Do you remember the viral question, “What if Harry Potter went to an HBCU in the South?” The hashtag #BlackHogwarts was born, and we allowed our imaginations to run wild. We had a time pouring hot sauce, swag, and invisibility Timbs all over a fantastical tale that we loved but that largely overlooked our community.
Unfortunately, we’re accustomed to that. Despite tropes like the magical negro, we are often ignored in storylines that are mythical. But while we had our fun, the idea was more than a fad for the man who started it all. LaDarrion Williams has labored for four years to bring a Black-centered fantastical tale to a bookstore near you.
BGN interviewed Williams via Zoom about what inspired this story, what readers can look forward to in this three-book series, and his thoughts on the changing landscape for Black storytellers.
You are a playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, and author. What drives you as a storyteller?
I like to poke the bear and shake the table. I look at writers like August Wilson, Zora Neale Hurston, Lorraine Hansberry, and James Baldwin; they weren’t afraid to do so. Even Jesus flipped tables to get people’s attention. That’s what really drives me to write plays, films, and now books. This is a new territory for me, and it’s so different.
Tell me about Blood at the Root.
Blood at the Root is a young adult fantasy novel. It is about a Black kid named Malik, who is from Helena, Alabama, which is my hometown. He gets accepted into Caiman University, a magical HBCU in the backwoods of Louisiana. He must go there to learn about his ancestral magic. He meets friends and gets reunited with his childhood crush. He also uncovers some dark secrets surrounding his mother’s mysterious disappearance. She went there [to Caiman] and now, she’s missing. He’s got to investigate some people at this school because somebody there may or may not have something to do with it.
What inspired you to write this book?
When I was in high school, it was Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, and Twilight. I felt very connected to those stories, but I didn’t feel seen by them. That made me fall out of love with reading. When I watched Black Is King, something ignited in me again. In 2020, there was a lot of civil unrest and a lot of protesting, and I wanted to escape. I wanted to read, so I went to Barnes and Noble. I asked the clerk, “Where’s the Black boys in YA fantasy?” There weren’t any, so I decided to go write a fantasy story that’s based in the South with a Black boy lead.
I didn’t intend on it being a book; I wrote it as a television pilot first. I tweeted about it. The tweet blew up, and people were telling me I had to write it. Me and my friends, in the middle of the pandemic, shot a short film in the middle of LA called Blood at the Root. I’m thinking I’m good. The short film is viral. People are having watch parties. Hollywood is going to come calling. They didn’t, and I was very depressed about it. I was not winning any contests. I couldn’t get an agent or a manager. My critique partner, Margeaux Weston, encouraged me to pursue traditional publishing. Based on the bookstore, I thought publishing didn’t want a Black boy in YA fantasy. Now, we’re two weeks away from it being available, and I get to go to that same bookstore in Burbank and see it on the bookshelf.
Why do you feel it was important for you to write Malik’s story?
We talk about our literacy rate, but we don’t get to the root of it. Even though I like The Great Gatsby, I didn’t connect to guys like that. I was a 19-year-old Black kid in Alabama. That’s not my experience. I wrote the book for the little Black boys who are in Alabama right now asking, “Where’s the books?” I want to see a Black kid from my hometown, or Mississippi, or Georgia, or South Carolina be the hero. I wrote it for the little Black boys who haven’t even been born yet so they can come in and say, “He looks like me. He has the same experiences as me, and that may change the trajectory of my life.” He gets to see himself as the hero. He gets to fall in love. He gets to be vulnerable because we don’t see a lot of Black boy characters be vulnerable. We don’t give them that space. And as a Black man living in this country, I’m definitely not offered that space all the time. I have to find it for myself. That’s what I’m very passionate about this book.
How do you hope this book will impact the Black community?
I hope that it resonates with Black readers specifically about being reconnected to ancestry because our ancestry is so powerful. Hopefully, it also inspires young Black readers to go deeper into our history. I want to make history cool and fun to learn about. Yes, slavery is a part of our history, but there’s also so many other things too. There’s the Reconstruction Era and how Black people literally built wealth. There were so many civil rights icons outside of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. I think reconnection is important for us right now.
What can readers look forward to in the series?
We don’t really see a lot of southern Black folklore in television, films, or plays. I’m really excited for people to learn about some really cool Black American folklore and how it has influenced people who grew up in religious households. A lot of Hoodoo inspired or was used in the church. I’m really excited to bridge that gap with the series. I’ve had conversations with my mom where she asked me why I watch that witchcraft stuff. She called it devil magic. I thought, “Oh, we’re gonna have to have a conversation.” You see that cinnamon broom that’s on your wall? Why do you think auntie used to sweep the house from the back all the way into the yard? Where do you think that comes from? I dive into that more over the course of the three books.
What are your thoughts about the ways in which the landscape is changing for Black storytellers?
We’re in a renaissance, I believe. I think we’re feeling like Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and James Baldwin were feeling. I’m excited for that because I think we’re starting to break the mold of the European aesthetic of fantasy. I would love to see more fantasy with Black kids in the hood shape-shifting and just experiencing life. I think we have to shake the table a little bit more.
If you enjoy YA series such as Legendborn, Blood at the Root is available for pre-purchase at all book outlets. The book will be released May 7, 2024, and keep an ear out for the audiobook, narrated by Jalyn Hall of All American and Till.
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