MASQUERADE is 6 Months Old Today

wishing my debut novel a happy half-birthday and looking ahead

Happy New Year! I am excited for everything 2025 has in store, and I am glad you are here on this journey with me.

I still can’t wrap my head around seeing “2025” on the calendar. I think for a long time, a subconscious part of me thought the world would end the year I graduated high school, in 2019 (and I suppose I was nearly right, with the pandemic occurring a year later). Then I thought the world would end in 2023, the year I graduated college. But no; I have undeniably made it to adulthood. Time continues to move forward, and so must I.

And as I have learned, time can move rather quickly. Because already, we have reached the 6 month anniversary of Masquerade’s publication.

I have very much enjoyed seeing my novel find enthusiastic readers over the past few months. Thank you to everyone who has supported this book, and who continues to support it.

That being said, I am not sure I would have remembered today was the half-birthday of Masquerade had I not set a reminder in my phone. Readers have only known Masquerade for 6 months, but for me, this novel has been in my life for over four years now.

That’s the interesting thing about publishing. By the time a book is published, the author has likely already moved on. And so now, 6 months after publication, Masquerade almost feels like another lifetime ago.

Nonetheless, what still remains is my respect for this book. I love coming up with ideas that seem difficult to pull off. And at the time that I wrote Masquerade, it was the hardest writing project I had undertaken up to that point. It challenged my craft and storytelling abilities in several different ways, and I emerged from it as a much better writer.

Thus, today I am not thinking about Masquerade’s publication 6 months ago so much as I am thinking about 4 years ago, January 2021, when I completed the novel that would begin my career as an author. And that is what I celebrate today, along with all the ways Masquerade taught me how to be a writer.

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I wrote for BBC

After reading my August newsletter about the importance of acknowledging Masquerade as a historical fiction novel, my UK publicist suggested we publish some of those thoughts in a more official capacity. I am always happy to talk about the real history of Medieval West Africa, so it was very exciting to write a piece for BBC’s History Extra magazine. You can read the full thing here.

The first three facts I’ve provided are more relevant to Masquerade. The last two facts pertain to my second novel. Especially the last fact. Book 2 deals a lot with the concept of deification, and more specifically, just how much it costs a person to transform into something like a god. (Spoiler: it costs everything).

I am very excited to introduce my second novel soon—especially now that we are in the year it will be announced.

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I’m a Forbes 30 Under 30 Honoree

As some of you may have already seen, I have been selected as part of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Media List for 2025. I am grateful for this honor, and for my team at Tor for working so hard to spread the word about Masquerade. I hope to see mainstream media recognize even more works centering West African history, and I will certainly continue doing my part to try to make that happen.

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SONG SNIPPET

I have been inspired by author Chelsea Abdullah’s newsletter to add a music section to my own newsletters. Music has a large influence on my writing. There have been several parts of my books that were inspired by a song. So from hereon, I will be sharing a few lyrics relevant to the projects that I am currently working on.

As aforementioned, Book 2 centers a protagonist who strives for more. The following lyrics speak a bit to her character.

“I Was Here” by Beyoncé

I want to leave my footprints on the sands of time
Know there was something that, something that I left behind
When I leave this world, I'll leave no regrets
Leave something to remember, so they won't forget

I was here, I lived, I loved, I was here
I did, I've done, everything that I wanted
And it was more than I thought it would be
I will leave my mark so everyone will know I was here

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WHAT I’M READING

At the moment, I am reading Becoming by my mother Michelle Obama. She is someone who inspires me in every way. A perfect note with which to start off the new year.