Ijeoma Oluo: On the Writing Process Changing Over Time
Ijeoma Oluo is a writer, speaker, and internet yeller. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, So You Want to Talk About Race and, most recently, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America. Her work has been featured in The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, among many other publications.
She was named to the 2021 Time 100 Next list and has twice been named to the Root 100. She received the 2018 Feminist Humanist Award and the 2020 Harvard Humanist of the Year Award from the American Humanist Association. She lives in Seattle, Washington. For more on Ijeoma, go to IjeomaOluo.com, and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
Ijeoma Oluo
Photo by Jovelle Tomayo
In this post, Ijeoma discusses the inspiration behind her new nonfiction book, Be A Revolution, her hope for writers, and more!
Name: Ijeoma Oluo
Literary agent: Lauren Abramo
Book title: Be A Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World—and How You Can, Too
Publisher: HarperOne
Release date: January 30, 2024
Genre/category: Nonfiction
Previous titles: So You Want To Talk About Race; Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America
Elevator pitch: Oluo aims to show how people across America are working to create change at the intersections of systemic racism, and how you can too.
Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]
What prompted you to write this book?
After years of writing on issues of race and racism, I was regularly asked, “But what can I do?” by readers. This book aims to show what you can do, by showing what others have been doing, and the paths that led them to their important changemaking work.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
It took about four years from idea to publication. The overall idea didn’t necessarily change, but the shape and direction of it was really set by my conversations with movement workers, in ways that often surprised me.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
This is my third book and I think I’ll always be surprised by how different the publishing process can be each time, and how much the industry can change in the years between projects. But a good team will always make such a difference in navigating this fast-changing industry.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
There were so many surprises! I learned so much and I’m so grateful for what I’ve learned. This book, and the conversations that I had with movement workers for this book, fundamentally changed the way that I see movement work and my role within it.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope that readers will feel inspired and challenged—but most of all, empowered—to make real change in their communities.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
With this book, I learned that not only does my writing style grow and change with time, so does my process. I was shocked to discover that what got a book done in my 30s (staying up all night writing for weeks on end) just isn’t doable in my 40s, and it took me a while to accept the fact that I would have to adjust my writing process to fit my needs in the present moment. But the adjustments I eventually made contributed to this being my most personally healthy and rewarding writing project to-date.
With a growing catalog of instructional writing videos available instantly, we have writing instruction on everything from improving your craft to getting published and finding an audience. New videos are added every month!