With the final book in her West African-inspired Legacy of Orïsha series, Children of Anguish and Anarchy, coming in June, PW talked to Tomi Adeyemi about her inspiration for the bestselling trilogy, what drew her to writing fantasy fiction, and how her protagonist, Zélie, has evolved over the course of three books.
What inspired this series?
The inspiration of this series came from three distinct areas of my life colliding. On one side, there was a girl who had grown up loving fantasy and desperately wanting to be a part of the narrative. The little girl in me was hungry for epic magic and love and adventure, both in the stories I consumed, and the ones I created. The ability to bring that out in Children of Blood and Bone was a thrilling experience, and it felt like the culmination of everything I’d ever wanted to experience as someone who grew up loving stories and storytelling.
On another side of this series’ inspiration was the discovery of the Orisha, divine beings that stem from Yoruba spirituality and mythology. I had grown up with incredible series and adventures, but the main characters never looked like me. It got to a point where I realized I spent ten years of my childhood writing stories without people who looked liked me, too. When I discovered the Orisha, I was already on a journey to heal my ability to exists in my own imagination. But seeing dark-skinned, African Gods and Goddesses for the first time was a creative awakening. I had never seen people like me depicted in such a powerful, regal way. I didn’t even realize that black gods and goddesses existed. So that discovery was foundational to the creation of this book. It’s the reason I named the fictional country Orïsha in the novel. The moment I saw the illustrations of the Orisha, the world of this series came to life. I just had to wait to find the characters who would fill it.
And on the final side of this series’ inspiration was the political climate of the United States. I grew up in mostly white communities, so I wasn’t a stranger to occasional racist comment or teacher. I knew racism existed and as a young, dark skin woman, it would hurt me, but I thought that the extent of that would be my feelings. I didn’t feel like I couldn’t achieve what I wanted for myself, and I certainly didn’t think my life or the lives of those I loved was in danger. That all changed my freshman year at Harvard when Trayvon Martin was shot.
The murder of Trayvon put the unarmed shootings of black civilians into the spotlight, and once the spotlight was there, the shootings and unjust killings didn’t stop. My feed was filled with pictures and hashtags and names of the fallen–Tamir Rice, Orlando Brown, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Sandra Bland. It put me into a state of perpetual PTSD. I was suddenly forced to confront that the hatred towards black people was not only alive, but a lethal threat to me and those I loved most. I started having panic attacks every time I entered my car. My mother says I called her sobbing almost every night.
And if that wasn’t enough, I was seeing that same hatred brought into the fictional spaces I had always loved. When the adaptation of The Hunger Games came out in 2012, I wasn’t expecting the visceral online backlash against Rue and Cinna, the prominent black characters in the story. To see people boldly tweeting things like “how in the world are they going to make Rue a freakin black b-word in the movie?!? Lolol not to be racist buuuuut…I’m angry now” or, “Kk call me racist but when I found out Rue was black her death wasn’t as sad,” was debilitating. It brought me lower than I knew I could go.
In many ways, writing Children of Blood and Bone and the Legacy of Orïsha served as therapy for this fear and heartbreak and rage.
What have readers told you about why this story has resonated with them?
There has been so much! I’ve had so many black girls and women just like me who have told me how much it means to have a protagonist like Zélie and see her beautiful face on the book cover. I’ve had readers, young and old, who have recently lost a parent and expressed how loved they felt in Zélie’s heartbreak over the loss of the mother and the moments of healing and catharsis she experiences throughout the adventure. I’ve had readers struggling with their gender identity tell me how they felt seen in Inan’s journey of discovering parts of himself that he’s been taught to hate and has to learn how to love. I’ve had young white boys in Texas tell me how cool the adventure is and how much they love the battle! I’ve also had practitioners of Orisha-based spiritualities and religions tell me how much the representation of their divine beliefs in this series have meant to them.
We live in an age where between social media and tour events, you’re able to truly interact with your readers. For a first time author, it’s been an incredible blessing.
What got you interested in writing fantasy fiction? Was this always your life plan?
I am a first-generation Nigerian, meaning my parents were born and raised in Nigeria, and I am the first in my family who was born and raised in the United States. Because of this, the common joke is that I was supposed to be a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer. Since I was a child, I have always loved reading and writing fantasy, but I never thought that this would actually be my career, or that I would get to be one of the blessed storytellers who gets to have a popular YA book series that gets adapted to the big screen. I do think that this was always my deepest, wildest dream—but it wasn’t until I was in my early 20s that I started admitting that dream to myself, let alone acting on it.
What fascinates you about magic?
The ability to transform. As a child, I wanted to shoot lightning from my hands. I wanted to walk into my closet and walk out into a fantasy world with a huge conflict that I was somehow at the center of. It’s the adventure and the endless possibilities, especially when ordinary life can often feel mundane.
Now, as an adult, what fascinates me about magic is the encounter with the “miraculous.” The unseen. Those divine moments where you feel without a shadow of a doubt that there is something so much bigger at work and you get to be connected to it.
I don’t know if that fascination will ever die. I sincerely hope it doesn’t.
How can fantasy help us work out complex ideas about real-world issues and problems?
Fantasy is a beautiful medium because it allows us to take the complex issues and conflicts we have in our world, and explore them in a neutral territory. If you step out into the world, or turn on the news, or open one of your social media feeds, it seems like all you see is division and pain. There is so much going wrong in our society, but it feels like there are very few spaces where people are coming together from all walks of life—all races, all ethnicities, all religions, all gender identities and expressions—and discussing how we can fix them.
In a book, every single person is welcome inside. They’re let into the same world on equal footing. They’re connected to a protagonist and get to experience an adventure and a story that can open them up to viewpoints and realities that might not get through to them in the real world. That openness is why fantasy remains paramount to today’s literary landscape.
How has your protagonist, Zélie, grown and evolved during the series?
Something remarkable to me now that the trilogy is complete is that all three books feel like one story to me. I see a girl who started this trilogy fierce, yet afraid. Powerful, yet powerless. Ultimately heartbroken. Through this epic story, she’s become a leader. A true warrior. A protector. In many ways, she’s almost become a god.
Zélie may be fictional, but I am incredibly touched by her journey and her fight, and I hope my readers will feel the same.
What do you want readers to take away from this book, and the series as a whole?
That is a very difficult question! As the young girl and woman who needed to get this story out of her heart and get these emotions out of her soul, I know I feel a sense of pride and completion, and I’m truly grateful for that. But I think as an author at this point in my career, I know that you can’t dictate what a reader connects to or takes away from a story. Ultimately, I hope my readers feel a certain pride and catharsis for the characters they’ve come to love and the grand journey they’ve experienced. I know I want writers who dream of doing what I’ve done to be inspired and go after it. But ultimately, I leave it to them. I’m honestly just grateful that they’re there, and that they’ve allowed me to complete this story!
You have spoken about representation in the publishing industry. Have you seen progress since you started writing the first book? What work still needs to be done?
Just this morning I saw a BookTok that filled my heart with pride. A gorgeous, diverse BookToker uses the lyrics to “Non Stop” in Hamilton with the text:
THEM: ‘I never see black fantasy recommended’
Us: …
As Aaron Burr sings, “How do you write like you’re running out of time?,” the BookToker proceeds to wave black fantasy after black fantasy in front of the camera. We see A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow. Daughters of Niri by Reni K. Amayo. Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury. Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye. A Song of Wrath and Ruin by Roseanne E. Brown. The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna. Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen. Goddess Crown by Shade Lapite. Given by Nandi Taylor. The Upper World by Femi Fadugba. Legendborn by Tracy Deonn. Wish of the Wicked by Danielle Paige. Empress Crowned In Red by Ciannon Smart. And then to my utter delight, Children of Blood and Bone, by me, Tomi Adeyemi.
The landscape has changed. Our stories, our protagonists, and our beautiful covers are here. And I still think it’s just the beginning.
What’s next for you?
The future is very exciting! I’ve been blessed to work across all mediums of storytelling over the past seven years—writing this trilogy, writing the screenplay of the adaptation of Children of Blood and Bone for Paramount Pictures, and writing animated television shows for Netflix. I’ve come to learn that I really love the process of adaptation—from creating the literary work to bringing something to life on screen—and I now understand how I want that to play out throughout my career with my future stories.
I’m currently executive producing on the adaptation of Children of Blood and Bone and collaborating with our incredible director, Gina Prince-Bythwood of The Old Guard and The Woman King, on the picture. I’m also working on my fourth novel, my first adult work, and I’m excited to bring that story to shelves and to screens in a new way. Lastly, I’ve spent the past few years creating a Young Adult memoir about what it’s like to have a giant dream and go after it. I’m really looking forward to watching Zèlie’s journey continue on screen, as well as connect with my readers in the world of fiction and non-fiction in brand new ways.
