"My stories often start with some image or moment that stays with me... It could be something I experienced, or a conversation I overheard, or the way someone looked at someone else… I will usually just start writing toward that image or moment and build from there."

“Sometimes, belonging to a place means longing to leave it. Sometimes it means knowing you can always go back.”

The City We Became isn’t simply a jarring attack on white privilege, it’s a necessary nudge towards reality…By inverting white savior tropes, Jemisin shows how systemic advantages have weakened cities while diversity remains their strengths.