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What happens when the life you worked so hard to build no longer feels like yours?
In this episode, I sit down with Trinidadian writer Celeste Mohammed to talk about creativity, courage and the choices that can pull us towards a different life.
Celeste takes us from the imaginary worlds she created as a child in Trinidad to the fifteen years she spent studying and practising law — and the moment she realised that the successful, financially secure life she had built was making her deeply unhappy.
We talk about what happened when an intended one-year sabbatical became the beginning of an entirely different creative life; learning to write all over again; Pleasant View being rejected more than forty times before finding its publisher; and why Celeste now sees delay and rejection differently.
Along the way, we talk about doing the next thing in front of you when you can’t see the whole road, the small wins that build creative confidence, saying yes to possibility before you know exactly how you’ll deliver, motherhood and play, and giving yourself permission to experiment and break the rules.
In this episode, we talk about:
- Creativity as a natural mode of being human
- The imaginary worlds Celeste created as a child in Trinidad
- Growing up without a creative life being presented as a viable path
- Fifteen years studying and practising law
- The moment Celeste realised her successful career was making her unhappy
- Taking a sabbatical and finding her way back to writing
- Doing the next thing in front of you without knowing where it will lead
- Pleasant View being rejected more than forty times before finding its publisher
- Why delay and rejection aren’t always negative
- Small wins, saying yes to possibility and building creative confidence
- Motherhood, play and nourishing creativity in children
- Breaking the rules and experimenting with Ever Since We Small
- Returning to a novel that has been on Celeste’s desk for fourteen years
About Celeste Mohammed
Celeste Mohammed is a writer from Trinidad whose work explores Caribbean life in all its richness, complexity and humanity.
Her debut novel-in-stories, Pleasant View, won the 2022 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. Her second book, Ever Since We Small, continues her exploration of family, memory, belonging and Caribbean life.
Celeste lives and writes in Trinidad.
Mentioned in this episode
- Celeste Mohammed’s debut novel-in-stories, Pleasant View
- Her second book, Ever Since We Small
- The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature
- Creative writing and the short-story form
- Painting and cooking as other parts of Celeste’s creative life
- Smokey Robinson’s Cruisin’ as Celeste’s soundtrack to this season
Espresso Press
Espresso Press is a new literary non-profit for Black women writers where we publish and platform our stories, craft and authorship, so we can exist in our own way, on our own terms.
We’re right at the beginning of building this world. If you’d like to help us bring it to life, you can quite literally buy us a coffee. Every coffee helps us create more opportunities for Black women writers.
Buy us a coffee: buymeacoffee.com/espressopress
Find out more: espressopress.org
Connect
Celeste Mohammed
Instagram: @celestemohammed
Website: celestemohammedwriter.com
Espresso Press
Instagram: @espresso.press
Website: espressopress.org
Ella Achola
Instagram: @ellaachola
Website: ellaachola.com
