“Brown girl brown girl, what do you see? I see a vice president that looks like me.”
In November 2020, Chicago-based writer Leslé Honoré was driving with her 20-year-old daughter when she got a text confirming that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had won the election. So overcome with emotion, she had to pull over and celebrate as she cried tears of joy.
Honoré was so inspired by the historic moment that she eventually rewrote a poem from her 2016 book, Fist & Fire, and posted it to her Instagram account. Before long the touching poem soon went viral with Brown girls all over the world reposting and reciting her words. The moment grew so large that Honoré soon got national media attention from the likes of PBS and “Good Morning America,” among others.
Rolling out recently sat down with Honoré to talk about the piece that she has recently published as a children’s book.
How did you discover your gift for writing?
I don’t ever remember not having it. I’ve always been an avid reader, and reading and writing seemed to always take up the same space of both imagination and escape. I think, very early on, I had an epiphany while I was reading stories about other people that I could write my own stories. The evolution to poetry really came after wanting to be able to say things more quickly and not have to follow rules.
Tell us about your latest book, Brown Girl, Brown Girl.
Brown Girl, Brown Girl is my first children’s book. It’s illustrated by Cozbi Cabrera and published by Little Brown Readers, which is an imprint of Hatchette Book Group. It’s based on my poem, Brown Girl, Brown Girl, that celebrated the win of Vice President Kamala Harris to become the first woman, the first daughter of an immigrant [and] the first Black and Brown person to hold that office.
My book is for anyone who identifies as a Brown girl or who has ever loved a Brown girl. It is about taking a moment and celebrating everything that we’ve accomplished and acknowledging the women who came before us to give us these opportunities. Being both Black and Brown, my mother is from Mexico and my father was from New Orleans, I wanted a book that anyone who identified as a Brown girl could open and find a depiction of themselves. I wanted every representation of Brown girlhood to be in this book from blonde hair and blue eyes to beautiful mahogany skin and tight coils. I wanted there to be as many depictions of the richness of being a Brown girl as possible.
What do you want little Brown girls to take from the book?
I want them to take away the joy of seeing themselves. The joy of being in community. I want them to take away pride, in themselves and their mothers and grandmothers and cousins and aunties and sisters and friends who have contributed to their lives. I want them to take away hope that things have gotten better and things will get better when we are working together — when we are proud of our stories — and we share our lessons. More than anything I just want them to see how beautiful they are and how accomplished they will be.
Best advice to aspiring writers?
To keep writing. I used to think it was corny when people would say that to me. They would say that they loved something that I wrote or that they enjoyed hearing me read and they would often end with, “Keep writing.” I would think to myself, of course, I’m gonna keep writing. That’s what I do, but then dark times came — and it’s really hard to create when you are mourning and hurting. It can be overwhelming to try and produce art when you are depressed. Grief can muffle the voice that you draw from. It was in those moments that I pushed to continue to write — even if nobody else read it — because it kept me alive. Writing helps me breathe. So when people say “keep writing,” it’s not advice; it’s a prayer of protection. It reminds me of who I am when I feel very lost. So, my advice is always to keep writing.
What’s next for Leslé Honoré?
Next up is brown girl brown girl being available in stores on Dec. 3. It’s available for preorder now. Come December find me at a Target or a Barnes & Noble near you just visiting and being in awe that my book exists in the world. I’ll probably be crying. Then my follow-up will be my second children’s book — also published by Little Brown Readers, edited by Deidre Jones, and illustrated by Keturah Bobo — because our boys need to see representation, too.
