Derek Owusu was born in London in 1988. His new book, That Reminds Me, is published by Stormzy’s #Merky Books and is a novel-in-verse that explores identity, belonging, his experience of growing up in foster care, and his mental breakdown last year. Owusu edited the anthology Safe: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space (2019) and is a marketing executive for audio at Penguin Books.
How did That Reminds Me come about?
I started writing it when I was in a mental health facility last year and I created the character of K to try to understand going through a breakdown. I started writing fragments of memory and initially it was going to be a poetry collection, and then it turned into something different. I sent it to Stormzy’s manager and she loved it. I wanted to convey the symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Before my BPD diagnosis, I just thought I was strange. My emotions were always fluctuating. I was often angry. When I was diagnosed it was a relief. It’s important to share awareness with the people around you so they know what you’re going through. The NHS have been amazing. They saved my life a couple of times.
Do you feel attitudes towards men’s mental health are being destigmatised?
I think we’re destigmatising particular mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. But then you don’t get many men talking about personality disorders or schizophrenia. The mental health issues that people find scary aren’t talked about – that’s where the conversation needs to go.
The book explores memory through the form of novel-in-verse…
I wanted to make sure that memories were represented in the way I see them – in fragments. I was reading Freud to try to understand memories, including The Uncanny. I did a lot of thinking and reading about psychoanalysis.
What are your early memories?
I have happy memories of seven years in foster care in a village in Suffolk. It was a lot of fun. But when my mum collected me and brought me to live with my aunt in Tottenham – that was traumatic. I remember starting to write stories in year 4. I wrote a 10-page story and the teacher looked at it and said “your handwriting’s terrible”, then she said it in assembly, and I stopped writing. I did a school talk in east London recently and said, “stand up if you know anyone who has been affected by mental health”, and 200 people stood up and I thought: “Wow, I really needed to write this book.”
You write about unconventional families…
Family is very important to me as a Ghanaian – but I wanted to turn what we know as a conventional family on its head. I think it’s hard for parents to see their children as three-dimensional, but I wanted to show how troubled children need to be treated like people. My mum is now 60 and trying to be my friend, which is great. K’s mother and my mum are quite similar in that the tenderness develops over time.
How did you discover your love of literature?
I didn’t go to uni when I was 18. I thought I wasn’t clever enough. I became a fitness instructor and then a personal trainer. I was training my cousin and he asked me why I didn’t go to university. Then one day he came around to my house with his sister who got on my laptop and started writing my personal statement. A couple of weeks later, he packed my bags and drove me to Manchester where I studied at Manchester Met. I was studying exercise science but discovered literature – I started going to the uni library and read the classics. I went through obsessions – from Dickens to Maya Angelou. I fell in love with reading. I couldn’t afford to change degree so used to sneak into English literature lectures at the University of Manchester. They were amazing. I would ask questions and people would look at me and think: who the hell is that? It was great fun.
Do you find reading and writing a form of mental exercise?
Yes! I was absolutely obsessed with the gym, now I’m absolutely obsessed with reading. My favourite book is The Great Gatsby. I even have a Gatsby tattoo. I also love Invisible Man. It’s like a verse novel. I think my most natural form is the verse novel. I write poetry as well. For the past year, in my spare time I’ve been doing the poetry circuit around London and I’m hoping to release a poetry collection at some point. I have also started writing a full-length novel.
That Reminds Me is rich in Ghanaian folktale culture…
I really wanted to incorporate a lot of that. Anansi is the god of stories – I’m telling Anansi my story. I remember my aunt telling me some Anansi stories when I was 9 or 10, but I didn’t take them in. In my 20s, I bought loads of Anansi books. History, folklore, and culture gives you pride and happiness through a sense of connection.
Tell me about the anthology you edited, Safe, and black British men reclaiming space…
It’s about space to be human and let all of your multitudes shine. Black men are often seen in two-dimensional ways as historical racist ideas have been passed on, and the media doesn’t help – reinforcing these ridiculous stereotypes. We often conflate black British men with African men, and it was important to get nuances on paper.
How do you feel about space for black men in the literary world?
I think more needs to be done. There’s Benjamin Zephaniah and Courttia Newland. But there’s not enough. A lot of new writers are coming through independent publishers, not enough big publishers are publishing them. Who was the last black British male literary sensation in this country? Probably Caryl Phillips, and that was ages ago. I hope that this novel inspires other writers, and I hope it will encourage other publishers to take on writers who are more experimental. Because publishers are scared of being experimental.
Your next book, Teaching My Brother to Read, sounds fascinating – could you tell me more about it?
It was initially an idea for a podcast where I could spend some more time with my brother, who’s 19, and pass on my love of literature. I’ve tried to get him into books before, but he ended up crying after the first few pages of To Kill a Mockingbird – not because he was moved, but because he was so angry that I was making him read! This time around I’m offering him £50 per book and promised him no book will be more than 300 pages. The books I’ve chosen are ones I feel he can benefit from. I raised my brother to the age of around 12. But I left to go to uni for three years and when I came back, he was a different person. I feel I have a responsibility to better his life and I truly believe literature is the way to do that.
• That Reminds Me by Derek Owusu is published by Merky (£12.99). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com or call 020-3176 3837. Free UK p&p over £15, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99.
