Travel writer and author of the upcoming novel Bitter Honey, Lola Akinmade Åkerström, wants to spark more conversations about the challenges of raising biracial children in white-majority countries: ‘Raising biracial children in a society that remains the last bastion of whiteness and making sure they are deeply self-confident and have a strong sense of identity is my utmost role as a mother in Sweden.’
First Draft is our interview column, featuring authors and other prominent figures on books, reading, and writing.
Our questions are italicized.
What books or kinds of books did you read growing up?
As with many Nigerian kids, I grew up on Enid Blyton and Nancy Drew books. Once I became a teenager, it was historical romance filled with Scottish kilts. Geography was my favourite subject (still is), so any book on exploration and faraway lands and cultures always fascinated me. It is no wonder I am a travel writer today.
What’s the last thing you read that changed your mind about something?
The last book I read that gripped me was Ædnan by Swedish-Sami author Linnea Axelsson. Ædnan is an enthralling journey into what it feels like to be othered on your own land. Through powerful poetic prose, Axelsson’s book is a profound invitation into understanding what it means to be deeply intertwined with nature. It takes raw talent to build deeply fleshed out worlds and deep characters with sparse poetry.
What is your writing process: edit as you write or draft first, then edit?
I write first and then edit later (or at least when I have a large chunk written), otherwise I will never finish.
Before I write a novel, I spend time creating fully realized three dimensional characters—whether they are the main protagonists or side characters—so they feel like people I know deeply.
What was your process for writing your debut novel, In Every Mirror She’s Black?
Once the idea for In Every Mirror She’s Black came to me, I spent four to five months crafting the characters and outlining their lives first before writing the book itself. The core writing took about four months, so roughly nine months in total for the dirty first draft.
Before I write a novel, I spend time creating fully realized three dimensional characters—whether they are the main protagonists or side characters—so they feel like people I know deeply. So, when I start writing their stories, the characters lead me where they want to go on the page.
How similar or different was it from the writing process of your second novel, Everything Is Not Enough?
The process is the same for all my books. Everything Is Not Enough, upcoming Bitter Honey, and my current work in progress. But unlike In Every Mirror She’s Black where I focused on writing it in nine months, with Everything Is Not Enough, I spread out writing it over two years.
Everything Is Not Enough ‘follows the loosely intertwined and messy lives of Kemi, Brittany, and Yasmiin as they interrogate themes of place, prejudice, and patriarchy in Europe.’ What inspired this story?
Everything Is Not Enough is a continuation of the stories of Kemi, Brittany, and Muna/Yasmiin from In Every Mirror She’s Black. While on vacation in Portugal in 2018, the idea for the books came to me. I realized that the story I was meant to write at this stage of my life was much closer to my lived experiences. As a professional travel writer, I have experienced so many cultures and gotten beneath their nuances. I have a deep relationship with Sweden and Swedish culture. I also spent time over two years visiting an asylum centre and working on a photography project with asylees here in Sweden. I know so many Black women across various socioeconomic profiles, and I am, after all, a Black woman who has lived in Sweden for close to 15 years.
I knew I wanted to tackle the three core issues within the Black diaspora in the Nordics, which revolve around career (Kemi), class (Brittany), and culture (Muna/Yasmiin). I also wanted to tell parts of their stories side-by-side to show that Black womanhood is not a monolithic experience, Black women have different values, and Black women also navigate various levels of privilege and class too.
Your new book, Bitter Honey, is scheduled for release in Nigeria on 15 August 2025. How did your approach to writing change while working it?
To set the tone for Bitter Honey, the journey to publication for In Every Mirror She’s Black was painful and long because I was writing in a real and raw way about the issues that affect Black women in the Nordic diaspora, which keep us from thriving and constantly in survival mode. But I knew once I persevered and stuck to the story I truly wanted to write (even though editors wanted to reduce my voice and make the stories more palatable), then I would be able to fully write the stories I have always wanted to write. Bitter Honey is exactly that. I am now writing the stories I need to write about the African diaspora in the Nordics.
Bitter Honey is ‘a story of mothers, daughters, and the importance of carving your own path.’ Why did you want to tell this story?
Something we do not talk enough about in cross-cultural relationships is the emotional and mental dissonance that can come from raising children whose first language is not yours. When your toddlers are speaking fluently to you in a language you’re still learning. Raising biracial children in a society that remains the last bastion of whiteness and making sure they are deeply self-confident and have a strong sense of identity is my utmost role as a mother in Sweden. Amid rising xenophobia across Europe, I wanted to tackle themes of belonging, identity, and nationalism in Bitter Honey.
Black womanhood is not a monolithic experience, Black women have different values, and Black women also navigate various levels of privilege and class too.
And what’s the best book you’ve read about mother-daughter relationships?
I enjoyed aspects of Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng and The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.
What is the most meaningful piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?
The most meaningful piece of writing advice I got was from the American author Jess Lourey, who said at the Stockholm Writers’ Festival that the story you are meant to write is often closer to you and your lived experiences than you think. So, if you are an author struggling to write, look at and mine your life for inspiration.
What’s the first book you read that made you think you wanted to be a writer?
I have always loved writing fiction through my pre-teens and teenage years, but it was reading D. H. Lawrence in college that made me want to explore power dynamics and sensuality in my writing. I loved the way he laced words and built a heightened sense of drama within his prose. He could easily dedicate four to five pages describing the tension between two people sitting on opposite sides of the room—one knitting, the other reading—not talking to each other.
And what book (from Africa) do you feel has not yet received the attention it deserves?
An African in Greenland by Togolese author Tété-Michel Kpomassie. It is essentially the anthropological travel memoir of the first African to have lived alongside the indigenous Greenlandic Inuit for roughly two years. That book inspired me as a travel writer and photographer so much that I went to Greenland twice. First on assignment, which I published in National Geographic Traveller, and second, to lead an expedition which led to the short documentary titled In Tété’s Footsteps.
What’s a book on your bookshelf that might catch people by surprise?
The entire Mackenzies & McBrides historical romance series by Jennifer Ashley. Scottish kilts left a lasting impression.
I call myself a storyteller and the medium I use to tell stories varies based on what I am trying to share. I am grateful to be able to also work as a travel and culture photographer, because sometimes, words simply are not enough to convey a message.
You are also a travel photographer. How does your work as a photographer influence your writing, and vice versa?
I call myself a storyteller and the medium I use to tell stories varies based on what I am trying to share. I am grateful to be able to also work as a travel and culture photographer, because sometimes, words simply are not enough to convey a message. Case in point, my ÅFRÖSWÈ̩DÉ̩ photography series which is a visual celebration of blended identities. It was shortlisted for the Global Peace Photo Award.
What is your favourite topic to write or read about these days?
I love reading fresh contemporary stories with messy characters and I will continue to write in a similar vein. I love writing about power dynamics, thriving versus surviving, unspeakable tension within relationships, and self-actualizing against all odds, while being extremely messy.
Raising biracial children in a society that remains the last bastion of whiteness and making sure they are deeply self-confident and have a strong sense of identity is my utmost role as a mother in Sweden.
What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on a new novel about a travel writer who goes on an incredible transformational journey. It is easy to look through my travel journals and pull inspiration from my life as a travel writer.
Question from Maame Blue: What would your younger self say about the topics you write about?
Now I get it. I tried writing about all this mess and tension as a pre-teen, but I had not lived life yet. What did I know? I simply needed to be patient with myself so I could travel the world and fully live first. I am so grateful I stuck with my voice. And wow, I am a travel writer too? Who would have guessed it!
Bonus: Please suggest a question for a future author’s First Draft
What is one decision you regret making on your journey towards publication?
Who do you think we should interview next?
Onyi Nwabineli⎈
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