Farai Chideya Revealed
About Farai Chideya
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What is your birthdate?:7/27
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Previous occupations:reporter, waitress, telemarketer, rare books researcher, internet consultant
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Favorite job:speaking about pop culture and politics to large civic-engagement crowds
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High school and/or college:Western High School (all-girls public) in Baltimore; Harvard University
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Name of your favorite composer or music artist?:Mozart as a classical composer; Eric B and Rakim for old school hip hop
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Favorite movie:not favorite, but amazing and recently re-seen: "Manhunter," the original movie about Hannibal Lecktor WAY ahead of its time visually.
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Favorite television show:The Tudors
Revealing Questions
- Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
- A. spinning gold out of straw
- Q. What is your motto or maxim?
- A. keep it simple; keep it moving
- Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
- A. being loved and loving in return
- Q. What’s your greatest fear?
- A. irrelevance and loneliness
- Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
- A. in a kitchen, cooking with my family
- Q. With whom in history do you most identify?
- A. my grandmother
- Q. Which living person do you most admire?
- A. my sister
- Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
- A. "like"
- Q. What do you regret most?
- A. nothing. I could have made better choices but regret is self-destructive.
- Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
- A. playing multiple instruments. not too late to try!
- Q. What is your greatest achievement?
- A. maintaining strong friendships for decades, thick and thin
- Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
- A. I throw up false-selves to keep people from knowing too much about me
- Q. What’s your best quality?
- A. loyalty
- Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
- A. chocolate. or maybe a dog.
- Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?
- A. how I speak--the intensity, the vocabulary, and sometimes the volume. ;-)
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
- A. Gandalf
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
- A. one I'm writing now
- Q. If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
- A. Hannibal. "Don't take the elephants!"
- Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
- A. my own propensity to talk more than I listen
- Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
- A. dreaming
- Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
- A. mother
- Q. What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
- A. loyalty, creativity, and caring (for the environment; for political change; for something!)
- Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
- A. roasted chicken with garlic
- Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?
- A. check the playlist at the back of "Kiss the Sky" and take a guess
On Books and Writing
- Q. Who are your favorite authors?
- A. Octavia Butler Shakespeare Zora Neale Hurston Orson Scott Card William Gibson Lerone Bennett
- Q. What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
- A. The Riverside Shakespeare (cheating, I know) Wild Seed by Octavia Butler Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (and also Ender's Shadow) Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
- Q. Is there a book you love to reread?
- A. Wild Seed
- Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
- A. just keep writing. and then use a spreadsheet to edit.
- Q. What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
- A. you surprised me
- Q. How did you come to write Kiss the Sky?
- A. I spent my time in my 20s as a club kid, going out 4 or 5 nights a week in the electronica, dance, and rock scenes. I later covered the entertainment world. I decided to take some of the real life dramas most of us deal with--love, family--and the heightened ones of our times (drugs, money)--and put them in the context of a world I've, frankly, only seen a tantalizing part of.
