Author Natalie Baszile can relate to the line by Anne Wilkes Tucker, “I have a field on my mind that needs plowing.” So much so, that it’s the epitaph of her first book Queen Sugar, a nod to Black farmers, family, Louisiana and its sugar cane industry, and over a decade in the making. Speaking with the author over the phone from her California home, she shares her journey and expresses excitement about returning to New Iberia as the Great Southern Writer of this year’s Books Along the Teche Literary Festival, where she will speak to the festival’s VIP Book Club.

The topic: her acclaimed novel Queen Sugar, which tells the story of a young black mother inheriting a sugar cane farm and finding her place in the family and society as well as an industry she knew nothing about. You may know the story better from the hugely popular TV series of the same name on Oprah’s OWN network.

A lifelong resident of California, Baszile first came to know a speck of Louisiana when she accompanied her father on annual trips to his hometown of Elton, where she spent time visiting her grandmother. There she discovered her roots and a land starkly different from her suburban coastal home. She recalls the summer sounds of the cicadas and the stifling heat – though it didn’t bother her. “Talking about it takes me back to warm feelings,” she says in a reminiscent tone. “A massive water oak tree in front of my grandmother’s house, planted long ago by my father, became the burial site of some of his ashes and the symbol of my deep Louisiana roots and family connections. I was surprised by how relieved I felt to be able to claim that part of my identity, given that my father had a different experience. The time spent in Elton gave me a different sense of what was possible.”

She carried the places and stories of that world in her mind and revisited them when she began writing while at UCLA. Starting as a business major, she realized in her sophomore year she enjoyed writing more than the prospects of working in the family business. “When a professor told me I’d be a fool not to continue writing, that was the seedling of hope I held onto for many years,” she recalls. She would go on to earn an M.A. in Afro-American Studies from UCLA, and graduate from Warren Wilson College’s MFA Program for Writers.

The first spark of inspiration for Queen Sugar came when Baszile attended her grandmother’s funeral, seeing a church full of a diverse group of people. She had already developed the character Ralph Angel for a short story that was set in Los Angeles, but says, “When I returned to California, I had a bigger idea for the novel.” She remembers the summer day on one of her first visits to New Iberia, in 2005, when she stood in a sugar cane field and decided to set the novel on a sugar cane plantation.

During her years-long research for the book, Baszile would make three to four trips to Louisiana a year to learn about the sugar cane industry and its farmers. She immersed herself in the landscape, culture and traditions, experiencing her first Black Zydeco trail ride and even helping a couple plant sugar cane. A San Francisco friend, with family in New Iberia, introduced her to Iberia sugar cane farmer Rene Simon. “Rene became my teacher, friend and guide to learning about the industry for the book,” she says. “His influence on the book is there. The year he was crowned king of the Sugarcane Festival, my husband and I went to the parade and attended the ball; I saw Queen Sugar being crowned. The traditions and celebrations centered around the harvest were all new to me.”

Other strong influencers made their way into the book. Proper Denton, the older black farmer, is inspired by an elderly farmer she met by the name of Cleveland Provost and Miss Honey is loosely inspired by her grandmother.

“I’m always collecting names, ideas of characters, an expression or a line of dialogue and I keep a running list,” she says, referring to an index card on a bulletin board in her office that reads: Story Ideas. “Everything is a potential idea. I have notebooks, but I like to keep ideas in a stack of index cards, and then something happens that sparks my imagination, and I start putting things together.”

In the small writing room of her home, Baszile is surrounded by books on three sides. Every morning, around 9 a.m., she sits at her large desk and writes all day, if there’s nothing to call her away.

It took 11 years to finish Queen Sugar to the point where it was accepted by an agent. When it finally was, Baszile celebrated by treating herself to a new camera. Less than one year after publication, the book was adapted by Ava DuVernay for featured television and produced by Oprah Winfrey. Queen Sugar went on to be on Oprah’s Book Club list, named one of the San Francisco Chronicles’ Best Books of 2014, was longlisted for the Crooks Corner Southern Book Prize, and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award.

“People will tell you that writing – or any creative pursuit- is risky and that you should do something safer,” Baszile cautions. “Writing is difficult. It will demand everything you have. But no one can tell you how hard you’re willing to work; you have to decide that for yourself. My favorite line in Queen Sugar is when Proper Denton first begins teaching Charley about farming and he says, ‘This isn’t something you take notes on, Miss Bordelon. You got to live it.’”

With an even deeper appreciation for the land and the work of Black farmers, Baszile went on to publish her second book We Are Each Other’s Harvest. From her research for Queen Sugar she says, “It became clear to me that there were Black farmers all around the country who had managed to hold on to their land and do the work. I wanted to capture the stories and shine a spotlight on these real people who are humble and interesting.”

Always “plowing her fields,” Baszile is currently working on a new novel set in San Francisco and coming out in the next year or so. There are also a couple of film projects in the works as well as a documentary about Black farmers, who remain a constant inspiration.

About the Author:

Something few people know – Likes stories about Mount Everest

Favorite place in Louisiana – Satsuma Café in New Orleans

Hobby – Photography

Favorite authors- Toni Morrison, Ernest Gaines, Amy Bloom, Elizabeth Stout, Zadie Smith

Little-known talent – Pretty good skier

Favorite word(s)- The End