‘We need to give people from marginalised communities space to tell their stories in their own voices’

In 2016, trailblazing Bristol author Nikesh Shukla crowdfunded and edited the game-changing, award-winning essay collection, The Good Immigrant. The book featured 21 black, Asian and minority ethnic voices writing about life in Britain and went on to become a huge success, not only in sales and awards but also in its impact on the publishing industry. Three years on, the much-anticipated The Good Immigrant USA, co-edited by Shukla and Chimene Suleyman, is about to hit the shelves.

The new collection boasts a superb line up of US-based writers, all first and second-generation immigrants, including Teju Cole, Alexander Chee, Jenny Zhang and Chigozie Obioma. It has received brilliant pre-publication reviews and was selected by The Guardian as one its must-read books of 2019. Eleanor Pender caught up with Nikesh to talk about editing across oceans, the publishing industry and what has changed since 2016.

The Good Immigrant was published in 2016, and now three years later The Good Immigrant USA is about to be published. How have the intervening three years been for you?

Busy! Who knew The Good Immigrant would become what it did. It’s resulted in an American version, a brand new magazine called The Good Journal, a literary agency (The Good Literary Agency) and a few other things we’re still to announce. And that’s not even counting my own stuff. In the last few years, I’ve had my first YA and my new adult fiction book out and written another YA. It’s been a whirlwind. An amazing surprising whirlwind.

Co-edited by Bristol author, Nikesh Shukla, The Good Immigrant USA was selected as a must-read book for 2019 by The Guardian

When you started out with The Good Immigrant, did you ever imagine it would lead on to another collection about another country?

Not at all. And initially, I was resistant to doing an American one. I wanted to concentrate on using the first book to drill into the point of it, which was, to get more British writers of colour being published. That was the reason I did it in the first place. However, the political climate is impossible to ignore and so many American writers were getting in touch having found the book through Riz’s (Ahmed) essay going viral, and they wanted to share their stories, and I thought, you know what? Maybe it’s time.

You’ve spoken about the curation and selection process for The Good Immigrant. How did this work for The Good Immigrant USA?

Similarly. We asked a lot of writers and these were the ones who said yes and turned something in on time. I’m really lucky to have worked with all of them. But particularly when you get writers you really adore, like Teju Cole, Jenny Zhang, Alexander Chee and Porochista Khakpour all agreeing to be in your book, it’s just astonishing. Also, I love Fatimah Asghar’s poetry and her web series, Brown Girls, so getting her was a dream. And Priya Minhas, who finds this as the first time she’s published. And Tejal Rao, who is one of the best food writers in the entire world. I’ve known her since we were kids. Her brother and I were best friends and then they moved to America. We kept in touch and when she agreed to do this, I was over the moon. I mean, there are lots of writers who weren’t able to do the project in the time we had and one writer in particular who is one of my favourites who dropped out due to a bereavement, but I’m super happy with the book.

Writer, poet and contributor to The Good Immigrant, Chimene Suleyman worked with you on The Good Immigrant USA. How did this collaboration come about?

Chimene was in the first book and her essay is one of my favourites. But truth be told, Chimene is like my little sister. We’re incredibly close. I think she’s one of the most exceptional writers I’ve ever read, and the entire time I’ve known her, we’ve mentored each other through various projects. I think everything she does is amazing and so felt like she was the only real collaborator for this book. I trust her with my life and also, it helps that she lives in America, so can bring that on-the-ground lived experience to the project, rather than just me editing from afar.

With the way The Good Immigrant was received, do you feel things are changing in the publishing industry?

Yes, definitely. I look at various schemes like Write Now and Hachette’s project to diversify its senior management, all the partnerships being announced and all the books coming out. I look at the changes to various internship schemes and imprints like Dialogue Books launching with a bang and I just think we are in a great time for British writers of colour. We are getting to work on really interesting projects and not all of them are about race and immigration and oppression. That’s really important. Diversity means we get sci-fi and crime and romcom, YA and all the rest of it too, and I’m excited to see these books coming out. I just hope it stays like that.

There is a strong Bristol involvement in The Good Immigrant USA, with yourself as editor and Dialogue Books, led by Bristol-resident Sharmaine Lovegrove, as publisher. How did you end up working together?

Sharmaine is one of the most exceptional people I’ve ever met. Her generosity knows no bounds. She’s been an incredibly kind, patient and careful editor and I’ve loved every second of being part of the Dialogue Books family. We met at the launch party for The Good Immigrant in 2016! I knew of her already as she was a scout of impeccable taste and the literary editor for Elle. And my agent Julia brought her and we got on so well. She was our first choice for this book and I’m so glad she went for it. Sharmaine has changed the world already. We’re all just playing catch-up with her vision. I love her to bits.

You’ve also been busy with The Good Journal and The Good Agency. Alongside this and The Good Immigrant USA, have you had time to work on your own writing?

No. But I’ve tried anyway. I’ve got my second Young Adult novel, The Boxer, out in June. It’s about a young kid who takes up boxing following a racist attack, who watches his best friend get radicalised by the far right. I’m doing bits of screenwriting this year and I have a desire to start a new novel at some point. But yes, time has been in short supply. I’m just trying my best.

What do you hope people will take away from The Good Immigrant USA?

We need to give space to people from marginalised communities space to tell their stories in their own voices and never speak over them, and listen. We need to listen. Because it’s 2019 and I’m having to remind people that racism is still very much a thing, and that it’s bad. It’s really bad folks. It’s 2019.

The Good Immigrant USA is published on March 7. For more information, visit www.littlebrown.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9780349700373

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Main photo: Jon Aitken