Liv Little has been decompressing in sunny Jamaica since New Year’s Day before she comes back to the U.K. to start prepping for her debut book “Rosewater,” due out in April.
Her trip is a bittersweet one, but it has emphasized all the love in her life and it’s the central theme of her novel.
“I came to Jamaica to scatter my dad’s ashes because he died last year and 10 of my closest friends came out, who didn’t all know each other and we just had the most beautiful time. I just feel really surrounded by love and really fortunate,” says Little on a WhatsApp video call from Blue Mountain, one of Jamaica’s longest mountain ranges.
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“Losing my stepdad almost six years ago and now losing my dad after caring for him, going through multiple mental health crises and falling in love, there’s a lot of beautiful transformational moments in that, but all of those inform who you are and how you show up in the world,” she says of finding the silver linings in life.
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Little is the founder of gal-dem, a magazine that she started in 2015 at university, out of frustration and as a response to the lack of voices from women of color and nonbinary people of color.
Her little bedroom project quickly attracted traction, turning her into a businesswoman that was the brand’s front-facing figure and the boss behind the scenes.
By 2019, gal-dem had already collaborated with the Victoria & Albert museum, Little and her team had guest edited The Guardian’s Weekend magazine and released a 14-essay anthology, “I Will Not Be Erased: Our Stories About Growing Up as People of Color.”
In April of that same year, as Little was about to reveal that she would be stepping down from the magazine, her father was diagnosed with motor neuron disease.
Little’s next phase of life was abruptly interrupted as she moved out of London into the suburbs. She had started a master’s course in Black British writing at Goldsmiths University, but she didn’t get to complete it because of her father’s sickness.
“I’ve always been a super creative person and I wanted to write and to tell stories in different formats. It was just super inspirational,” she says of the short-lived experience that led her to start writing her novel.
“I was writing whilst my dad was really sick and it was a really enjoyable, beautiful, creative space that I enjoyed tapping into and needed at that time,” she explains.
“Rosewater” is a queer love story set in south London, where Little grew up, following the protagonist Elsie as she journeys through friendships, relationships and finding her feet.
Little says the novel is inspired by the people and places that mean a lot to her.
“It’s a place that I grew up with that sparks a lot of conversations and questions. I wanted to look at the different ways in which we show up for love based on who we are and how we move through the world and how choosing to love isn’t necessarily the easiest choice for everyone,” Little explains, adding that there are moments in the book that will leave the reader frustrated because “it’s so obvious, but it’s not so straightforward because life gets in the way.”
“Rosewater” is the first book to be picked up by singer-songwriter John Legend’s publishing company Get Lifted.
“I feel like all the years of doing the work that I’ve done has meant that my book has really landed in the hands of the people that I want it to. It’s a dream come true and it’s just starting to feel real,” she says.
As the novel got the greenlight, Little shared her first draft with her younger sister, who was 15 years old at the time.
“She’s so smart and my go-to person to debrief on anything because she’s an avid reader, amazing writer and way smarter than I am,” Little says.