DDW - S2 Ep03 -Interview with Antoine Bandele, author of TJ Young & the Orishas, Tales of Esowon, and The Sky Pirate Chronicles

Doing Diversity in Writing

In this episode of Doing Diversity in Writing, we—Bethany and Mariëlle—interview Antoine Bandele.

Antoine Bandele is an Amazon bestselling author in action adventure fantasy, dark fantasy, sword & sorcery, African American fantasy, and African literature. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, though he spent one year in Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington while his father served in the U.S. Army.

He lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend and cat. You can find him producing videos all over YouTube, including his own channel (which you should totally check out). He is also an audiobook engineer. He is the author of the Young Adult fantasy series TJ Young and the Orishas, the Adult fantasy series The Sky Pirate Chronicles, the Lost Tales of Esowon, The Kishi and more.

What we talked about

• How Antoine identifies as a person and a writer
• Why Antoine writes the characters he writes
• What challenges have come up for him while writing diverse characters
• Which authors he appreciates for their diverse books
• The joy and importance of (public) libraries and why they’re the best place to go first when in research mode

(Re)sources mentioned on the show

• Claudia Gray: http://www.claudiagray.com
• Brittney Morris: https://www.authorbrittneymorris.com
• Chuck Wendig: http://terribleminds.com/ramble
• To learn more about Antoine and his services: https://www.antoinebandele.com/about
• To learn more about Antoine’s books: https://www.antoinebandele.com/complete-collection
• Bethany’s Editing Your Novel's Structure: Tips, Tricks, and Checklists to Get You From Start to Finish: https://theartandscienceofwords.com/new-book-for-authors/

This week’s episode page can be found here: https://representationmatters.art/2022/01/27/s2e3/

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