In this week’s episode we welcome Candice Brathwaite, author of the bestselling book, I Am Not Your Baby Mother. In conversation with fellow bestselling author Dorothy Koomson, they discuss the urgent need to redefine motherhood, the silencing of black women’s pain and the experience of publishing a book in the midst of a global pandemic and the resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests across the world.
The Birmingham Lit Fest Presents... podcast brings writers and readers together to discuss some of 2020’s best books. Each Thursday across the next few months we’ll be releasing new episodes of the podcast, including wonderful discussions
about writing, poetry, big ideas and social issues. Join us each week for exciting and inspiring conversations with new, and familiar, writers from the Midlands and beyond.
Take a look at the rest of this year's digital programme on our website: https://www.birminghamliteraturefestival.org/.
For more information on Writing West Midlands, visit https://writingwestmidlands.org/
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Credits
Curator: Shantel Edwards (Festival director)
Guest Curator: Kit de Waal
Production: 11C/ Birmingham Podcast Studios for Writing West Midlands
TRANSCRIPT
BLF Podcast Transcription, Episode 4: Candice Braithwaite in conversation with Dorothy Koomson
Kit de Waal
Welcome to the Birmingham Lit Fest Presents...podcast series. I’m Kit de Waal and I’ve worked with the
Festival Director, Shantel Edwards, as Guest Curator of this year’s podcast series. Each Thursday across the next few months we’ll be releasing new episodes of the podcast, including wonderful discussions about writing, poetry, big ideas and social issues. In this week’s episode we welcome Candice Brathwaite, author of the bestselling book, I Am Not Your Baby Mother, in conversation with fellow bestselling author Dorothy Koomson. Candice’s book, part memoir and part social commentary, offers a brilliantly observed guide to life as a black mother in the UK and an urgent call to recognise the diversity of motherhood. Join them as they discuss redefining motherhood, the silencing of black women’s pain and the experience of publishing a book in the midst of a global pandemic and the resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests across the world.
Dorothy Koomson
Hello, my name's Dorothy Koomson and today I am talking to the wonderful Candice Brathwaite – I have to say that properly. And I actually listened to her book rather than reading it because I wanted to get a sense of who Candice is. And so I know how to say her name properly. So yeah, Candice Brathwaite is something of a powerhouse in the social media world and in, naturally, the real world. She has helped to transform the lives of millions, and I do say millions because she has touched so many people: the lives of millions of mothers everywhere by showing them that mothers don't all look one way and they don't all have to have shiny hair and a certain amount of money in the bank to be good mothers who love and care about their children. And she's a top-tier influencer. And it was from her experiences on the differing ways of being a mother that led her to found Make Motherhood Diverse, an online initiative that Candice describes as aiming to encourage a more accurately representative and diverse depiction of motherhood in the media. Basically, to show us all that all mothers don't look the same, they don't have the same experiences and we are all different but all good parents.
Candice has two children, Esmé-Olivia, and Richard Junior known as RJ, and she lives with her husband Bodé in Milton Keynes. Her book, I Am Not Your Baby Mother, published earlier this year, really lifted the lid off what it means to be a black mother in our modern world. And she describes her experiences and the experience of so many other black women in all its dangerous, humorous, scandalous, humbling, empowering and beautiful glory. Candice is talking to me today about her book, life and of course, ice cream. And I say ice cream because my first question to you, Candice, is going to be, What's your favourite flavour of ice cream?
Candice Brathwaite
Um, Cookie Dough.
Dorothy Koomson
Cookie Dough?
Candice Brathwaite
Yeah, specifically a bit of Ben and Jerry's.
Dorothy Koomson
Ben and Jerry's.
Candice Brathwaite
I don't wanna advertise to them but ... Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough. It's up there. It is up there.
Dorothy Koomson
You see, I can't eat that, unfortunately, because I'm gluten free, and so I'm gutted when I see other people eating those things. It's just – oh, okay. Well, now I know that, see, we've started on a good footing. You've got a good flavour of ice cream up there. So, my second important question to you was going to be, What's your favourite flavour of baby food?
Candice Brathwaite
Oh, baby food? Oh, gosh!
Dorothy Koomson
I bet no one's ever asked you that before.
Candice Brathwaite
I'm a bit stuck. Yes, never! I'm like, you know, anything appley if that makes sense like. And this is the thing: so you know my background is Caribbean and my husband's background is Nigerian so even like the idea of baby food that comes in jars – that's so foreign to us.
Dorothy Koomson
I know.
Candice Brathwaite
You just like, yeah, you just mash down what you're eating and give it to the baby.
Dorothy Koomson
Yes, I know. That was why I wanted to double-check. You see, I wanted to double-check on you. I was checking up on you in a different way, see.
[Laughter.]
Dorothy Koomson
So I should follow that up by asking is it plantain or jollof. Which is your favourite out of those two?
Candice Brathwaite
Oh, plantain! It's not even up for a competition with me.
Dorothy Koomson
Okay, all right. So I’m gonna be serious now, yeah. So how is your lockdown been? Because I know it's, we're coming out of it apparently. I'm not, I'm still distancing and stuff. But how's it been for you?
Candice Brathwaite
Do you know what? Lockdown was, was really difficult in, in, in a lot of ways. You've got, I've got two underage kids at home. It's hard to explain, especially to a two-year old, why he can't go to his childminder. And, you know, you're spending all of this extra time with a family you really do love but you need some space. And then it was, there was another layer of difficulty. My first book was published during lockdown, which I was really, really nervous about because I'm a debut author anyway. I'm gonna be nervous: I don't know how this works. And you could have millions of followers on social media. If you want to be taken seriously as a writer there is, I had an idea in my head about getting to meet my readers, about being on a physical book tour. And to see dates just get erased from my diary, I was like, oh, okay. I was even saying to the publishing house, like, I think we should delay this and luckily, they, you know, they had faith that it would be okay. But it's been really, really hard because – you would know better than me – writing a book is one thing, promoting it is a different beast.
Dorothy Koomson
It is.
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