TOYA WOLFE

The award-winning Chicago author talks about the perseverance it took to get her debut, Last Summer on State Street, into shape, and why drawing on things that were personal and specific allowed her to develop her unique voice

‘I’ve been writing since I was about ten years old. I recall entering and winning an essay competition around that age, and reading the essay in front of my entire school! The positive reaction of the crowd fuelled in me a desire to keep writing. Later, I’d abandon writing for other artistic disciplines like drawing and musical instruments, but in college, I would be reunited with creative writing. That’s where I began to study it, see it as a craft, and acknowledge my talent in that area; mainly because English Literature and Creative Writing were the only classes where I received high grades. My advisor and I realized there was some talent there!

‘I changed my major from Athletic Training to English, with an emphasis in Creative Writing and I began to read Black women writers and really read their books trying to dissect what their creative choices were. Around that time too, I started to ask myself what I might contribute to the canon of Black women writers.

‘For a class assignment, I had to write a How-to essay, teaching the reader how to do something. My story, How to Make Hot-Water Cornbread was an instructional on how to make a unique recipe that mostly accompanied

collard greens. It was my grandma’s recipe and I explained how to make it, but exaggerated the voice, and told the story of a young woman who had a college education and was career focused but the women in her family were convinced that she couldn’t cook. I sent the story to a contest at a local paper, and it got published! They paid me a few hundred dollars for it! Later, it would be reprinted in a literary magazine, then, years later, an online publication.

‘That experience and that story made me realize that if I leaned into the voices that were strong in my head, voices of Black women that I knew well and loved deeply, people might really enjoy my writing. I credit that story for sparking a desire to approach everything that I write with a deep connection to my community, including our voices, recipes, customs, fashion, and all of the things that make me distinct from every other writer; even other Black women writers.

‘Way back in the early 2000s, I finally had a draft of Last Summer on State Street, but my agent could not place it. She would send it out, and it was rejected by every editor! This was fifteen years before it was acquired by a publisher. I’d learn, after this experience, that I was

working with an agent who wasn’t a good fit for me and my work and that I hadn’t done my due diligence to revise the manuscript: a formula for failure!

‘I parted ways with that agent, and I began to really work on the pages. I took it to workshops, an MFA program, and I revised it for years until I felt it was ready. Then I went looking for the perfect literary agent.

‘I revised my book for years, but encouragement along the way in the form of winning contests, and the reactions of my classmates and professors encouraged me to continue polishing the manuscript. Sometimes, the things that keep you going are small victories. It was also helpful to have a life outside of writing: travelling, family functions, dating, and hobbies allowed me to have a balanced life while I tinkered with the book.

‘Once, in a writing workshop, I thought my professor was extremely aggressive and in the same workshop felt like my classmates were asking equally negative questions. I left the workshop feeling like there was nothing worth saving in my novel and told my advisor my concerns. He coached me back to believing that my book had great promise and once I was less emotional about the notes from my class, I sifted through what was helpful, and continued revising the manuscript that became Last Summer on State Street.

‘My book tells a very specific story about a very specific community in a city (Chicago) that people think they know because its name is often mentioned in pop culture. I think because I was personal and specific, my book is somehow incredibly universal. It also has unique voices that maybe people haven’t heard before. Those two things make my novel stand out from others.

‘My advice would be, stay the course, no matter how many years it may take. A rejection is not a rejection of you and your talent; it is simply a publisher saying your work is not what they are looking for, sometimes, it’s just not what they need at a particular time!

‘This can take a while! You’re trying to find the right publishing team. If you’re going the agent route, you’ve got to find the right agent, then editor. Once you have an editor, the two of you have to get the book into shape; that can take some time as well. This is oftentimes not a quick process, but it’s worth it when you put out quality work into the world.’

Toya’s top tips for getting published

• Refine your voice: Be sure to write voices from the cultures that you represent, using your ear to recreate realistic dialogue, speech patterns, and sayings that are unique to the people you grew up around or work with.

• Partner with like-minded literature people: Find writers that you trust, teachers and mentors who believe in your work, and industry professionals who want to get to know and respect both you and your work.

• Present the highest quality work that you can: Revise, revise, revise! I cannot stress this enough.