Yasmin Angoe

An interview with author Yasmin Angoe ...

Fall 2023

Yasmin Angoe, a first-generation Ghanaian American, former English teacher, and the 2020 recipient of Sister in Crime’s Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Emerging Writers of Color, is the author of the Nena Knight thriller series, featuring a Ghanian woman who becomes an elite assassin for a powerful business syndicate known as the Tribe and has the unique opportunity to avenge the atrocities committed against herself and her family in her village. Yasmin’s debut novel, Her Name Is Knight, has been followed by They Come At Knight and the recently released It Ends With Knight. Yasmin writes books that readers find very difficult to put down.

Her books have been Amazon Best Book of the Month for Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense and an Editor’s Pick. Her work has been recognized on a billboard in Times Square, a number of Best Of lists, and in a Library Journal Starred Review. Her first novel appeared in the New York Times Book Review, OprahDaily.com, POPSUGAR, Nerd Daily, the Washington Independent Review of Books, The Guardian, and other platforms. Yasmin is a proud member of several prestigious organizations such as Sisters in Crime (where she has served as an officer for both her local chapter and the national organizations), Mystery Writers of America, Crime Writers of Color, International Thriller Writers, and the Women’s National Book Association. Her second novel was selected as a finalist for the Library of Virginia’s 2023 Literary Awards in the People’s Choice in Fiction category.

Interview by BWG member Paula Gail Benson

Bethlehem Writers Group: When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

Yasmin Angoe: I started writing in middle school. I don’t know that it was a definitive decision as more natural progression toward a thing that felt very much a part of my being. And I’ve always been serious about my writing. There have just been life detours preventing me from becoming a published writer until a couple years ago.

BWG: How did you create Nena Knight?

YA: If you mean how did I come up with the idea of Nena, I knew I wanted to write about a strong Black woman who was from my Ghanian background who was doing this all the boy did but didn’t expect her to do. I wanted to write about someone who was very complicated but also very human, especially for women who look like me.

BWG: Her Name Is Knight has the unique structure of going back and forth in time. What difficulties and benefits did you discover using this organizational device?

YA: Well, the difficulty I found was when I tried to write the present and the past at the same time and straight through. It wasn’t flowing and it felt disjointed. When I decided to write all of the past first and then go into the present then the story went together seamlessly. To me, Her Name Is Knight is essentially two stories in one that converge at some point. I like to know the why behind a character’s actions, so having dual timelines helped me dig down deep into the character.

BWG: You made the decision to place warnings at the beginning of Her Name Is Knight to let readers know about the graphic depictions. You also offer resource information for those who have been victims or who find it difficult to read about the horrors Nena faced. What has the reaction been to those difficult scenes and to your providing the resource information?

YA: The reaction has been fine to the difficult scenes. The book isn’t about those scenes; they are events that the main character must deal with. It’s how she evolves from there. The readers get that as the story progresses, so their response has been fine . . . actually, really good.

I included the author’s note and resources because I understood I was talking about difficult topics and there may be some readers who might need a warning of what’s to come and also providing resources for readers to get more information about the topics themselves if they want to.

BWG: Were you excited to hear that Her Name Is Knight was optioned for the screen? Do you know what your involvement will be with the series?

YA: Oh, yeah, of course. LOL. But it’s a long process, and very little is shared until everything is secured. I don’t know what my involvement will be when it becomes a series, but I’ll be thankful in any capacity.

BWG: Do you plan to write additional novels about Nena Knight and the characters in your trilogy?

YA: I’d love to, but that depends on the publisher. If they want more, I’m happy to write more. I love the Nenaverse and the characters who live in it—both good and bad!

BWG: What are you working on now?

YA: I’ve just turned in the draft of a psychological suspense that’s Rear Window-esque. I hope the readers love it. New protagonist who I hope will be as impactful as Nena has been.

BWG: In addition to your novels, you have presented programs, participated on panels, and work with a group that provides developmental and sensitivity editing. How have those activities influenced you and helped you to progress as an author?

YA: Well, the sensitivity aspect of it comes from my life experiences. As a person from an underrepresented group, I know what it feels like to read something truly harmful and offensive from a writer who either knowingly or unknowingly had something in their work that didn’t have to be. As far as developmental editing, yes, that has helped me in my writing because while I write, I try to think about what plot issues my own developmental editor may raise. That tends to make me write slower, though so it can also be a bad thing. LOL. Also, my experience being an English teacher guides me. I taught many of the same things to my students about the craft, voice, audience, giving and receiving feedback, and how to implement that feedback.

BWG: What advice do you give to writers?

YA: My advice would be to write what you’d like to write but do it thinking about your reader . . . that is, if you intend to have others read your work. And, if you really love and want to write, then do it! Try not to worry about what everyone is doing because that can undermine what you’re trying to do. What do we teachers say? “Eyes on your own paper!”