Danzy Senna Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Interview

Sarah Dillard from PEN America speaks with author Danzy Senna about her novel, Colored Television

1. Colored Television centers around a writer, Jane, who is trying to complete her second novel. According to her agent, Honor, an author's second novel is "always a disappointment." What's the difference between writing your first novel vs. your second? Do you relate to Jane's struggle and her agent's advice?

I think it's always true for every writer that your debut novel stands on its own, but your second novel is always seen in relation to what came before. The second novel is where the comparisons begin, particularly if your first novel happens to be a big success. You can feel like you are being set up to fail. Add racial dynamics into this equation and there is a whole other layer of complication. Like Jane, I struggled after Caucasia with anxiety, imposter syndrome. I was, like Jane, processing the regular pressures of writing the follow up, compounded by the racial projections thrown onto me as a writer of "uncertain color." In these creative industries, the entire system is set up around a racial binary. And if the industry isn't sure what color you represent, which shelf to put you on, you are more often than not met with bewilderment. All of which is to say, I definitely drew on all these experiences when writing the ...