We chat with author De’Shawn Charles Winslow about Decent People, which is a sweeping and unforgettable novel of a Black community reeling from a triple homicide, and the secrets the killings reveal.
Hi, De’Shawn! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hey! I was born and raised in Elizabeth City, NC, and at the age of 23, I moved to New York City to find myself. New York is where I did most of my real growing up. I didn’t finish my bachelors degree until I was 32, and things just got better from there.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
In November of 2008, my father passed away and I started trying to write about him in the form of nonfiction. Once my grieving had subsided, I lost interest in that particular project, but was very much still writing about where I was from and the types of people I grew up watching and learning from. Even after getting a B.A. in creative writing, I put writing aside for a while, but it wasn’t done with me. In 2014 I decided to apply to MFA programs, and I’ve been in love with writing fiction ever since––even when it doesn’t always feel fun.
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!
I think the first book that made me want to try writing was Morrison’s Sula. And I think that was because I knew so many people like Sula and Eva Peace. Sula is a novel I find myself thinking about a whole lot.
Your latest novel, Decent People, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Everyone’s a victim of patriarchy.
What can readers expect?
The novel is full of people trying to keep secrets from others. And these attempts at keeping these secrets lead to a lot of bad behaviour. There’s racism, homophobia, classism, and some forgiveness.
Where did the inspiration for Decent People come from?
In the real town of South Mills, NC, there was an accidental drowning of three elderly people in the mid 70’s. Originally, I was going to write a fictionalized story about those victims and make up some ways in which people in the town were affected by their deaths. But that plan wasn’t working out for me, so I decided to change the three drowning victims from white to Black, from friends to siblings, and their deaths from accidental to murder. Originally, I hadn’t planned for the novel to be so much about racism, because most of the characters were going to be Black. But I was writing in 2020 and 2021, and with all that was going on in the country (especially the murders of George Floyd and Brianna Taylor), there was no way I could write a novel and not make racism a large part of it.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed exploring?
Eunice’s parts are particularly interesting to me because I always wonder what parents really feel about their children being queer.
Do you have any advice for those who may have set some writing resolutions for the new year?
I recommend writers to pursue the practice in a way that work for their individual lifestyle, schedule, attention span, etc. You don’t have to write thousands of words per day to be a writer. You don’t even have to write every single day. Find your own groove, but do write!
What’s next for you?
I’m going to start writing a third book. It will not be a murder mystery, but there will be death, joy, love and hope. And it’ll be set in a real North Carolina city.
Lastly, are there any 2023 releases our readers should look out for?
So far, I’ve read and loved What Napoleon Could Not Do by DK Nnuro, When Trying to Return Home by Jennifer Maritza McCauley, Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown, The House Is On Fire by Rachel Bean, and The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts by Soraya Palmer.
