ABIOLA ABRAMS is a TV personality, filmmaker and author who gives fun & funky motivational talks and workshops where she shows up with her hot pink satin doctor bag of self esteem to whip us into shape. Abiola’s debut novel Dare (Simon & Schuster) is an intelligent, fun and sexy story about finding true love and self-esteem in the crazy world of entertainment.   For the past two years 28 million viewers throughout the US and Caribbean have tuned in to watch Abiola on BET: interviewing filmmakers on film competition The Best Shorts, as an outspoken, recurring community panelist on My Two Cents, and hosting specials such as All Access.  The goal of all of Abiola’s work is to use pop culture entertainment to create uncommon inspiration: culturally, politically, emotionally and sexually. Abiola has BA from Sarah Lawrence and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. 

The back cover of Abiola Abrams’ new book Dare says: Provocative. Empowering. Outrageous. Fearless.  There are many ways to describe Abiola Abrams, the TV host, feminist filmmaker and creator of The Goddess Factory— she’s a dash of Oprah Winfrey, a sprinkling of Martha Stewart, plus a healthy dose of Candace Bushnell. What would be the result if she poured her life changing energy into a novel?  Dig in and find out how far she goes in a phenomenally fun and entertaining urban fiction debut…

Q: Congrats on the novel DARE.  What is it about?

Dare is about a sociologist who goes undercover as a rapper and discovers that she much prefers her racy new life to her people pleaser old life.  Basically, the story follows Maya, a good girl who has to go a little bad to find herself.  As women, many of us grow up being what everybody else wants us to be and we lose sight of ourselves.  The story is a lot of fun— motivational, thoughtful, romantic and comedic. The interactive site called http://www.daretogetalife.com/ that has the motivational worksheets and affirmations that Maya uses in the book to try to build up her self-esteem.  Book clubs have been giving it a tremendous response. 

Q: Are you opposed to the terms chick lit or street lit?

A: People assume that a hip hop novel can’t be literary. This reminds me of when I was in my early 20s and I wrote the Off Broadway play Goddess City.  People assumed that hip hop could not mix with theater. People need boxes to define and understand things so I am not opposed to these labels.  Call it chick lit, call it street lit, just read it and see that it is smart, funny human literature that anyone can enjoy. I think that I break the mold by writing a literary novel that takes place in the hip hop world. 

Q: What is Dareitude?

A: Dare also has a deeper -but non-preachy–  message about women and media images, a message of self-esteem.  One of the main questions I had was how can hip hop fiction be motivational.  In conjunction with blackplanet.com, I am launching a motivational movement as well that I call DAREITUDE, based on the novel.
 
Dareology and dareitude are terms I created while writing Dare.  Dareitude is daring with attitude. Dareology is about having the courage to live the most joyful life possible, just as the characters in the book learn from looking for love and self-esteem in all of the wrong places.  I know-I’ve been there.  This is another branch of my on-going work with Eve Ensler’s V-Day, which aims to promote strength among women, and my own Goddess Factory movement.  Each chapter of DARE begins with a quote from a woman in hip hop because I also wanted to pay homage to a heritage of the strength of women in hip hop that we don’t see reflected in mainstream culture.  In addition, there are clear literary nods to Toni Morrison-the characters live in Ohio on her fictional Bluestone Road from Beloved; and nods to Alice Walker-there is a reference to her Finding the Green Stone.  The book is divided into Love, Joy, Harmony, Beauty, Moxie and Truth. These are the principles of dareology, or daring to be your best self.

Q: What inspires you?

A: Other artists inspire me, like the filmmakers who we book on my BET show The Best Shorts.  I  am also inspired by the belief that we all have a right to happiness.  Pursuit of happiness is in the Constitution.  Oppressed communities forget that.  Dare is comedic, honest, sensual and socially conscious, but more than anything I want the book to inspire the pursuit of joy.

Q: What writers influence you?

A: I enjoy a wide variety of work from the literary works of Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin and Gloria Naylor to the tell it like it is work of Terry McMillan.  I also enjoy hip hop author Heru Ptah and many of my peers like Jennifer Weiner and Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez.  There are exciting things happening in black and Latin women’s writing right now!  I am also classically inspired as you’ll find hints of The Wizard of Oz in Dare.  In fact, the entire novel Dare is a chick lit retelling of Faust set in the hip hop world. 

Q: Some of your characters are pretty outrageous?  Are they based on real people or people you know? 

A: People have been asking me if certain characters are based on well known black personalities.  It was hilarious that while I was writing Maya going through adjusting to being a public figure, as a BET host and an emerging figure on the scene, I was experiencing some of the same things.  I also was going through a devastating, heart-wrenching breakup with the man I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with and they say that living well is the best revenge, so I wanted to give Maya a chance at revenge.  I think that readers will definitely notice echoes of some of the well-known figures in the rap game and pop culture in the characters. 

Q: What’s next?

A: My main objectives are to entertain and inspire people to live lives of outrageous joy, while empowering them culturally, politically, emotionally and sexually.  My work is featured in quite a few anthologies: Eve Ensler’s A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer; Paula Derrow’s (Self Magazine) Behind the Bedroom Door; and I write about the word slut in Ellen Sussman’s Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex.  The advance buzz is that people are really enjoying DARE and the adventures of Maya and her best friend Athena. 

My upcoming novels will be just as much fun.  Meanwhile, please look for me on BET J and my daily online show Planet Abiola launching soon on blackplanet.com, as well as other platforms.  I also have an advice column coming soon on blacksingles.com and Rolling Out. And then of course there are all of the mini-movies that I have directed on my interactive site http://www.abiolaabrams.com/. Let’s dream bigger. That’s what is about. Life is a beautiful, blessed party when we allow it be.

Read more about Abiola Abrams at www.abiolaabrams.com . Dare can be purchased at Amazon.com, barnes and Noble, Borders, WalMart or wherever you buy books.