N.K. Jemisin, a Hugo Award-winning and New York Times-best-selling author, visited Coffman Union on April 18 for a special lecture supported by the Department of English.
The event was the 42nd Esther Freier Endowed Lecture in Literature, which honors Freier, who spent her entire four decade-long academic and working career with the University. This year, the lecture reached capacity and was moved to the great hall in Coffman Union to accommodate the high demand.
N.K Jemisin is the first and only author to win the Hugo Award for best novel three years in a row with her “Broken Earth” trilogy. The Hugo Award is considered the premier award in science fiction literature.
Jemisin visited Coffman Union in promotion of her most recent book, November’s “The World We Make,” which completed her “Great Cities” duology. The urban fantasy duology is about New York City as it becomes sentient and the humans who must face an otherworldly enemy to protect it. However, “The World We Make” took on a tone that Jemisin had not envisioned for the series.
“‘The World We Make’ is a darker book than I wanted it to be,” Jemisin said at the lecture.
Writing during the COVID-19 pandemic, the author struggled to complete the series, deciding to make it a duology instead of the original trilogy.
“I decided to kind of cut my losses,” Jemisin said in a November Rolling Stone interview.
The expedited ending was noticeable to some critics.
“Several interesting developments — revelations about Manhattan’s family history, Brooklyn’s bid for mayor — feel marched to conclusion instead of being explored,” wrote Canadian poet Amal El-Mohtar in her November New York Times review.
However, the lecture highlighted the overwhelmingly positive reception to Jemisin’s works, especially her earlier books.
“If you are new to her work and eager to be devastated, you should start with ‘The Broken Earth trilogy,’” Megan Giddings, the moderator of the event, said. During her introduction, the audience broke out into cheers at the recognition of the trilogy.
Jemisin started the event with a reading titled “Give Me Cornbread or Give Me Death.” Originally published in 2019, the story describes dragon attacks, attempts to control the public and the importance of collard greens.
“It is an absurd story, it’s okay to laugh,” Jemisin said to the crowd before she began.
After the reading, Jemisin answered questions from Giddings and the audience.
The author was asked about her creative process, specifically how she developed the human avatars that represented New York’s different boroughs in her “Great Cities” duology.
Jemisin said she usually starts with the most recognizable aspect of the place she’s writing about. She asked the crowd for descriptors of Minneapolis and received several shouts of “Minnesota Nice!” in response.
Jemisin said if she were to write about Minneapolis, she would then start her avatar-development with Minnesota Nice. Using that foundation, Jemisin said she would then try to bring in more aspects of the city to avoid stereotypes and to give the character depth.
Jemisin also said she has sold the rights to all her books for television and movie adaptations.
After “Black Panther” came out in 2018, Jemisin said she experienced a dramatic increase in interest for Black science fiction stories. She sold the rights to some of her books two or three times over. However, none have reached fruition.
Her most recent deal with Sony’s TriStar Pictures is for “The Broken Earth” trilogy, which she will be adapting herself. At the lecture, Jemisin discussed writing her first script for the screen.
You can buy N.K. Jemisin’s “The World We Make” at Barnes & Noble, Amazon and more.