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Plus: The RITA award winner debuts two book covers.
Kennedy Ryan is an inspiration to a lot of people.
Credit: Kennedy Ryan
Yet for her, the victory is bittersweet.
When they announced my name, it really was so shocking for me the way the room exploded.
All of these black authors poured into the aisle as I was going up on stage.
Kennedy Ryan
They had tears streaming down their face.
It was a sense ofwedid it.
It was so much bigger than my book, and so much bigger than me.
Kennedy Ryan
I felt the weight of it.
Shes not shy about declaring that she stands on the shoulders of giants.
Shonda Rhimes, there are aspects of my career I have modeled after her, Ryan says.
Her and Ava DuVernay are two storytellers who are giants to me.
Writing diversely, but also writing widely I saw that in Shonda Rhimes.
Check out her striking covers and read more below.
[The hero is] a green-energy mogul whose father owns an oil company.
Early on in the book, theres a pipeline protest.
The Native American youth really are on the front line of protests.
Thats how the book starts; its across many years.
You saidScandalwas an inspiration to you.
Im like, ThinkScandal, you know?
We all want that.
Theyre like the gladiators [of this world].
Given that political aspect, how much of the story is inspired by current events?
When I wrote this book, I didnt set out to be controversial.
There are some things that are issues of humanity and issues of injustice.
[The heroine] is very true to her traditions and her culture.
She speaks frankly on the kleptocratic history of this nation.
People generally know we did Native Americans wrong.
They will hear a heroine who is very comfortable and conversant in actual history and articulates that.
For some people, that feels confrontational.
Its very much about truth.
Guilt, especially in the context of where we are as a nation, is useless.
I honestly was terrified to write this book.
No writing, only research.
The same as any other cultural group, Native Americans are not monolithic.
At least a third of those I was interviewing were from the particular tribe I selected for my heroine.
I hired sensitivity readers from that cultural background to beta-read both books for me.
Thats the process I have gone through to be respectful and responsible.
Its not that I dont think people should write beyond their experience.
But if you dont deep-dive consult with someone who has lived that experience, its the height of arrogance.
Its irresponsible, and its probably going to be harmful.
People talk about sensitivity reading and they confine it to race.
I was listening to a podcast withAlyssa Cole, and she called it accuracy reading.
My background is journalism.
Thats my default, is to not assume I know the story.
I feel like I have to go get the story, if that makes sense.
Every time I sit down, I think, What dont I know about this person?
Where will I find that information?
For me, [making underrepresented people the heroes and heroines] is always the win.
When I read your stories, I see myself when I dont in a lot of other stories.
Your RITA-winning book,Long Shot, tackled domestic abuse.
Can we expect that same level of heaviness in this duet?
That book it its own brand of raw.
[People accuse me of writing womens fiction.]
I write stories that center powerful women, and they get a happily-ever-after.
Whatever you want to call centering powerful women who end up happy, thats what I write.
Its always going to have a happily-ever-after.
I guarantee you that, but I dont say its going to be easy.
What I enjoy is the hard-won happily-ever-after.
I like to see love under pressure.
As humans, we shine brightest under pressure.
We learned so much about each other.
We loved each other most deeply when we were in pain.
Thats why sometimes youll have these gaps.
This one has one too.
Readers are going to say, Why was she apart from him?
Because shes building her career.
Shes living her life.
Shes figuring out who she is.
Theres an integrity to who she is as a person.
Sometimes we dont see that as much in romance, and its what I want to perpetuate.
These covers are very striking.
What inspired the crisp, clean look?The word that came to me ispower.
I really play with what power really is in the book and how its abused and all that.
[I was aiming for] a rumpled elegance.
Those are buzzwords that my designer and I [locked onto].
We have a whole Pinterest board.
You know really powerful, elegant people at a party?
What I wanted was to see them when they come home from the party with their cufflinks off.
That is a visual representation of their authenticity, their own vulnerability.
What I wanted is the space between a public persona and who you really are.
Seeing people who are really well put together in public behind the scenes.
Its power in repose.
Theres an ongoing discussion about illustrated covers and the challenges of finding diverse cover models or stock images.
Its an Anglo-centric concept of beauty.
If they see a black person on a cover, they assume the story is not for them.
Being an author of color in a mainstream publishing landscape can be exhausting.
There are things we have to negotiate and consider that nobody else would think twice about.
I am willing to swim upstream.
But it can be exhausting.
It does feel hard sometimes, but its worth it.
Im not going to stop trying.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
