EP #59: The Other Black Girl with Zakiya Dalila Harris

Lisa is solo today and joining her is Zakiya Dalila Harris who
spent nearly three years in book publishing before leaving to
write her debut novel The Other Black Girl which she and Lisa
talk about in this interview. Prior to working in publishing,
Zakiya received her MFA in creative writing from The New School.
Her essays and book reviews have appeared in Guernica and The
Rumpus. She lives in Brooklyn.

Here are some of the things Lisa asks Zakiya.  Listen to the
interview to hear all of the questions and answers:

In your book, a young woman Nella Rogers has been the only black
person working at Wagner Books, a publishing house in
Manhattan.  She has to deal with a lot of microaggressions
from her white co-workers and one day, another black woman shows
up at Wagner.  Nella is thinking, we can talk about black
music, black hair, commiserate about micro-aggressions, but
things go another way.   Have you had an experience like
Nella, feeling both hyper-visible and ignored? 


Let’s talk hair.  I love how you focused on the ways hair
can both connect and divide black women. 


Not only can hair be a divider but Nella and Hazel are pitted
against each other in meetings, Hazel playing both sides,
publicly siding with white insensitive co-workers and telling
Nella in private that she supports her.  Can you expand on
this? 


One of the things Sunni and I talk about is showing up to work,
to life in general after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmed
Arbury, George Floyd and so many others.  Nella feels the
trauma but still has to show up to work with a smile.  Can
you talk about this in your own life?  


One of the first things I noticed was the way you play with
structure and how readers occasionally jump between the present
and the past in different chapters. When did the structure come
to you? 


Book description: 

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A Good Morning America, Esquire,
and Read with Marie Claire Book Club Pick and a
People Best Book of Summer

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by
Time, The Washington Post,
Harper’s Bazaar, Entertainment Weekly, Marie
Claire, Bustle, BuzzFeed,
Parade, Goodreads, Fortune,
and BBC

​​Urgent, propulsive, and sharp as a knife, The Other
Black Girl is an electric debut about the tension that
unfurls when two young Black women meet against the starkly white
backdrop of New York City book publishing.

Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of
being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the
isolation and microaggressions, she’s thrilled when Harlem-born
and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They’ve
only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though,
when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office
Darling, and Nella is left in the dust.

Then the notes begin to appear on Nella’s desk: LEAVE WAGNER.
NOW.

It’s hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But
as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at
play, she soon realizes that there’s a lot more at stake than
just her career.

A whip-smart and dynamic thriller and sly social commentary that
is perfect for anyone who has ever felt manipulated, threatened,
or overlooked in the workplace, The Other Black Girl will keep
you on the edge of your seat until the very last twist.