Online bookstore and newspaper will host award-winning author

Vanessa Riley’s novel “Island Queen,” released in July, has been called “riveting and transformative, evocative and immersive” by The New York Times. The author describes the central character as “special, imperfect, messy and beautiful.”

On Sunday, September 26, Pig City Books and Davidson Local will host Riley at Bull City Ciderworks. The event begins at 1 p.m. and will include a chat with the author and a book signing.

Riley, a practicing engineer, discovered her love for creating stories in her youth. Noting she was “always good at math and writing,” her mother offered some wise advice.

“She said, ‘Baby, you always have to be able to pay your bills.’ Unfortunately, when you looked around, it was like lightning striking. Who was going to have a career as an author that was successful enough that you could do it full-time? She was absolutely right. I’ve been able to pay my bills but my love of writing never went away.”

The self-proclaimed “Southern, Irish, Trini girl’s” latest historical novel tells the tale of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, an enslaved Caribbean woman, who, by utilizing her strength, intellect and feminine wiles, worked the system to buy her freedom, purchase land and become a wealthy known Caribbean power figure in the early 1800s. When you juxtapose Thomas’ life to history’s timeline, as Riley did, the remarkable life of this brown-skinned woman took place before the Emancipation Proclamation. 

In 2013, Riley’s first novel “Madeline’s Protector,” a book she began writing in high school, was published. Soon thereafter, she began to notice a trend.

“As my manuscripts got browner and started incorporating more history, Caribbean, Black folks and people of color into my narratives, my agent had a very hard time trying to place it. You get to point where when you get the rejections it’s not them saying, ‘Oh, we love her writing. Does she have something else?’”

Her love of researching what has taken place in the past is how she stumbled upon Thomas’ life story. Over a span of six years, she weaved together the pieces of her journey, its milestones and complexities that became “Island Queen.”  The life of Thomas, more affectionately known as “Doll,” is filled with betrayal, rape, violence, success, power, wealth and male acquaintances. 

In 2019, Riley, whose father is from Trinidad and Tobago, was at the Historical Novel Society Conference where she met Rachel Kahan of William Morrow Publishing.  During a twenty dollar upsell interview, she informally “sold” her novel on the spot. She called her agent and the rest is history.

Although the author, raised in Aiken, South Carolina, questioned if the world was ready to learn about Doll’s life, she proceeded with her vision of sharing the saga.

“I’m a firm believer that you have to write what’s in your bones. You have to write the stories that are calling to you. That’s when you’re going to do your best work.”

In preparing for her visit to Lexington, Riley, whose books have been translated in various languages, expressed that she will share additional background information about “Island Queen” with attendees as well as her journey to becoming a published author.

“Hopefully, they leave encouraged. Some of my talk may be pep talk. Some of it may be getting into the novel. I believe in affirming people. I believe everybody has a story in them. How it’s meant to come out – whether it’s a portrait, painting, a lyric, rhyme or a poem, tap into it and put it out to the world in the best form or shape you can possibly get it. Never be afraid to tell the stories you want to tell.”

To learn more about Riley or to purchase “Island Queen,” visit https://vanessariley.com.