Lit Life
A newsletter of the DC Writers Room
Welcome to DC Writers Room’s Substack, the place for all things literary in the DMV. This issue features an interview with Akosua Harvey, author of Why the Birds Fly Back.
Lit Life: A Conversation with Akosua Harvey
Akosua LauraJeanne Faye Harvey is an educator, writer, and medium whose work explores the intersections of ancestry, culture, identity, and community. A passionate storyteller, Akosua channels her experiences as a Black woman and educator to challenge, uplift, and inspire. With a background in physics and science literacy, her unique perspective aims to blend intellect and artistry in a way that is accessible to young minds, offering a voice that is both authentic and impactful. Akosua’s works are celebrations of resilience, creativity, and the transformative and healing power of words.
DCWR: What’s the inspiration behind Why the Birds Fly Back?
HARVEY: The inspiration for my novel Why the Birds Fly Back came from a lot of different places. First and foremost, and perhaps the inspiration for all of the writing I’m doing now, I was writing stories that I truly saw myself in and stories that I wanted to read.
A few years ago before I began working on this book, I remember watching TV shows and movies, and reading stories about Black girls where it seemed like we couldn’t exist detached from our trauma or traumatic experiences. That our value was primarily in our ability to overcome, persevere, or be resilient. Frankly, I was tired of seeing that. I wanted to imagine a life, a story beyond that. So I started looking for those narratives and they were hard to find. I was getting frustrated and my love for Black storytellers was being challenged because of it - until I realized… Oh wait. I’m a writer. Why don’t I just write the stories that I want to read? Be the change that I want to see? So that sparked a great shift in my storytelling.
Around that time I had two or three stories in addition to Why the Birds Fly Back floating around in my head, you know the bones of stories. Birds felt like the best one to break my own glass ceiling. It felt like the story I could write that could expose me to the publishing world, that I could practice on, but could still be a beautiful representation of the responsibility and gift I have as a storyteller. Something that could honor my ancestors and plant many trees with one seed. And so that’s exactly what I did.
DCWR: What do you hope readers take away from your book?
HARVEY: My hopes for the takeaway depend on the age of the reader. The target audience is pre-teen and early teenage adolescents, and I hope they realize they truly are magical, powerful, and play an important role as children. The way their magic, power, and purpose expose themselves, however, might be more subtle than they think. That doesn’t make their role any less important or potent, it makes it more real.
My dream for this novel is that families read it alongside each other. So while children are getting the aforementioned lesson, parents and adults are realizing that mistakes are necessary, and their response to those “rights” and “wrongs” do more for their family’s foundation than the individual actions ever could.
DCWR: What book or books are on your newsstand or desk right now?
HARVEY: Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters by Carla Kaplan lives on my desk. It is an anchor which does not move. The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu is my current obsession. I just finished Seven Days in June by Tia Williams and while I’m not usually a romance girl, I really enjoyed that story. I’m also reading Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond and The Learning Revolution: (AI) & The Quest for Equity in Education by a colleague of mine, Nikolas Mejia, on the professional development side of things.
DCWR: Which writer or artist of any kind did you most recently discover and fall in love with?
HARVEY: Mereba. For certain. I’ve been listening to her for a while and this year I took a deep dive into her discography, and it has been such an experience. Not only do I love her voice, musicality, and beat selection, but I really just feel a visceral connection to many of her songs. They make my bones rattle and I get goosebumps. Especially songs like Go(l)d and Kinfolk. I am such a fan of her work.
DCWR: When you’re not writing you are…?
HARVEY: Most of my time when I’m not writing is spent dedicated to my spiritual development as an Okomfowaa, a traditional priest in training, in my classroom surrounded by brilliant and hilarious minds of the youth, or outside communing with nature on a hike or walk of some sort.
Make sure to catch Akosua Harvey at her upcoming events:
12/18, 6pm - Book signing at Old Fox Books in Annapolis
2/19, 2pm - In conversation with Read Your World on Instagram Live
NEWS FROM THE DC WRITERS ROOM
WRITERLY HAPPY HOUR: A bar full of writers? Sounds like our kind of night! Join us on 12/11 at 6pm for the next Writerly Happy Hour, a collaboration from The DC Writers Room, The Writer’s Center, PEN/Faulkner, and The Inner Loop. The event, which takes place at No Kisses Bar in Sonny’s Pizza, is an excellent opportunity to mix with members of the DC writing community and to meet the staff of some of our area’s fantastic literary organizations. Reserve a spot here. We look forward to seeing you there!
UPCOMING EVENTS WITH STEFAN FATSIS: DCWR member Stefan Fatsis has an exciting line up of events promoting his new book Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) The Modern Dictionary at a couple local venues this month. Catch him at Wonderland Books on 12/3 at 7pm, and Planet Word on 12/13 at 4pm. Visit Stefan Fatsis’s website to see more of his upcoming events around the country, and make sure to pick up a copy of Unabridged at your favorite indie bookshop!
THE LIT LIST: THE DMV’S COOLEST LITERARY EVENTS THIS MONTH
HURSTON/WRIGHT LEGACY AWARDS: Submissions for the Hurston/Wright Foundation’s 2026 Legacy Awards, honoring Black writers for their literary achievements, are currently open, until 1/31. The categories include Debut Fiction, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry, and are open to any books by Black writers published in the US in 2025. Visit the Hurston/Wright Foundation’s Submittable page to see the full set of guidelines, as well as their other award opportunities, the Hurston/Wright Crossover Award and the Hurston/Wright College Award.
804 LIT SALON: Want to hear some great work from local writers? The 804 Lit Salon, organized by Andrew Bertaina, will take place on 12/14 at 3pm at Solid State Books. The event will feature readings from six authors as well as a brief Q&A. Reserve a spot for this free event here.
2025 PEN/MALAMUD AWARD CEREMONY: Get ready for this year’s ceremony for the PEN/Bernard and Ann Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story, given this year to David Means. The event will take place at American University on 12/5 from 6:30-8:30pm, and will feature a reading from David Means, a conversation between him and Tope Folarin, and remarks by Janna Malamud Smith, the daughter of the award’s namesakes. Enjoy a book signing and light refreshments as well. Purchase your tickets here.
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I’ll dig with it.
– Seamus Heaney, “Digging”