Q&A with Samsun Knight

 

 

 

 

Samsun Knight is the author of the new novel Likeness. He also has written the novel The Diver. He is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Likeness, and how did you create your characters Anne, Sebastian, and Sandy?

A: The loose inspiration for Likeness comes from my own family; my mother and father had a complicated open relationship, and I have a half-brother who's almost the exact same age as me, born one month before I was.

 

The characters themselves aren't really anything like my mom, dad, or my half-brother's mom (I call her my half-mom), but the situation comes pretty much directly from their setup—they had a settled rhythm around their polyamorous relationships that got completely whirlwinded by the news that both my mom and she were pregnant at the same time.

 

But I'd say in reality the characters are all different versions of myself, trying to understand how these decisions and situations could've made sense if I'd been an actor in them.

 

Q: The writer Maria Kuznetsova said of the book, “Likeness is both a hilarious wild ride about a love triangle and a serious investigation into what makes us love, procreate, and live with purpose.” What do you think of that description?

A: I'm very grateful! The book is both about the relationships, but also about each of the characters' becomings in the context of their relationships—how our partnerships change our perspectives on ourselves, and by extension, ourselves. 

 

Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

A: I initially chose the title as a reference to the likeness of the two sons, but I also liked it as a big-tent title, that readers can hopefully fill with their own significance.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic among your three characters?

A: I'd describe it as a three-legged stool where all the legs are broken. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I'm working on a novel about siblings, two sisters who move in together after one of them can't shake a drug addiction. I like family disasters.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: Thank you for your time!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb