We chat with Printz honoree and National Book Award Finalist Candice Iloh about their new prose novel Break This House, which is about a teenager reckoning with her family’s–and her home town’s–secrets.
Hi, Candice! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! Yes, my name is Candice Iloh. I use they/them pronouns. I’m Leo and an extroverted introvert. I love spending time alone and being alone fuels my ability to write just as much as living a full life does. I am the author of Every Body Looking and Break This House. I want to be an author that centers the lives of queer Black youth for the rest of my life.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
To be honest, I’m really not sure. It’s come pretty natural to me since middle school and I started using it for catharsis in college. I might have realized I loved it when I started to see that I feel most like myself when I do it. More than anything else.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
First that I can remember – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Judi Barrett)
Book that made me an author – Brown Girl Dreaming (Jacqueline Woodson)
Book I can’t stop thinking about and am currently reading – White Smoke (Tiffany Jackson)
Your new novel, Break This House, is out May 24th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Irreverent. Dark. Twisty. Raw. Surprising.
What can readers expect?
I think readers can expect to feel like they’ve gotten on a roller coaster ride in two different cities at the same time, lol. But also, they can expect an entirely different experience than the one they might have had with Every Body Looking. It’s not written in verse. It’s twice as long. And there are so many more characters who you’ll get to hear from throughout. I definitely brought the snarky sad boi vibes paired with the dreaded family reunion chaos vibes.
Where did the inspiration for Break This House come from?
Like all of my work, it was inspired by my experience with family and the idea of home. Following Every Body Looking, I really wanted to tell the full story of a mother and daughter who have a strained relationship. Even further, I wanted to really unpack how this kind of relationship could get so ugly and to explore the larger systemic reasons for that. So many of our communities are changing at alarming rates right now and I’m seeing so many people that I love, including myself, getting pushed out of our homes due to violent urban development projects. I am deeply inspired by our need to find ways to sustain and heal. How are we going to survive this? How are we going to keep our families in the process? How can we keep making space for this constant grief?
Can you tell us a bit about the challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
Not going to lie, at some points it was complete hell. I had to grieve my mother all over again. I had to accept that I might never stop grieving. I had to go to the darkest spaces of myself so that I could convey these feelings with deep authenticity. Embodying the emotions of my characters was both cathartic and exhausting and taking plenty of breaks saved my life. I also processed with friends regularly. I told everybody what was going on with me so that I could regularly have soft places to land after every writing session.
Were there any favorite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I had a lot of fun writing Nikki Joy, Yaminah’s best friend. She is amalgamation of what my close friends are. Bold. Funny. Queer. Passionate. Intelligent. Loving. I enjoyed leaning into her curated teenage chaos and spunk.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
Best advice – try everything. Worst advice – “It’s not a big deal. Books aren’t everything.”
What’s next for you?
Oh my god! I’m very proud to say there is so much! Next year, my second novel in verse Salt the Water will be out and I just went on submission for a picture book. There’s also an anthology that I’m really excited about being a part of, as well as a few other projects outside of the book-length realm. But right now, I’m SO PUMPED to tour Break This House in person. It is already my dream come true.
Lastly, do you have any 2022 book recommendations for our readers?
YES: I had the absolute pleasure of being an early reader for Rimma Onoseta’s “How You Grow Wings” out August of this year and it is already one of my favorite books. I was all in and y’all truly are not ready. Rimma is a powerhouse.
