Tananarive Due Quotes
Born: January 5, 1966
Tananarive Due, a celebrated voice in speculative fiction and Black horror, crafts her narratives from a deep well of ancestral memory and resilience. Her work, spanning novels, short stories, and screenwriting, transcends genre to explore the profound intersections of history, race, and the supernatural. A teacher of Afrofuturism, Due’s philosophy is rooted in the power of storytelling to heal generational trauma and illuminate hidden truths. Her quotes resonate because they offer hard-won wisdom on survival, love, and the enduring strength of the human spirit, reminding us that our most fantastical fears often mirror our most pressing realities.
Tananarive Due Quotes (12)
"Inspired by Alex Haley's 'Roots,' at the age of 11 I began a handwritten Middle Passage story called 'Lawdy, Lawdy, Make Us Free.' I was raised by civil rights activists with a very strong sense of racial history and consciousness."
— Tananarive Due"My biggest luck was the Terry McMillan era, because what happened after the phenomenon of 'Waiting to Exhale' is that publishing woke up. They said, 'Wow. Black people do read.'"
— Tananarive Due"I started out with almost entirely black fans except for a little handful of people in the horror writers' community, and those people really liked horror, you know. They will go to any lengths and read whomever they can find because they like that feeling of being scared."
— Tananarive Due"I would say that in my black readership, more of my readers tolerate the horror aspect of my work, you know. 'I don't usually read this kind of stuff, but.'"
— Tananarive Due"I've been a novelist since 1995 and have had novels in and out of option, and watching that process just made me realize that I have to live by what I teach my students, because I teach screenwriting at Spellman."
— Tananarive Due"One thing I know that's true about horror fans of any color is they like to be scared. And the easiest place to be scared is in a new thing."
— Tananarive Due"Somehow, I realized I could write books about black characters who reflected my own experiences or otherworldly experiences - not just stories of history, poverty and oppression."
— Tananarive Due"I believe black characters in fiction are still revolutionary, given our long history of erasure."
— Tananarive Due"Sure, we think it would be great to live forever, but it really wouldn't."
— Tananarive Due"The great thing about journalism is that there is so much exposure to all kinds of people who can turn up later as characters, whether you intend it or not."
— Tananarive Due"I grew up believing that my parents helped change the world. I was so in awe of them, and I wondered how I could measure up. I mean, how do you change the world - again?"
— Tananarive Due"It wasn't just OK to achieve in my family - it was expected."
— Tananarive Due