<\/p>\n
LONE STAR LISTENS: Attica, I\u2019ve read that by the time you were in junior high, you wanted to be in filmmaking. Were there teenage activities that drew you to this path?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n ATTICA LOCKE<\/strong>: No. Spike Lee\u2019s Do the Right Thing<\/em> came out when I was a sophomore in high school (see, now I\u2019m dating myself). I had seen his earlier films, but it was this movie that sparked something inside of me, and I wanted to be a filmmaker. It was the first contemporary, powerful black film I had ever seen.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n What was it like to be selected to be the first novelist for bestseller Dennis Lehane\u2019s imprint? How did that happen?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is one of the highlights of my professional life. Dennis and I were at the same publishing house, but at different imprints. Someone slipped him The Cutting Season<\/em> for a blurb. He decided to publish it instead! No one was more shocked than I was.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Activism and politics seem to have been a big part of your family\u2019s dynamics. Your father was chief of staff for Mickey Leland and was nearly elected Houston\u2019s mayor in 2009. I\u2019ve read that he was the inspiration for your recurring protagonist, former activist\/now lawyer Jay Porter. Do you ever see Jay Porter running for office?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Not really. I think Jay is too reticent. His arc continues to be that he\u2019s the guy who wants to stand on the sidelines and not get involved, until something happens where he feels he has no choice but to get involved. Well … in that sense, he could decide that there\u2019s some reason he has to run for office. Hmmm \u2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n You seem to be able to move from writing for the screen to writing novels effortlessly. How are the two processes different?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n With novels, I\u2019m creating something that\u2019s meant to stand on its own. Screenplays are a \u201cmeans to.\u201d They are the first of a longer journey, and you\u2019re not necessarily writing for people who love to read. Not that scripts aren\u2019t well written. The best ones are. But they are always a map to something larger: the actual movie or TV show.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n What is it about Houston that creates so many bestselling novelists? How did growing up in Houston inform your writing? I\u2019ve heard that Houston is a part of Texas, but is also apart from Texas. Would you find that description to be accurate? Why or why not?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I could never think of Houston as not a part of Texas because I grew up there and I consider myself a Texan, always. I think it\u2019s different from Dallas (and, yes, I will refrain from invoking the famous rivalry). I think Houston is the most provincial big city in America. It feels like a small town, but it\u2019s huge. I don\u2019t know that Houston inspired my writing so much as it was a natural place for me to explore. It\u2019s an attempt to understand the city in which I was born.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I never miss an episode of Empire<\/em>. Is there someone who is your inspiration for Cookie? She is over-the-top, but so likeable. Is that all in the script, or is any of the action improvised? Would you ever like to do a TV series based on characters in Texas?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lee Daniels and Taraji P. Henson get all the credit for Cookie. She came out of Lee\u2019s head, based on women in his family. And Taraji comes up with some of the best lines in the series. We get some good lines in too, but a lot of what we\u2019re doing is providing the arc and structure of the story for the actors to play in.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Which Texas writers inspired you growing up?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n J. California Cooper and Larry McMurtry.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n You\u2019ve said that your parents moved from activism to being Cosby parents when society changed, and they rolled with it. What sort of activism do you feel is important to you and your generation?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I think we\u2019re seeing it in the streets with #BlackLivesMatter. We\u2019re seeing it on the internet with people like Edward Snowden. It\u2019s about speaking truth to power and calling out the powers that be about their illegal or unconstitutional behavior.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n What\u2019s the first thing you like to do when you come back home to Houston to visit?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The very last thing I should do: go buy some boots.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As a Texan living in LA, what\u2019s the meal you dream about when you\u2019re gone?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tex-Mex. They don\u2019t put cheese on tacos in LA.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n * * * * *<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Praise for Attica Locke\u2019s PLEASANTVILLE<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cLocke, a sharp and gifted writer, delivers a complex, suspenseful legal thriller that offers a sophisticated appraisal of our deeply flawed political process, one that is likely to resound with readers.\u201d \u2014Booklist <\/em>(starred review)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cA thriller wrapped in an involving story of community and family dynamics. Locke serves up a panorama of nuanced characters and writes with intelligence and depth.\u201d \u2014Kirkus<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cGripping\u2026a twist-filled plot will keep readers eagerly turning the pages.\u201d \u2014Publishers Weekly<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cA nuanced and empathetic look at the unequal, contentious social layers of Houston\u2019s African American population.\u201d \u2014Seattle Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Locke makes every scene count with a complex plot that unfolds surprises at every turn and packs a satisfying conclusion…. Highly recommended for fans of fast-paced mysteries with strong geographic angles and appealing underdogs. \u2014Library Journal<\/em> (starred review)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis taut thriller. . . is knitted with enough shock and awe and backroom politics to keep you reading and guessing all weekend long.\u201d \u2014Essence<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Praise for Locke\u2019s previous work<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAs Scott Turow has done, Ms. Locke uses small, incremental deceptions to draw her main character into big and dangerous mistakes . . . Subtle and compelling.\u201d \u2014New York Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201c. . . .in the company of master thriller writers such as Dennis Lehane or Scott Turow. . . . Attica Locke [is] a writer wise beyond her years.\u201d \u2014Los Angeles Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d probably read the phone book if her name was on the spine.\u201d \u2014Dennis Lehane<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDripping with southern Gothic atmosphere. . . . Equal parts murder mystery and family drama, the novel also draws readers in through its considerations of African American history and life in post-Katrina Louisiana.\u201d \u2014USA Today<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cCompelling. . . . A mystery that expands the whole idea of the mystery, reaching from the present deeply into the past. . . . Great writing, the kind that gives you goose bumps.\u201d \u2014Los Angeles Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cLocke draws on the past to remind her characters how much it has shaped their identities and how much it continues to shape the choices they make.\u201d \u2014New York Times Book Review<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Interview with Texas native Attica Locke<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[229,53,30,8],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-authorinterview","tag-interview","tag-lonestarlistens","tag-lonestarliterarycom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}