Camille Rankine Interviewed at PEN America

Camille Rankine talks with PEN America's Hafizah Geter for the PEN Ten series. "[A]s you read this, I'm tapping my foot expectantly waiting for her next book," says Geter, who asks Rankine about identity, obsessions and influence, collective purpose, and how might the volume of hate in America affect her work. Some of their conversation:

While the notion of the public intellectual has fallen out of fashion, do you believe writers have a collective purpose?

I still find public intellectualism fashionable! I think a lot of people do. I don't think writers have a collective purpose, though. It's not like we've all met and decided what we're about. That's far too monolithic a vision for me. I want each writer to put energy into figuring out their own purpose, rather than being handed an agenda.

Recognizing years of cultural theft and appropriation, to whom would you like to give back the crown?

Black musicians. And while we're at it, I'd ask non-native people (myself included) to stop calling everything their spirit animal.

How has the very public mainstreaming of bigotry and more visible and documented police violence resonated in your personal life and writing?

Oh, I don't know, every day is a new adventure. Lately the volume of hate in America has been turned up so high, it's hard to think. It's also harder to ignore. Because I've known the insidiousness of this hate for so long, it's almost a relief to see more and more people recognizing bigotry for what it is. At the same time, it's terrifying to see that bigotry and violence so openly legitimized by our newly-elected President. I feel afraid of where we're headed. I don't know what that will mean for my writing. Some days, it feels impossible. Others, imperative.

What book would you send to a government leader, domestic or foreign, who censors (or inhibits) marginalized and/or dissenting voices?

Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider...

Find the full interview at PEN America.