Ask the Author | DK Nnuro
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- 28 Feb 2023
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Author and adjunct Assistant Professor at the UI DK Nnuro read an excerpt from his first novel, “What Napoleon Could Not Do” at Prairie Lights on Feb. 8. As curator of Special Projects at the Stanley Museum of Art, Nnuro’s work and writing largely focus on African American identity and the strength of family.
Derek Nnuro, or DK Nnuro, is a Ghanaian writer and graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He is the curator of special projects at the Stanley Museum of Art and an adjunct assistant professor at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. On Feb. 7, he published his first novel, “What Napoleon Could Not Do.”
The Daily Iowan: According to Stanley Reads, objects in the homecoming exhibition are connected to themes in your book. Could you explain those connections?
DK Nnuro: For a long time, we have been known as the premier academic institution for African art. I started here as the associate writer, and now my role is as curator of special projects. But the primary reason why I really wanted to work here was that this is an institution that has been at the forefront of African art in the U.S. The first Ph.D. in African art was given here at the University of Iowa. So, the University of Iowa writ large, but the Stanley Museum more specifically, has really been at the forefront of African art. And as a result of that, we have a lot of holdings in African art and a lot of works from Ghana. I identify as Ashanti and, in fact, we have a lot of kente in our collection. Kente is a woven fabric. Now, I have all kinds of connections to kente. Not only is there a character in my novel who wears kente to a wedding, but my father is actually from Bonwire, which is where kente originated. So, kente’s in my blood. And our collection has some fabulous kente pieces, and we have some up now. We have one kente piece up now. So, specifically, that’s one example of works in our collection that directly connects to my novel.
DI: In the process of writing and publishing your first novel, is there anything that you have discovered about yourself as a writer or about your artistic process?
Nnuro: I don’t know if I can really divorce who I am from my being a writer. Despite me writing under a pen name, I still don’t know if I can divorce who I am from my being a writer. I say this because of the answer I’m going to give you. What I’ve learned hasn’t necessarily informed my artistic output, but it has actually confronted me with, in fact, who I really am. It turns out that I’m quite the control freak. Once the novel leaves your hands, once the publisher buys it, you really are giving up control. You are giving up marketing control. You are giving up publicity control. Of course, it’s going to be informed. All of marketing and all of publicity are going to be informed by the work, and it’s going to be informed about how you talk about the work. Read More…
