negative narrative created about these boys to justify the killing of innocent Black children by armed adults or police officers; maybe they were suspended from school once, experimented with marijuana, question why their parents allowed them to play outside alone with a toy gun, even finding the worst picture they could find of the kid on social media. But the catalyst for the poem came in 2018 when clothing franchise H & M released an ad featuring a little Black boy wearing a hoodie that read “The Coolest Monkey In The Jungle”?!!?
Black Twitter exploded with rage. So did I.
My first reaction, as the father of four beautiful, strong, brilliant Black boys was, “You don’t get to decide who or what we are. We do!” The perpetuation of negative stereotypes of Black boys and men feed into conjured up fears, misconceptions and creates a cyclical misunderstanding of who we are, how we have been treated, and what we really mean to our loved ones—what we mean to America.
You have a big family. What motto or values do you teach?
Faith and hard work. My wife and I teach our four sons that God has a purpose for us all. That purpose, which is different for all of us, centers around helping others. Doing God's will, whatever that maybe, but always using what our gifts are to help make things better in this world. Faith along with focus and drive and a good work ethic leads to the accomplishments of great things. You have to believe in yourself and that we will always have God's protection. Just do your part. Do your part and everything else will take care of itself.
When you are not writing, do you have other hobbies? What do you like to do outside of work?
When I'm not writing, most of my time is spent with my family. We like to take road trips on the weekends. My boys are involved in a lot of activities (trumpet, track and field, football, piano, etc.). Going on dates with my wife (well...that was before covid hit. Now I have to be creative.) I also exercise 4-5 times a week. I've picked up the hobby of bike riding over the last seven months. I love listening to jazz music.
Music is in the soul of our family and I have heard you are inspired by music, so I am curious what are your favorite artists / songs?
I am from Kansas City, MO which is one of the birthplaces of jazz music. I'm also a huge hip-hop fan, from the 'Golden Age'; between 1985-1996. I love John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Roberta Flack, D'angelo, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Sade, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Joe Henderson, Yusef Lateef...just so many, too many artists to name. Music means everything to me. I am most inspired by jazz musicians. They are able to tell beautiful, detailed stories about life and love without using the instrument that I could not live without: words.
What book are you currently reading?
I am working on a middle grade novel and a graphic novel right now---but I still find the time to read, for leisure and for research sometimes. My current reads are 'The Talented Ribkins by Ladee Hubbard and 'Sweat the Technique: Revelations on Creativity from the Lyrical Genius' by (in my opinion) the greatest lyricist in the history of hip-hop, Rakim.
Final question, what can readers look forward to from you?
The Queen of Kindergarten. A graphic novel with 1968 Olympic superstar/activist Tommie Smith entitled Victory Stand.
Thank you again to Derrick Barnes for an honest, important and insightful interview. You can follow him on Instagram @authorderrickbarnes and on twitter @authorddb. Also, check out his website at www.derrickbarnes.com. We loved featuring you as this week’s Author of the Week and we look forward to reading more of your books in the future.
