You've read our recent interviews with contributors to Samhain Screams and Steampunk Sleuths, but every now and then, we like to catch up with writers who haven't (yet) been published in our anthologies. Today, we'd like to introduce you to a talented author who deserves broader recognition, Eugen Bacon. Are you ready to explore her world?
Hello Eugen,
Our readers are going to enjoy diving into your world...
Can you tell us a little about yourself? Where did you grow up and what did you read? How have your experiences guided you in your writing?
I was born in Tanzania, grew up in Kenya, went to the University of Greenwich in the UK, did a second masters degree, then a PhD in Australia.
As a child I was always an avid reader and cut my teeth on Margaret Ogola, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Camara Laye, Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe in literature, when I wasn’t nicking my elder sister’s Silhouette Desires.
Later, I discovered Toni Morrison, the first African American woman to receive the Nobel Prize (1993) in literature. I read her Pulitzer Prize winning Beloved, and I was enchanted with the beauty of her language, the longing in her characters. It was longing that touched me inside.
I bought and read Tar Baby, Jazz, Sula, Song of Solomon… and knew I wanted to write like that.
My travels and the places I’ve inhabited have taught me an openness to embrace the ‘other’.
You have two recent publications, NOVIC and The Nga'phandileh Whisperer. What do they have in common and what makes them different?
They’re both Black speculative fiction that heroes Black people stories. They tackle themes of unlimited futures, family, parenthood, death, rebirth, immortality, betwixt... I guess that’s it. Otherwise, each is its own book with its own hero/ine who shapes their own story. One is a novella, one is a novelette.
What is the most difficult part of your writing process?
The first draft is always the hardest. I write with urgency but I’m always taken aback by the ugliness and incompleteness of the first draft.
Have you ever travelled as research for your book?
I took a train all the way to Bendigo, a gold mining town in Australia’s state of Victoria, to experience nine levels of darkness inside the mines so I could write a handful of scenes in my Afrofuturistic dystopian novel, Mage of Fools.
I took a weekender in Wagga Wagga, in the state of New South Wales, for my novel Serengotti, to craft a fictitious African village, while borrowing from the quaintness of the city that dresses like a town.
I spent three months in Tasmania for my upcoming novel Crimson in Quietus.
What risks have you taken with your writing that have paid off?
It was a chance on a sabbatical when I took a whole year off to write full time. Partly, I had no choice—the job market was grim, and I was pawning jewellery to pay water and electricity bills. Then, through the University of Tasmania, I got a 3-month residency to do a fellowship as the 2024 Hedberg Writer-in-Residence in Hobart, and I set a whole novel in the shared Afrocentric Sauútiverse.
I’d written short fiction in this universe, and a novella, but now I was tackling a whole friggin’ novel that had to stay within the perimeters of a shared world! I hated this part, not knowing if my story would pass or fail the Sauúti Collective test.
Well, here we are.
Crimson in Quietus is a speculative mystery inspired by Tassie island’s rocky outcrops, natural caves, cascading waterfalls, rivulet trails and swimming holes. Acquired by Meerkat Press.
When was the last time you Googled yourself and what did you find?
Er... today? It’s easy to Google myself to a publisher’s site for a book blurb or metadata for this or other research. Sometimes I Google to see if there are more published reviews out there. One thing I can say—I guess I am a public figure.
Are you active on social media? How do you use it?
I’ve recently got into TikTok! It was petrifying at first, quite overwhelming, really. It’s a shapeless monster. But, three weeks in, one of my videos is at nearly 60,000 views, another at 30,000 and a few others are at climbing at 20,000 views as at the time of writing this—I’m a bit worried this thing is so addictive! Who knows what these metrics translate into? One commenter wanted to know if I’m “single and searching”. I’m also on Bluesky, LinkedIn and Threads... Also still as a ghost in the bad place. I’m on Facebook—where, unlike other sites, I also share personal updates. I am inherently private; haven’t the faintest inkling what ghoul is inhabiting this here body.
Do you play music while you write—and, if so, what’s your favourite?
I write to a backdrop of ‘quiet’ noise. I used to have the news running all day—but not since Trump. Sometimes I play to iTunes but the volume must be just right. Enough to get the melody, decipher the lyrics, bop my head and feet a bit, but not too distracting from my text.
Look at my playlist—Ronan Keating, Teddy Swims, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Adele, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Koffi Olomide, Abba, Richard Marx, Adam Lambert, Kate Miller-Heidke, KPop Demon Hunters, Usher—By Jove, it’s a real smorgasbord.
What do the words “literary success” mean to you? How do you picture it?
I’d like to think of literary success as... my work is accessible, my books are selling out and going into 2nd, 3rd, 7th print runs... I get long queues at book signing events... Publishers are falling over themselves to acquire my newest book at an auction, and they’re paying obscene money in a book advance... My work is translated into more languages than my fingers and toes, getting adaptations to film and theatre and the shows are sellouts...
The altruistic side of me says literary success is when I am a true agent of social change in this apocalyptic world.
Right now, my books and short stories are getting recognition in literary awards, and I can be a voice for change through stories of climate action, gender and social in/justice. But I don’t know if I’d call it literary success.
Who has been the biggest supporter of your writing?
My very first publisher, Tricia Reeks of Meerkat Press—she published my first novel, Claiming T-Mo.
When I win that Nobel Prize for Literature, it’s Tricia I will thank. This publisher opened doors that gave me the break I needed, and enabled opportunities. She continues to be the solidest champion of my works.
Would you share something about yourself that your readers don’t know (yet)?
There’s cement in my bones. In all earnest, I can’t dance.
Thanks so much for answering our questions, Eugen.
Bio:
Eugen Bacon is an African Australian author. She is a Solstice, British Fantasy, Ignyte, Locus and Foreword Indies Award winner. She’s also a twice World Fantasy and Shirley Jackson Award finalist, and a finalist in the Philip K. Dick Awards and the Nommo Awards for speculative fiction by Africans. Eugen is an Otherwise Fellow, and was announced on the honour list for ‘doing exciting work in gender and speculative fiction’. Danged Black Thing made the Otherwise Award Honor List as a ‘sharp collection of Afro-Surrealist work’. Visit her at
eugenbacon.com
