Kyle Kellams: Ayana Gray. She’ll be at the Bentonville Public Library Feb. 11. Her most recent novel, “I, Medusa”, delivers a backstory to one of the most famous figures in Greco-Roman mythology. It was one of NPR’s Books We Love for twenty twenty five. Gray’s bestselling Beasts of Prey trilogy was categorized as young adult. Now, her examination of Medusa’s story is her adult debut.
She says she followed a simple guideline to begin work on “I, Medusa”.
Ayana Gray: I started this by delving into the various poets who have written about Medusa and kind of seeing what had already been said, and then looking for the gaps. And I found quite a few. And then it was just about letting my imagination sort of run wild. We don’t know a lot about Medusa’s backstory and who she was before she became this iconic, “monster”. And so imagining, okay, who were her parents? Who were her siblings? Where did she grow up? And because there wasn’t a lot written about where she grew up and what her life was like before, I just got to create, which was so fun. And then as the story progresses, I got to bring in familiar characters like Poseidon, like Athena, like the city of Athens, which is kind of a character in and of itself, and twined that into my imagination. So it was a really fun project.
Kellams: You mentioned siblings. She has sisters and what their relationship is and how, because they’re older sisters, how they may or may not be able to guide her.
Gray: Yes. So we do know from the classic myth that Medusa’s the youngest of three sisters. She has two older sisters. And what’s interesting is her older sisters are immortal and she is not. And so you can imagine if you are a sibling or if you have siblings, you already have sometimes complicated dynamics growing up in the same household with people, but you can just imagine what it would be like to be the only person in your family who is going to die, and you’re aware of that, and you can imagine how isolating that must feel. And in this story, she’s trapped on an island. She can’t go anywhere. She’s just like, my clock is ticking, so to speak. I want to go see the world. And so it really, in the beginning, kind of sets up this story where you see a young woman who just wants to get out into the world, and you really empathize with her.
Kellams: Yes, in fact, empathy is one of the qualities at the heart of this book. And again, as so many of us know, Medusa is later portrayed as a, you know, you use the word monster, but certainly a force to be dealt with. Building up, when we find out what happens along the way, I, as a reader at least, grew empathetic for her.
Gray: I hope so. I think that, and we see this all over literature. We see this in history. We see this in the contemporary. Rarely are our stories simple. There are all sorts of pieces of context and nuance and perspectives that all create the story. And what we see in real life and in stories is often it’s the people with power who get to control what stories are told and how they’re told, and who gets to be the villain and the hero. And so I hope it does build empathy and encourages people to sometimes look for the story within the story in real life and in fantasy.
Kellams: Labels can be so problematic. Your trilogy, “Beasts of Prey”, was listed as young adult, though I found them intended for me, and I’m well past being a young adult. This is listed as adult. There are some serious themes, some serious content, and I know you have some very young readers. So while labels can be stifling and problematic, I do think I understand why this would be seen as different by perhaps author and readers.
Gray: Yes, absolutely. And the beautiful thing about young adult is that we have ideas about what young adult means, but young adult stories are coming-of-age stories, and in some way, we’re always coming of age because we’re never the same age more than once. So young adult has this beautiful universal appeal. I’m very conscious of the fact that I have very young readers. I have readers as young as ten, and I wanted to make sure that they understood that, just as you’ve said, the content in “I, Medusa” is different than the content in Beasts of Prey. And I was a kid who read up. Absolutely. I read beyond my “age category”. And so I would never stop a child or stop a young reader who’s reading ahead of their level. But I also would be cautious about putting this book into a child’s hands and saying, this is for you as a kid. So it was just a nice way to create a slight boundary.
Kellams: As you were writing “I, Medusa”, did you have the full outline of how the story would go?
Gray: So among writers, we talk about plotters and pantsers. The plotters, or the architects, are the people who outline every detail, and the pantsers, or sometimes they’re called gardeners, are the ones who plant seeds and see what grows, or they write by the seat of their pants. And I tend to be, it’s more of a spectrum, I tend to be more of a plotter in that I have to have a lot outlined, but I always leave a little bit of wiggle room for myself. Because sometimes I’ll have a scene in mind, and when I get to that part of the book and I’m writing it, it just doesn’t feel right. And then I back up and I’ll try something else, and that may not feel right, and then I’ll try something else and then keep going. So I do have to have a lot planned out before I start writing. Otherwise I get stuck.
Kellams: Medusa is a character who lives at a far different time than us, in a far different place. But what’s great is I think almost any reader can identify with her. You put her on an island. If you were a kid who grew up in a rural place, you felt like you were on an island. It’s often a coming of age story that you can’t wait to get out. And then you find out that things and people can be bad. And so there is this sort of rumination, did I come out too fast? Would I be happier if I’d never left the island? There is a universal story in “I, Medusa”, I would think.
Gray: I hope so. I think we all can. Whether we grew up in a rural small town, or we were stuck in one city and couldn’t leave for whatever reason, we all know what it’s like to feel in some way trapped. Trapped in a job we don’t like, trapped in a relationship we probably shouldn’t be, and trapped in any kind of situation. And we all know what it feels like to yearn for something different. And I think that’s going back to empathy. We can all empathize with Medusa in just having this great yearning to see the world and do more with her life and find her purpose. She gets that and just as you’ve said, she finds out that sometimes things are not what they appear. But the beautiful thing is that’s life. It’s learning. It’s learning that the world is not black and white. It’s actually multiple shades of gray. And learning for yourself at the end of the story, what we see is that purpose is not something that you find once and say, OK, I figured out life. Purpose is something that you find over and over and over again, and you may wear one label for a period of time and then shed it and find a new label for yourself or multiple labels for yourself. And that’s all part of the beautiful experience. That’s life.
Kellams: When you’re at the Bentonville Public Library, the room’s going to be full of people who are your fans, who admire your writing.
Gray: I hope so.
Kellams: What is it like to talk to people who are very enthusiastic about what you’ve written?
Gray: Well, first I have to tell you, a good friend who’s an author said it best. It does feel like you’re throwing a birthday party and hoping people will come. I never assume I’m going to fill up a room. I hope so, but it’s really beautiful, I think. I write in solitude. I don’t have a co-writer, so I’m in my office by myself creating these words, almost like throwing noodles at a wall, hoping something sticks, hoping something resonates, not really sure what will land. And so that’s most of my job. It’s very unglamorous. And then I have these rare moments where I get to actually meet readers and hear what they think about the book, and it’s so satisfying and so beautiful that you can connect with a total stranger over words on a page. And those are the moments where I’m like, this is what it’s for. I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.
Kellams: Do you remember the first time you were able to be in the same room as a published author you might have read?
Gray: Oh, gosh. I think I was fortunate or unfortunate to debut in the midst of the pandemic. And so my experience was sort of weird because I did a lot of things on Zoom, and I would meet authors I’d really respected via Zoom. I will tell you, it wasn’t the first author, but the author I remember, I was at a book festival in Texas, and there was kind of a break and an author invited me to coffee. We went into this restaurant, and there was this older woman sitting by herself drinking coffee. And the author I was talking to said, oh, that’s Miss Lowry. And I blinked, and I said, Miss Lowry, as in Lois Lowry? As in “The Giver”?. And I was just staring at her. I read her when I was in the fifth grade. I was ten years old, and I’m now 32. And there she was in the flesh. It was just surreal to see the author behind such an instrumental work when I was very young just there. It was kind of out of body.
Kellams: Gray will be at the Bentonville Public Library in conversation. Her most recent novel is “I, Medusa”. It’s Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. Thank you so much for your time.
Gray: Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited.
Kellams: Ayana Gray’s latest novel is “I, Medusa”. She will be at the Bentonville Public Library Wednesday night, Feb. 11, at 6 p.m. It’s open to the public, and it is free.
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