New romance book explores clash between culture and forbidden love

S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman. Today , we're talking to bestselling author Nana malone about her new novel , The Gold Coast Dilemma. She talks about the book and the art of telling a romance story. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Have you ever gotten really lost in a good romance novel ? From the classic enemies to lovers trope to workplace romances , there's really something for everyone. But what about a novel that explores the clash between romantic connection and culture ? Well , the new book , Gold Coast Dilemma , brings you the story of a Ghanaian heiress going through that very struggle. I'm joined now by Nana malone , bestselling romance author based here in San Diego. Nana , welcome.

S2: Thank you so much for having me.

S1: So glad to have you here. Okay , so I need to know more about this Ghanaian heiress. Her name is awful. Um , how would you introduce her character ? So a first to me.

S2: She's that like very typical first generation African girl. And for anyone who's the first generation of any culture , she's going to appear very familiar because the first born girls were the ones who are usually in charge of like continuing the culture , wherever you may be. They're the ones that get all the pressure. They're the ones who are the ones who are responsible. They're the ones who are pushed to get the right job , go to the right schools , do the right thing , and they are the ones who are like , well , you should have the first grandchildren and you should be married first in all those things. So she's going to seem very familiar. But for her , to me , she's also just very real because she's fighting against these things. She is very steeped in her culture , and she will tell you first and foremost that she's African , she is Ghanaian , she's a GA and she feels that. But it's kind of like that thing that I grew up with. Whereas outside my doors I would leave the house and I'd be very American , and I wanted to do things like sleepovers. And then inside my house , my father would be like , ah , but do you have a house ? Why are you going to sleep at somebody's house ? And it would be very Ghanaian , and I would eat Ghanaian food and full customs , and I would speak my language and , and that constant battle of what's going on there , that's who folks is. And you know , in the search for love , she knows what's expected. She knows what the expectations are. And she , you know , wants to fall into that as well. But , you know , the writer has other plans for other plans. Other plans.

S1: All right. Well , I can't wait to get more into that. But tell me about her love interest , Cole.

S2: He's wealthy. He seems to get whatever he wants. He's the heir apparent to a publishing company. Um , but Cole is more layered. And that's how I wrote him. Because , you know , I've met lots of colds. I went to school with them , you know , tried to date some of them. Um , and he is someone who thinks of himself and he's like , oh , I'm a good person. I do these things. But at the when you probe a little bit , like , who are you really as a person ? And he feels his foundation crumbling , he opts to make change and he opts to be a better person. And actually , instead of just paying lip service , actually dig in and be like , well , no , what changes can I make ? How can I be a better person ? And then he's a great foil for her also because he's pushing her to be a more holistic person. Um , as opposed to as her friends and her mother call her a work robot , he he helps her flesh out her life even without trying. But just by needling and poking and kind of like , you know , forcing her out of her comfort zone , he helps her build a wider community as well.

S1: Just challenging her.

S2: Yeah , that's that's his job. That's his role ? Yeah.

S1: Without giving any spoilers , um , tell me more about their romance.

S2: So the meet cute kismet moment , which is by chance at , you know , Fox's big first big publishing party. And they meet by chance and they have one of those connection moments where they talk about books and what they love to read and where they love to travel. Just. And we've all met people like that , that it'll be some random occurrence and you're like , oh my gosh , you like this too ? And oh , we're having this moment. And and that's how they first connect. But , you know , later on she meets him in the form of a , you know , their job. And she's like , oh , this connection we had cannot go anywhere. There you are the the owner son I this will never happen. Um , and you know blocks that off. Um , but for them in that kismet moment , they see like , um , like , you know , little star crossed thing , like , oh , I see when you see me. And this could be great. And then , you know , as the author , I make bad things happen to them.

S1: Can I keep it interesting ? Of course. All right. So I want to talk more about you , Nana.

S2: And it was a story I knew well growing up. I grew up in Massachusetts in a very small town , Shrewsbury , Massachusetts. Anyone listening from Shrewsbury like I hear you. Um , there was a main street and not much else to do except go to the library or go to the drugstore and , like , pick up magazines. Um , but. And I was the only African girl for miles. But every four months or so , my parents would pack up me and my brother , and we would go to these Ghanaian association kind of hangouts with my parents. And at the time , I didn't know what they were doing , but I was just like , oh sure , everybody works at the world Bank or at the United Nations or , um. Or a lawyer or doctor or in some kind of finance field. And I thought those were the only jobs to get. Those were the only things available. Um , and like me , those kids also went to private schools. They were going to the Daltons. And these , like , really posh , like , um , boarding schools as well. And I didn't know that that was different. But the media that I would see on television , in movies , when portraying Africans would always show us struggling either in our home countries , um , or struggling in the states or abroad or wherever they may be. Um , and I always thought that that didn't make sense. I would look around and be like , that doesn't.

S1: That doesn't.

S2: Vibe and it doesn't match. Um , and so that's always been interesting to me , the portrayal of African people. And while there is , of course , extreme poverty , there's also extreme wealth and there's also extreme joy. And there are rich stories to be told that never , ever seem to get told , except for when you're reading , you know , African stories like the Nigerian writers , like they have the lock. Like my Ghanaian writers , I don't know where we are , but the Nigerians have the lock on these like rich , but like they're always seen as like these like literary fiction and they're very serious. And I was like , where are the fun books ? Right ? Where are the things that like , I want to read ? And when I went home to Ghana , I was 13 that one trip and my cousin handed me my first romance novel. So there are people who are reading and they're excited and reading fun. People are like , oh , I need you to write a Guinean thriller. I want a Ghanaian detective , I want this. So there's this like very rich culture and that I hope I infused in the book because I infused what was my life and what matches my friends and my cousins. And when we lived in New York and what it was like and who we were seeing when we were going out with , like the fashion , the glamour that can be that never gets to be told as a story. So I infused all of that in the book.

S1: You became the change that you wanted to see.

S2: I did , which is what I always do for my books.

S1: I love that , but in speaking of incorporating Ghanaian culture in the book. You've also peppered in many Adinkra symbols and aphorisms. Talk to me about that choice.

S2: So the Adinkra symbols , I mean , in Ghana , they're everywhere. Usually there are these , um , trucks that we call Trotro. They're like vans like or like , you know , basic transportation vans. So you it's like a bus stop. You stop saying the bus , but they all have a gender symbols on them. Usually they're something to do with God because the trotro has been in at least one accident. And if you pray hard enough , you're going to make it through. Um , but they're everywhere there in our fashion there. I'm wearing one right now. They're in , um , symbolism and they're like proverbs. So , you know , the one I'm wearing , um , loosely means , uh , love never loses its way home. So the power of love , you know. Um , I have another one. That's for me. The power of God. They're all. It's like that little symbol. You see it ? You know what it means. And you're told what it means from the time that you're young. Um , so they're everywhere , and they all mean a different thing. It's like different proverbs. There's one called and chin chin. So it's like , uh , it means ants kind of or like , uh , progress changing. Um , so it's like it's this little symbol looks like a comb , but it's really like it's a proverb used to like , identify how back in the day you would see the boats coming from Nigeria across the water , and it looked like ants on the water and the migration. And it talks about like how like Ghanaians are actually , you know , we come from a Nigerian lineage and how we're all one people , etc. etc. so they all mean something. And I wanted to take each theme of each chapter and outline that. Mostly it was a way to bring in Helen Otto for the pages that she wasn't on , because she was. So every chapter she was in , she stole the show. And so it was a great way to bring in an additional comedic element while I was focusing on the romance , because that's , you know , it's a it's a romance romance book. So you want to focus on the main characters , but it was a way to bring her in with her funny sayings and let her kind of stay , stay constant throughout the book as well.

S1: Yeah , well , you've been writing romance novels for more than a decade.

S2: I've always been fascinated by relationships. And why this person and not that person. And when we first moved back to the States , uh , my mom would , uh , she was obsessed with , you know , soap operas. And I would watch them , you know , from the safety of the stairs because I wasn't allowed to watch them openly. So I would dangle one arm on the edge of the stairs and lean over to watch them. But I would be like , why this person ? And why not that person ? And what makes this person more of a good partner ? And then I didn't know I was picking up on character differences because I would be like , no , but that doesn't make sense. The kind of character she is , she would have stayed with that person. It doesn't make sense. She would now be with this person. And I didn't know that. That was like , well , we got to keep the characters going somehow , right ? We have to introduce new conflict. It didn't make any sense to me at that time. Um , so I It made me crazy being like , no , no , no , that's not how the character's supposed to move. And then when I started writing , I was like , oh , oh , now I understand what you were doing with that. Now I understand why they had to break up so that we would still pine for them as a couple , because a couple just together is boring. You have to give them a conflict.

S1: Got it ? Got to make it interesting. Well , okay , so you're a writer that really centers representation in your work of some of your 150 titles , around 90% feature women of color.

S2: I wanted to read. You know , I was 13 when I started , so maybe a little young. Don't tell my mother. Although I think she knows now. Um , but I wanted to read , you know , of black women getting loved on unconditionally and and openly and loudly and by , you know , a race car driver , you know , a billionaire , you know , doctor , whatever the case may be , you know , Greek shipping tycoon or whatever the. Whatever they were. But because when I started reading romance and I didn't see that , the messaging was very clear to me that I was not deserving of that love , that I was not deserving , I didn't that that was not for for me. Um , and so when I started writing , I wanted to write those highly marketable , fun , effervescent books that also featured women that look like me , like my cousins , like my family and my family. We live all over the world. And so we're all everyone's married to all kinds of people. And the mix of it , it makes it interesting and fun. And so I was like , I want to represent that in the books that I write , so that all of my nieces , when they're of age , who want to read love stories , can pick up any of my books and be like , oh , I see myself here.

S1: Wow , you actually have a nonprofit related to that in the world of audiobooks. So it's called audio in color.

S2: I was looking to do something that was more sustainable because everyone was protesting , people were in the streets and I was like , listen , I've got my kid. That doesn't really it's not really going to work as well. But I wanted to do something in my corner of the world that I could sustain. And so I started a program called the Brown Nipple Challenge , because one of the things is when you open a romance book and you get to those saucy scenes like everything is pink. Yeah. And I would look down and be like , that's no , not pink. Um , and so I started the Brown Nipple Challenge , which really was just to , you know , I've been very lucky in my career , so I wanted to use some of my platform to uplift other authors of color who were writing romance. And a friend of mine during that program , which , you know , was a viral hit , which I was very proud of. She reached out and she said , hey , I love this. Whatever I can do. But listen , some of the books that you've selected don't have audio , which is obviously an accessibility issue , and we know that. And I told her and she's an audiobook narrator. And I said , Andy , honey , you know how expensive they are to produce. And she was like , that's a very good point. Um , and so she was basically like , hold my champagne. And before I knew what happened , she was like , okay , look , we have I have an angel investor type person. Um , they want to donate money for us to do some kind of program. And I was like , what are you talking about ? And basically she was like , what if we help people produce their audio books ? And she's like authors of color specifically writing romance to get more romances in the marketplace and in the industry. And I was like , that's fantastic , because at the time I started my career , money to produce an audio book would have changed the trajectory of my entire career because audiobooks , while very expensive to produce , they last forever. Once you earn your money back. That's just money on top of money. Because more as more people read audiobooks , your books get discovered and there's not as many places to find audiobooks as you would think there are. So libraries have them , obviously places like audible. Now , other audiobook companies are coming about. And so what we wanted to do is provide access for those who are visually impaired. But in addition to like , build up the careers of authors of color. And so , so far , we've had 32 grantees for our program. It's been amazing. We're in our production cycle for our next round now , and it's the support in the community has been incredible and I'm very , very proud of it. And we're going to continue because it's one of those important things. We want to be able to do that. But also one of the best parts about it is that's been so rewarding , is to watch some of our grantees be nominated for things like the audio awards , which are like the Oscars of the audiobook world. And to think that nobody would have even known about those books had we not done the program. That's just been really satisfying. And then to watch , like authors go on to continue to produce audiobooks and they're building their careers and you're like , yes , this was the whole point because I'm here to stay. I've been here a long time. And when I started writing , I made it a vow to myself that if I cracked open the door , I was going to drag through as many people as possible behind me.

S1: Well , your program is doing a lot to to make it easier for a lot of people.

S2: And she how she struggles with it , how she fights through it , what that means for her , what that looks like , but then also what she's experiencing in the workplace , which many people of color often experience. The , you know , the microaggressions , the discrimination , but also as a woman in the , in the marketplace , what that looks like. Um , and what I hope is that people see themselves regardless , because even if you're like , oh , that doesn't really , you know , resonate with me. There's the fashion , there's the friendship. And then for a lot of the women reading , it's that relationship with mothers and daughters that that is that is the second love story of Gold Coast. So I'm , I'm really hoping that people see themselves , regardless of whether they're Ghanaian or not , that they see some part of themselves in a force. Wow.

S1: Wow. I've been speaking with Nana malone , bestselling romance author based here in San Diego. Her book , Gold Coast Dilemma is out now. Nana , it's such a pleasure to have you in here.

S2: Thank you so much for having me.

S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.