Poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths On Love, Tragedy & ‘Survivor Mode’

Set in 1957 in the coastal village of Salt Point, Maine, Promise follows sisters Ezra and Cinthy Kindred, the only Black children in their community, as they navigate adolescence amid growing hostility from white neighbors. As national calls for civil rights intensify, the girls experience betrayal from friends like Ruby, escalating prejudice, and devastating acts of violence against their family, the Kindreds, and neighbors, the Junketts. Through familial love, resilience, and acts of heroism, the story portrays hope triumphing over fear, revealing covert racism in supposedly progressive New England.

The Flower Bearers is a memoir in which Rachel Eliza Griffiths processes the death of her close friend Moon on her wedding day to Salman Rushdie, followed by a brutal attack on her husband. She mourns the woman she was before these events while rebuilding her life, weaving stories of her seventeen-year friendship with Moon—forged at Sarah Lawrence College amid shared literary influences like Lucille Clifton and Toni Morrison—and the enduring devotion in her marriage. The book explores the beauty and pain of fully opening oneself to love and friendship as a Black woman, poet, and artist.

Seeing the Body is a hybrid collection of poetry and photography that meditates on mourning, loss, and embodied grief. Born from the death of Griffiths' mother, the collection expands to address themes of Black womanhood, memory, aging, and the American imagination. The work combines radiant poems with 18 black-and-white self-portraits, challenging the invisible ways grief takes up residence in the body while celebrating radical self-love and resistance.

The novel follows the lives of two Indian Muslims, Gibreel Farishta and Saladin Chamcha, who survive a plane hijacking and subsequent explosion. As they fall from the plane, they are transformed into angelic and satanic figures. The story delves into various themes, including the founding of Islam through the character Mahound, the story of a visionary girl named Ayesha, and the struggles of identity and faith. The book is known for its complex, multilayered plot and its use of dreams within dreams, which generated significant controversy due to its satirical and imaginative treatment of Islamic themes.

In 'Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder', Salman Rushdie provides a gripping and detailed account of the traumatic events following the knife attack on him in August 2022. The book is a meditation on his survival, the metaphysical implications of his experience, and the purpose of writing. Rushdie describes the horrific wounds he suffered, including the loss of his right eye, and reflects on the miraculous nature of his survival. The memoir is characterized by its lack of self-pity, despite the immense pain and struggle Rushdie faced during his recovery. It also touches on themes of art, pain, love, and the ongoing battle for free speech.