Ajuan Mance is an artist and Professor of African American Literature at Mills College in Oakland, California, who completed a residency at The Studios of Key West last year. Mance was attracted to exploring the Florida Keys and the possibility of using art to honor specific communities in this region.
The illustrator’s vivid palettes and extensive knowledge of Black works guided readers through titles including “What Do Brothas Do All Day?” and “Living While Black” among others.
The Florida-born writer believes that the greatest leap forward for Black authors in the U.S. is already under way. Mance pointed out that these days, most Black novelists, playwrights, poets, and memoirists write not to explain their existence to others, but to explore their own questions about race, love, family, and friendship.
From science fiction writers like Nnedi Okorafor to mystery writers like Pamela Thomas-Graham and the darkly humorous novels of Percival Everett, American writers of African descent are following their own lines of creative inquiry and creating work that might have been unimaginable for previous generations of writers.
During Mance’s time in the Keys, she looked at the ways illustration, especially portraiture, could become a way of building a record of a particular community at a specific time.
The professor was born in Daytona to a mother whose family has deep roots in this state. Through their stories, Mance grew up understanding that the Black history of Florida is unique in the U.S. and subsequently hopes to use art to celebrate the rich history and present-day experiences.
Now, when it comes to aspiring or practicing writers, Mance often deploys what is referred to as a “100 Year Technique.” This involves taking something that feels like an essential, inevitable part of our lives and imagining it 100 years in the future.
What would it look like? How would it change? And if it did change, what would be the catalyst?
Alternatively, Mance recommends thinking of an identity that means a lot to you — race, gender, occupation — and how that might look in a century. Then, consider what the world could look like if that category no longer existed. A writer could then come up with a specific prompt based on those questions.
In one such suggested prompt, Mance could challenge readers to skip ahead to 2125 when the environment and economy are perhaps such that the nation can no longer support the production of meat.
What does the comfort food of your community look like now, and how does the culture shift as a result?
Mance tasks writers with 30 minutes to come up with a scenario that includes a family dinner. Should you feel like the story has momentum, then Mance advises to keep writing. This could just be the beginning or centerpiece of a new short story or novel.
