A Room of One’s Own Bookstore hosted author Hanif Abdurraqib in his first reading of a fall tour Sept. 5, 2024. The event was introduced by Fawzy Taylor, A Room of One’s Own’s social media marketing manager. Abdurraqib is a bestselling essayist, cultural critic and poet from Columbus, Ohio.
Abdurraqib began by reading a series of new poems revolving around religious skepticism. Each was named “There are more ways to show devotion,” inspired by a quote from Abdurraqib’s personal life.
The poems contained a mixture of cultural speech and stream-of-consciousness writing. Abdurraqib referenced city life in his poems — many of which contained lifelike anecdotes such as parenthood (especially motherhood), grappling with loss and the absurdity of American life.
Abdurraqib then read an excerpt from the focal text of the event, “There’s Always This Year.” Abdurraqib said the memoir is about time lost — though not necessarily regretting time spent — and how cities lie to their inhabitants and lure them into cruelty.
The memoir contained more stream-of-consciousness writing which Abdurraqib said was partially inspired by famous author Toni Morrison. In the text, Abdurraqib said, “what are we willing to lie about for a good memory?”
Abdurraqib received questions after the memoir reading concluded. Many questions concerned bands and music more generally, though quite a few questions involved writing.
Abdurraqib said a struggle with writing is accepting one’s limits to write what they dream. He said one must often abandon a dreamed idea, and that it is necessary to come to terms with those lost ideas.
When asked about his writing education, Abdurraqib said he did not receive any formal education, but was greatly influenced by his mother — who would often write after work — and a high school teacher who advocated for him to take AP English courses. He said a particularly meaningful source of writing education comes from observing the reactions of loved ones to his work.
When discussing storytelling more generally, Abdurraqib said writers provide their audiences with not simply words, but entire worlds.
He is currently working on more poems and is interested in writing about Black performers who have died on stage and exploring how a ‘stage’ and ‘death’ are defined.
