INSIDE EVERY STRONG WOMAN THERE’S A MAN
A Conversation with Kayona Ebony Brown,
Author of TENTH LETTER

After Kayona Ebony Brown self-published her debut novel, just having graduated
from college, she realized the book’s themes of self-awareness and selfactualization
could be summed up in one question: Are women the new men?
Citing sex, politics, and absentee fathers, TENTH LETTER is an answer of partial
fiction and partial reflection of Brown’s experiences growing up in Washington,
DC, serving as host of the Friday Night Jazz Club on public radio, and
incorporating her entertainment company Brown’sTone Industries.
Q: What is TENTH LETTER about?
Tenth Letter is about not being ‘ready.’ It’s a book about growth, evolution…
Courage. Maturity. It’s a work that teaches life lessons without being preachy or
mundane or pretentious. When you meet thatperson… you have to be ready.
Q: What inspired TENTH LETTER?
I realized my own personal evolution from a young girl to a young woman to a
young lady, and I recognized the difficulty, but necessity, of healing from the past
in order to be happy in the future.
Q: So, is TENTH LETTER based on a true story?
Somewhat. The main characters are very true to me. But the story is just that – a
story.
Q: In what genre would you put TENTH LETTER?
Though it has a relationship, I can’t really say that it’s a romance because it isn’t
that ‘peaches and cream’ type of story of bliss where there’s a blissful ending and
everything is like ‘aww.’ It isn’t like teddy bears or anything. It is real, it is raw,
there is sex, there is not sex, there is love, there is not love… It is a snapshot of
two people in a two-year period – literally, almost to the day.
Q: Though the message is applies to a general audience, TENTH LETTER has
some racy scenes, for who is this novel intended? 

It’s intended for anyone who can read it and get the message and say, ‘you know
what, I see myself in these characters,’ or ‘I see people that I know who I didn’t
understand…’ The reason why TENTH LETTER is rated R – and then I use ‘rated
R’ loosely because that’s an official form for movies – but it is for language and
sexuality.
Q: You open most of your TENTH LETTER book talks with the question, “Are
women the new men?” How did you come up with that conceptual angle?
It was a way about her [the main character, Jesenia] that was very masculine…
After the book was written and I was trying to do a book tour and trying to
market the book on my own, I had to have a way of pushing it to people that was
thought provoking and that was, relevant to the times. ‘Are women the new
men?’ – that’s a tag line that can roll over to so many different areas of life. It’s
not just in relationships are women the new men, but in society have women
become the new men? Are mothers the new fathers? I’ve heard women say they
want to do certain things simply because men do it. It’s just a lot of things that I
think we [women] do not because we love and want to do it, but simply because
men do it, or they don’t do it so we need to pick up the slack.
Q: What do you want people to gain from reading TENTH LETTER?
I want people to not be afraid to look at themselves and be able to see things that
need correcting. It’s a book that subtly suggests that we all have some work to do
on ourselves if we want to truly have fulfilling, successful relationships. It also
subtly says that it’s okay to be alone for a while and not be with someone.
Sometimes it’s being alone that really helps us to understand and resolve
shortcomings.
Q: Since you’ve published TENTH LETTER you’ve written several screenplays.
What inspires you to be so prolific?
As far as currently, I’m just inspired by God in general. In the past, reading a lot
of different people – particularly non-fiction. Toni Morrison and William Faulkner
I read a lot in college. Those people, I read the books and they’re so stylized. For
people who really don’t know who William Faulkner is and Toni Morrison is, just
think of, if you watch movies, just think of Quentin Tarantino meets Tyler Perry.
It’s like stylized but then it’s thought provoking but then it’s spiritual but then it’s
just fly. But in the past four years I haven’t really read any fiction, I’ve only read
non-fiction and I think that the non-fiction speaks mores to me personally.
Q: What is the goal of your company BrownsTone Industries?
The goal of the company is to create art that inspires and motivates people and
helps them to think in ways that they perhaps didn’t think before.

Q: So what motivates you to put such important messages of reality – like
growth and self-awareness – into fictional stories?
I believe that we all have different realities. We all come from a different reality.
Even though I’ve grown up and lived beside my neighbor for 15 years, we come
from a different place. And I know that sounds funny but mentally and spiritually
we all have different experiences that makes us who we are. I believe that right
now, 2008, in this place where we are now, it’s a different way that we have to
reach particularly our youth.

Q: What’s next for you and BrownsTone Industries?
I’ve written a collection of screenplays. “Song for the Goat,” currently in
preproduction, will be the first feature film. I’m hosting a benefit showcase
Friday, May 30th at Ellington Theatre in an effort to attract investors to the
project. I’m also working on my second novel entitled, “Wait,” for which I’ve
scheduled a Fall 2011 release.

About the Author
Kayona Ebony Brown was raised in Washington, DC. Her innate ability to portray
reality with an artist’s edge was honed in the Literary and Media Arts
Department of Duke Ellington School of the Arts. TENTH LETTER is the debut
title of several books and screenplays being produced by her company,
Brown’sTone Industries Incorporated – each adhering to a policy of delivering
socially responsible (creative and non-negative) art. Prior to launching
Brown’sTone Industries Incorporated, Brown was an on-air personality and Music
Director for public radio.