Danielle Bainbridge is the author of the new book Dandelion: A Memoir in Essays. She also has written the book Currencies of Cruelty. She is Assistant Professor of Theatre, Black Studies, and Performance Studies at Northwestern University, and she lives in Chicago.
Q: What inspired you to write Dandelion?
A: I initially set out to write just one essay (“The Hospital: The Spit in My Mouth Heals the Wounds on My Tongue”) about one particular hospitalization experience.
Once that got published I realized I had more to say about race and mental health and how Black women navigate these complex realities. So I wrote another essay… and another one … and then soon I had a series of short essays that I wasn’t sure what to do with.
Then I began thinking of them as a collection and the rest is history. So I guess the first essay inspired me to finish the collection.
Q: The author Myriam Gurba said of the book, “Deftly reconstructs, in spare yet elegant prose, the beauty, pleasure, and horror of Black remembrance and Black forgetting...” What do you think of that assessment?
A: I think it’s interesting because so much of memoir is about what we remember and what we chose to withhold or forget. I was talking to my spouse the other day about how even with everything I’ve written in the book I still have so much more that could have been said.
I think that’s why I love essays so much. They force you to distill your thinking down to the most essential information and you can challenge and shift form and structure in interesting ways.
I was really touched that Myriam Gurba chose my book to win the Uplift Voices Award from Jaded Ibis Press and I cherish her assessment of the book. It gave me even more to think about!
Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: So the book’s title comes from my family’s childhood nickname for me. Some members of my family still call me that actually, which I find sweet and endearing.
I think the title was meant to draw on the duality of the dandelion: that it’s something that is both a stubborn weed and a beautiful flower. As I was reflecting on the various stages of my life I felt that metaphor applied to me and my story so I chose the name based on that.
Q: What impact did it have on you to write the book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?
A: Writing the book had a profound impact on how I relate to my mental health journey and to myself. I feel like it was one of the first times I gave myself permission to speak so freely and openly about the challenges I’ve faced in my life.
It honestly felt liberating to put it down on paper and publish it. It also felt (at times) terrifying because I kept realizing people would read it and engage with it and share it.
I hope that my readers are able to see themselves or someone they love in the pages of this book. I hope it gives them a greater sense of empathy and understanding for mental illness. And I hope it starts necessary conversations within their own community about the issues raised in the book. I really want this work to travel to the people who need it most.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Right now I’m working on something totally different. I’m writing a novel called The Mondegreens about an improv comedy camp and cult run by a mysterious older Black woman named Sweet Mother Divine in upstate New York.
The protagonist, Sidra, is a young black woman who is tasked with a “mission of faith” to kill The Host--Sweet Mother Divine’s rival and a late night television host. But she has to determine if she wants to complete her mission or leave behind the camp for a life in late-night TV.
After working on so many heavy topics for so long I really wanted to do something that would be playful and funny, while also tackling some big questions about power, abuses of power, and human nature. It’s been a lot of fun jumping into fiction for my next project.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Not at this time but thank you for the interview!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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