Hi <<First Name>>, 

Welcome to the August issue of Girl, Interrupting.

The publication of Take It Back is officially eight days away which feels completely surreal. I’m especially excited about the audio serialisation of the book over at The Pigeonhole. This may be an industry first which feels kind of bizarre and wonderful.

If you’d like to read the book and haven’t yet bought a copy, please pre-order it now. Pre-orders really help as they encourage retailers to order more stock which is incredibly important. 

Once you're back, we'll move on to the August issue :)

I had a happy childhood. Then puberty changed everything

August blog post

Earlier this week, I was listening to a podcast when the host asked his guest: ‘Did you have a happy childhood?’ The guest sighed – a bone-weary sound that was itself an answer. 

The question – so banal and yet so jarringly intimate – made me think of my own childhood. In its early stages, it was certainly busy and happy. It’s true that I wore hand-me-downs and rarely bought new shoes, but I had six siblings with whom to laugh, play and roam. 

We would spend weekends at the adventure park near our East London home, daring each other to use the highest rope swing, feeling the dropkick of anxiety as we leapt off the platform into the abyss below. We would pile into the newsagent, excitably buying 10-pence Freddos, Frosties and Curly Wurlys, each of us chewing slowly so not to be the first that finished.

Read the full post....

What I'm currently...

Reading: I read My Dark Vanessa, tipped to be one of the biggest books of next year. Charting the sexual affair between a 15-year-old girl and a teacher almost 30 years her senior, it has been billed as Lolita from Lolita’s point of view. It is graphic and discomfiting but nonetheless compelling. 

The novel paints a painfully clear picture of how a young girl might fall under a predator’s spell and remain beneath it for years. The two protagonists are drawn so meticulously, I wondered if they were real. The writing isn’t quite as stunning as My Absolute Darling – a similarly dark tale of abuse – but the story is just as gripping. 
 
Writing: I wrote as a traveller, not travelling over at Atlas & Boots which explains what it’s been like to stay in one place after years of frequent travel.   

Worried about: The half-written jumble that is my next novel. It’s going to take a lot of effort to get it into readable shape. Right now, I’m brute-forcing my way through to the end using a highly sophisticated technique known as BOS. (Bum On Seat.)
 
Trying not to get angry about: UK politician Jeremy Hunt refusing to say the word ‘racist’. If high-ranking politicians can’t even say the word, how can they acknowledge that it exists and actually do something to tackle it?

Slayer

A short profile of a woman of colour who isn't taking prisoners

This month’s slayer is Tehmina Sunny, a London-born actress who moved to LA to break into the movie business.

I first encountered Tehmina in 2011 when we ran an interview with her in Asian Woman Magazine. At the time, it was extremely rare to come across a British-Asian actress (it still is tbh) and I was impressed that Tehmina, who had a sensible degree in Business Information Systems, had uprooted her life to pursue acting. 

Since her move to LA, Tehmina has starred in Argo, the Oscar-winning film from Ben Affleck, and Children of Men from multi Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuarón. She has also appeared on the small screen in shows like CSI, NCIS, Heroes, Californication and Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom. 

Tehmina was chosen by Screen International as one of nine LA Stars of Tomorrow 2014 and has been described by Vogue as ‘a bright young thing, straddling the world of film with incredible style’.

Tehmina speaks three languages, sings, plays the viola and violin, and is trained in taekwondo and boxing. 

You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

In my Pocket

Five articles I saved to Pocket this month

• Is Bruce Hay the most gullible man in Cambridge?, The Cut
• ‘You've caused an international incident': how my work mistake came back to haunt me, The Guardian 
• True crime author's claims to have interviewed serial killers contested, The Guardian
• My editorial cartoon satirising Trump and the border crisis went viral. Then I lost my job, NBC News
• The crane wife, The Paris Review

I’ll be back in touch on 1st September. As ever, if you have friends who would enjoy Girl, Interrupting, please forward this email to them.
 
Kia x