There’s a lot of reasons to be angry these days.
ButEntertainment Weeklywriter Lester Fabian Brathwaite is channeling those feelings into something creative.
“There are two ways to deal with rage,” he tells EW.
‘Rage’ by Lester Fabian Brathwaite.Tiny Reparations Books
“you could either be consumed by it or learn to deal with it.
Tiny Reparations Books
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did the structure and concept of the book come together?
Were any of these pre-existing essays or did you write everything specifically for the book?
He asked me to do a proposal.
I came up with the idea ofRage.
It’s something that, as a queer, Black man, has always been a part of me.
It’s always just been under the surface.
And there’s a James Baldwin quote that really resonated with me.
That was something that really spoke to me.
The picture of you on the cover is so fun.
Where did it come from?
A shoot from the publisher or something else?
I wanted something fun and lighthearted because the book talks about a lot of serious topics.
It’s still a funny book, so I wanted to convey that with the cover.
I can talk about serious things, but also, let’s be silly.
you’re able to do both.
The design of the arrows reminds me ofMuhammad Ali’s famousEsquirecover.
Was that an intentional reference?
That’s a great observation, but no, not at all.
Because I like the arrows, they’re an idea that the design department put together.
I didn’t understand why I liked it, but I think that’s the reason why.
How would you define creative anger?
It is living in the world.
Is there an aspect of the book you’re proudest of?
The humor, because it’s really hard to be fun sometimes.
Being able to find humor in a situation is a gift.
Was there a section you found most difficult to write?
It’s a chapter called “Silence.”
So my birthday’s always been this very loaded period for me.
And her birthday is a week after that.
For this essay, I revisited that day.
I went back and just relived it.
It was very hard to do that and I really struggled with an ending for that chapter.
So I went home and talked to my editor and said I wanted to change this piece.
She was down for it, but the book had been done.
So I had to double-check that the addition was the same length as what I was taking out.
