In 'Out of the Dark,' I'm talking about my own life. I'm not talking as a character or speaking as a character. I was not as free as when I write fiction.
— Nikki Grimes
Writing is a muscle that needs to be exercised.
It seemed uncanny that words, spread across a page just so, had the power to transport me to another time or place. But they could.
Originally I had planned to write just a couple of children's books and then, return the focus on adult literature. A funny thing happened along the way - I kept having new ideas, and then I looked up one day, and 30 years had passed!
In one sense, the stories I read betrayed me. Too few gave me back my mirror image. Fewer still spoke to, or acknowledged, the existence of the problems I faced as a black foster child from a dysfunctional and badly broken home.
Something about your life always makes its way into your stories. That's just the nature of the beast.
I spent many hours ensconced in the local library, reading - nay, devouring - book after book after book. Books were my soul's delight.
