Author Profile: Dara Kalima

Black Man, Black Woman, Black Child book cover
Black Man, Black Woman, Black Child book cover

POS: Tell us a little bit about your upcoming project you are working on. What is your process? 

DK: I’m working on a new book called Casualty of Love: A Poetic Journey from Butterflies to Broken and Back. It’s my way of looking at the joys of love as well as the hurts… I have had a tumultuous love life, and while I am not the only one, I have found it interesting that we don’t really talk about it. I wonder if the places I ended up could have been avoided if I knew other people’s stories. So my goal is to put my story out there for others. But it’s a tough process. I’ve compiled most of the work already. In a few weeks the manuscript will go out to my first readers/editors. But it’s a hard process, in order to tell the story, I have to relive it, rewrite it, reread it, edit it, etc. My hope is that healing will be there once it hits the market. I hope it helps others heal. And in the meantime I spend much of my time practicing self care. I can’t let my past do me in order to tell the story. And that whole point about “and back” is about how do you heal, how do you keep healing, how do you progress… The book is teaching me even after writing it.

POS: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers and poets?

DK: My main advice is write. And don’t stop writing. Your style may not be for everyone. Not everyone will love it. But there may be that one person that needed it to be said in only a way that you could. So write, don’t stop writing, challenge yourself to write better, to write differently, to grow. But never ever stop telling your story.

And then… share it!
I’d like to thank Dara for taking time to talk with us about her work, and upcoming project. If you happen to be going to the Harlem Book Fair ’16, you should visit her table. To find out more about Dara, visit her official website at

Dara KM

 

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