Screenwriter, director, and playwright LaDarrion Williams is making his novel debut with Blood at the Root, which releases on May 7. You can hear the author speak all about his new fantasy story at his upcoming 92NY event.
A teenager on the run from his past finds the family he never knew existed and the community he never knew he needed at an HBCU for the young, Black, and magical. Enroll in this fresh fantasy debut unlike anything you’ve seen before.
I asked the author about what he hopes will stick with readers about the book, why he loves fantasy, paying homage to his grandmother, what he wants the legacy of the series to be, bringing the story to the screen, and more. Keep reading for everything he shared!
I know that your frustration with the lack of Black magical narratives in media, specifically film and TV, was a huge inspiration for this book. What was the moment that made you want to take action against that and create something like Blood at the Root?
LaDarrion Williams: It was when I stepped into the Burbank Barnes and Noble and I asked the clerk, “Where are the YA fantasy books with the Black boys that don’t deal with racism or die on the page?” She looked. I looked. She looked at me. I looked at her, and then I was like, ‘Welp, I guess I have to go write this novel.’
With this being your debut novel, what do you want to stand out or stick with readers about your work?
That this story is about a theme of connection. It’s about connecting back to our ancestry and recovering what was stolen from us. Also, the beauty of Black boyhood and what that looks like through the lens of magic. I want to take the experiences that a lot of Black kids went through whether that’s through foster care, living in the South, or trying to fit in a place that you thought never knew existed and that it was created for your well-being.
Did you find yourself drawing from your own experiences when writing about community? Why was that so important to highlight?
Yes! Listen, childhood trauma is real. I think, as a kid who didn’t always grow up in the best of environments, I had to escape. I had to build my own worlds to escape from the broken one that I was living in. Also, wanting to feel connected to people and not be overlooked. I think a lot of times with young boys like Malik Baron, they’re overlooked because of the way they talk or carry themselves in the world but they just don’t know they have a thousand stories worth telling.
What do you love most about the fantasy genre?
Escapism is real because it’s safe. When I think of fantasy, and yes, this random, I think of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, the Brandy and Whitney version. I think of the song “In My Own Little Corner,” because with fantasy, I can literally be what I want to be.
Do you have any message for those readers who see themselves through your characters, specifically Malik, that you wish someone would have said to you when you were younger?
Whew. Yeah, I wished someone said that you’re loved. Something about those words are so powerful to a kid. We always talk about healing the inner-child, but I’m on healing my inner-teenager. Seventeen-year-old LaDarrion needed to hear those words because he literally believed that he wasn’t enough.
What did you want to capture when it came to the relationship between Malik and his younger foster brother?
Tenderness because in a world that often tries to make little Black boys hard, they don’t get to have those tender moments sometimes. Malik is trying to give Taye the childhood never had, but the sad part about that sometimes is that Malik is still a kid himself. So, in that, he has to heal his inner-teen as well.
Which relationship or character dynamic was your favorite to explore in the novel?
Mama Aya’s and Malik’s. I think because I only knew my grandmother for a small amount of time in my life, it’s a relationship that I would’ve loved to have because a lot of times in the South, you find a lot of young Black men raised by their grandmothers. So, Mama Aya is an homage to my grandmother, Viola “Nancy” Allen.
Can you talk about how this was originally started as a viral Twitter pitch three years ago? What has it been like to see the excitement on social media?
Amazing! I think folks are really seeing the story from the ground up. Folks on Twitter (yes, we still call it that) have been with me and BATR through the inception, through the rejections and closed doors, and now they’re seeing the fruition of it. So it’s really cool!
You now have a three-book deal, so what do you hope the legacy of this series is?
That more Black boys are welcomed in the YA fantasy genre. We need hundreds and thousands of stories of them. I want the little Black boys to know that they do have magic and it’s always been theirs, and that no matter where you’re from, you literally can make the impossible possible.
Why was Jalyn Hall the right choice to voice the audiobook?
He captures that youthful essence of Malik. He’s from the South and also, the brotha is booked! I really think with his following, we can usher in a new sector of readers! And again, he’s booked, so I’m glad he took time out of his busy schedule to do it!
I know it’s on track to become a television series, is there anything you can say about that process or what you’re most excited to see brought to life on screen?
You know what I really want, and it may sound silly, but I really want to create that culture of how it was back when Twilight and all those YA movies were dropping — but I want that for television. So, kinda how Insecure had Black Twitter in a chokehold every Sunday night. I want BATR to do that. That’s what I’m really excited about.