Lester Fabian Brathwaite: Rage Is Reasonable
Lester Fabian Brathwaite is a staff writer at Entertainment Weekly and, for some masochistic reason known only to him and his therapist, has been a professional writer for almost fifteen years. He has contributed to The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and The Advocate, among other publications, and has also served as senior editor for Out magazine. Follow him on Instagram.
Lester Fabian Brathwaite
Photo © Harvey Jackson Project 2023
In this interview, Lester discusses how he took bitterness and spite and turned it into something creative with his new book, Rage, the biggest surprises in the publishing process, and more.
Name: Lester Fabian Brathwaite
Literary agent: Robert Guinsler
Book title: Rage: On Being Queer, Black, Brilliant…and Completely Over It
Publisher: Tiny Reparations/Penguin Random House Nonfiction/Essays
Release date: September 10, 2024
Genre/category: Nonfiction/Essays
Elevator pitch: Rage is a darkly comedic exploration of Blackness, queerness, and the American Dream, at a time when creative anger feels like the best response to inequality.
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What prompted you to write this book?
What prompts any of us to do anything? Bitterness and spite. Having amassed years of rage from the various disappointments of life—romantic, professional, personal, socio-political, etc.—I wanted to find a way to channel that rage, to make it worthwhile and not just feel as if it were this albatross about my neck, dragging me down and breaking my phones with hurled enmity. I also wanted to prove that I was what I said I was—that is, a talented writer far more capable of what I had been doing in my career up to this point.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I initially wrote the pitch in 2018, but there was little to no interest in it. Then the so-called Great Reckoning of 2020 happened and suddenly publishers wanted Black voices. There was a little more interest, but it wasn’t until Phoebe Robinson and her Tiny Reparations imprint reached out that I actually got a deal, and that was in the fall of 2020, shortly before I tore my ACL. A couple surgeries, a couple breakdowns, a couple lockdowns, an insurrection, and just the general upheaval of life later, and here we are.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
I never knew how many people were involved in the publishing of a book, from the proofreaders to the marketing and publicity team. A book always seemed like the purest expression of an idea one could create as an artist, or at least a writer, but while the writing is certainly a solitary act, bringing the whole book to fruition is a team effort, and I was very lucky to have such a good team behind me. It also made the whole process a little less lonely and gave me further confidence in the book and in myself.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I realized how much I hold back when I’m writing for work—out of a need to adhere to word count or out of the fear of making a piece too much about me or too personal, or out of plain old laziness. Having never written a book before, I had to learn on the job and it was surprising, in a good way, how self-indulgent the whole process is—but it’s self-indulgent out of necessity. The deeper I went, the less room I left to be misunderstood, which is also quite gratifying.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope readers will get some comfort in knowing their rage is reasonable and maybe some perspective on how to handle it, or an understanding of where it comes from. And I really just want people to have a few laughs along the way because the world is a deeply unfunny place and being able to find humor in it is, I think, the greatest gift.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Make sure you have or develop a rich inner life. That’s the wellspring of creativity.
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