Deep Read is back with an episode featuring British-Nigerian author Bolu Babalola, whose new book Sweet Heat comes out tomorrow.
Listen to Deep Read #39 [Apple | Spotify].
If you haven’t been following Bolu since her prolific Twitter days, you’ve a) missed a lot of really good Tweets and B) may have also missed her previous books: Love in Colour and the Sunday Times Bestseller, Honey & Spice. In the latter, readers were introduced to the beloved characters of Kiki and Malakai, who make their return in the funny, sexy, and deeply romantic Sweet Heat (which also works as a standalone novel, if you want to jump straight in).
To celebrate the book’s publication, Bolu and I chatted about internet discourse, modern relationships, Yoruba culture, Substack, being a public person, and why the rom-com is due a renaissance – plus much more. Bolu is a very smart woman and I always love to hear her takes on culture, high-brow and low.
I hope you enjoy the conversation.
Happy Summer!
Phoebe
BOLU BABALOLA: DEEP READING LIST
Bolu’s Recommendations
“You think dark is just one color, but it ain’t. There’re five or six kinds of black. Some silky, some woolly. Some just empty. Some like fingers. And it don’t stay still. It moves and changes from one kind of black to another. Saying something is pitch black is like saying something is green. What kind of green? Green like my bottles? Green like a grasshopper? Green like a cucumber, lettuce, or green like the sky is just before it breaks loose to storm? Well, night black is the same way. May as well be a rainbow.”