Jo Hamya, author of The Hypocrite
Obsessed with Tapenade, Resonance FM radio, and a sudden, terrible feeling she may believe in God.
JO HAMYA was born in London in 1997 where she now lives. After living in Miami for a few years, she completed an English degree at King’s College London and a MSt in contemporary literature and culture at Oxford University. There, she divided her research between updating twentieth-century cultural theory into twenty-first-century digital contexts, and the impact of social media on form and questions of identity in contemporary women’s writing. Since leaving Oxford, she has worked as a copyeditor for Tatler and edited manuscripts subsequently published by Edinburgh University Press and Doubleday UK. She has also written for the Financial Times. Her new novel is The Hypocrite.
What has been the most surprising aspect for you since your book came out?
That people are reading it.
What’s the best writing advice you were ever given?
‘If you wanted to take an extended break, it might do you good.’ (I haven’t, but I’d like to be capable of one soon.)
What’s the worst?
“Make an author Instagram!’
What have you read lately that you wholeheartedly recommend?
Oi You Lot by Kareem Parkins-Brown; in particular LONDON SONNET 2, and his poems after Roger Robinson.
How about an older book—five years or more?
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan.
Are you a re-reader and why?
Yes, to jog my memory and improve my writing. I’m currently re-reading Harriet Baker’s Rural Hours, which is a beautiful meditation on failure or faltering, and modes of living.
How far will you read before you stop or do you finish every book you begin?
I always finish, sometimes against my better judgement and sometimes to pleasant surprise.
When you begin a draft, does it go straight onto the computer or do you start with a pen or pencil, or typewriter, or…..
Usually straight onto the Word doc, but lately I’ve been trying out pen and paper.
What do you do when you hit a wall?
Drink; have fun.
What are you currently obsessed with?
Tapenade, Resonance FM radio, and a sudden, terrible feeling that I may believe in God.
What is a question no one asks that you wish they would? Ask and answer it.
It’s very odd to me that I’m asked questions (in a public sphere) at all…
Listen to my interview with Jo Hamya, author of The Hypocrite, here. If you want to watch the show, it should be on my YouTube (@Inkmama) channel this week.