Kelechi Okafor Talks: Are You Still Watching?, Telling the Truth and Finding Her YA Voice

Kelechi Okafor is a British Nigerian writer, performer, director and cultural commentator whose work spans literature, theatre and podcasting.

Following Edge of Here and Strong Like Me, Okafor turns to young adult fiction with her debut YA novel Are You Still Watching?, following 17-year-old Dorcas, who discovers her life is being broadcast on another planet and faces an alarming consequence if her show is cancelled.

Blending coming-of-age storytelling with the supernatural, Okafor draws on her observations of reality television, surveillance, and the consumption of Black lives to question what we choose to watch, what we have become desensitised to, and how we find meaning in a world where it can feel as though someone is always watching.

Please introduce yourself …
Kelechi Okafor. South Londoner by way of Lagos, Nigeria. Libra sun, and that’s as cutesy as it gets.

Describe your life currently, in one word or a sentence.
“I told you so”.

Why are we here?
I’m still trying to work out why we are *gestures at everything* here. However, I think the why distracts us from the what. As in, what are we doing here, and how does that affect us now and the generations to come? We are also here to discuss my debut YA novel, Are You Still Watching?. YA means young adult for those who might not know. In AYSW, Dorcas finds out her life is being broadcast on another planet, and it’s not doing well. If the show gets cancelled, so does her existence. It’s a sort of coming of age as we witness how Dorcas goes about creating a more meaningful teenage life.

Tell us about the project in your own words.
AYSW is my way of sharing my observations about reality TV as well as the televisation of brutality against Black folk. I prioritised handling the issues with care and hope, with a sprinkle of the mystical.

As an author in my head, I always have to extend gratitude to authors who get their stories out of their heads. How, or because of whom, or what time in your life pushed you to get your stories out of your mind and onto pages for the world to read?
Sareeta Domingo was a huge inspiration. She brought about my first book deal. RIP, lovely lady.

Why do you think people are so receptive to your stories?
I think my stories are well received because they tap into what is unsaid about society whilst adding elements of the supernatural and centring Black women, but not in a gratuitous way.

So I’ve read every book you’ve published. It’s a strange, warm, intentional yet indescribable feeling reading the words of a fellow Black, African, British woman – whose politics and outlook align with my personal … it’s a statement, not a question, but how does that make you feel knowing how much your work inspires, informs, awakens …?
It goes back to the why we are here question. When I hear of how deeply my work impacts others, it reminds me that even if I don’t know why we are here, what I’m doing while here matters to people.

Why was this the next book you wanted to share with the world?
I had been playing around with the idea of Dorcas for a while but thought it would be a screenplay about an older woman working in advertising who discovers her life is being televised in another galaxy. But when I was approached about writing YA, this idea seemed to work well if I changed the age, etc.

Your main character, who is she and how did she push through all the other possible main characters in your head?
Dorcas is seventeen years old and just going through life as uneventfully as she can in the sleepy town of Cowrie Hills. Once she realises that her life might be deleted because she doesn’t come across as exciting, something shifts in here. She pushed through as a character because we are all Dorcas in some way.

Do you think we’re being watched?
Haha! We are being watched in every sense of the word.

How do you navigate the message, the escapism, the commercial viability of the stories you want to tell…?
I write what’s true to me in the most creative way possible. I can’t dictate what the market does with the work. With other books, how they were received by the publishing industry was disheartening, but truth always finds a way.

What’s unsettling about the worlds your stories exist in is that they’re enhanced versions of what we’re living; this futuristic now … are you trying to wake us up or provide a manual for survival or …?
I don’t have a manual for survival yet. But yes. I want for us to all wake up and realise what the real issues are. We are being weaponised against ourselves, and it’s prospering. It’s time to push back.

Are You Still Watching? has series, franchise, etc. vibes … is there a part 2, 3 plans to adapt for screen or stage?
I would definitely want to write a part two.

Who are the people you lean on when writing?
My family and then my editors. I bounce ideas around with my family, and sometimes they don’t even know it’s for a story. My editors help me shape what I’ve created into something that can stand on its own without explanation.

What did you find most challenging?
Getting the voice right in my writing to suit a younger audience. I realised I didn’t have to try so hard. Just let it flow.

What did you enjoy or connect with most easily?
Being able to bring in the otherworldly elements I know, thinking about life beyond Earth.

Of all the books you’ve published, which is the most Kelechi Okafor?
Edge of Here.

Being a Black author in this current climate is like?
Screaming into a void.

Three tips for writers?

1. Write what you would pick up from your bookshelf time and time again.
2. Love yourself enough to write nonsense. You can refine later.
3. The industry only knows what it knows. It is not a measure of your
   talent.

GETTING TO KNOW YOU …

If not this, then what? Teaching at my pole dance studio or yapping on a podcast.

What’s made you sad, mad, and glad
this week? Sad – certain presidents are still here. Mad – the surveillance we’re subjected to. Glad – Muay Thai.

What are you watching? Ted Lasso. I’m trying to get into Silo, but it’s not grabbing me just yet.

What are you reading? From the Moment We Met: The Astrology of Adult Relationships by Brian Clark.

The last film you watched? City of Angels.

The last play you saw? The Story.

The last live music event you attended? V’ghn.

What’s currently on your music playlist? FOLA.

Which song are you listening to on repeat at the moment? Treat You Right by FOLA, Ayra Starr.

Which podcast(s) are you currently listening to? Your Aunties Could Never.

What’s on your bucket list? Become Mayor of London.

Where’s your happy place? In my head whilst reading about random astrological placements.

Celebrate someone… Simply SAYO for her advocacy around Sickle Cell.

Celebrate yourself… The children’s home I built with my mum in Lagos, Nigeria.

What’s next? My upcoming live show at Brixton House Theatre on 26th September.

Where can we find you? @kelechnekoff

Where can we see or hear your work? Front Page Fxckery is my website. Order my books from bookshop.org to support independent booksellers. Book tarot and astrology sessions with me on kelechiokafor.com