My guest today is Shakirah Bourne - and here is a bit more about her.
Shakirah Bourne is a Bajan author and filmmaker. She once shot a movie scene in a cave with bats during an earthquake, but is too scared to watch horror movies. She is a recipient of the Governor General Award for Excellence in Literary Fiction for her short fiction collection, IN TIME OF NEED. Her first children's book, JOSEPHINE AGAINST THE SEA, received starred reviews in Kirkus and Booklist, was a SLJ Best Book of 2021, A Black Caucus of the ALA Best Book of 2021 and an Ignyte Award Finalist for Best Middle Grade Novel. The Caribbean edition, MY FISHY STEPMOM, published by Blue Banyan Books was a Finalist for the BURT/CODE Award for Caribbean YA Literature in 2018.
She was also the co-editor of YA non-fiction anthology, ALLIES: Real Talk About Growing Up, Screwing Up and Trying Again (DK/PRH, 2021), which was a World Book Day Selection. Her most middle grade horror, NIGHTMARE ISLAND, a tale based on Caribbean folklore, was published by Scholastic in June 2023, and she recently released BEWARE THE HEARTMAN - also based on Caribbean folklore.
I loved talking writing with Shakirah, and we dove into some topics including:
She even gave some great tips about plotting, characterisation and dialogue that I'm planning to use verrrrrry soon!
You can follow Shakirah over on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shakirahwrites/
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