Anna Russell asked Chika Unigwe:

How do you switch off after writing? Both On Black Sisters Street and Night Dancer were incredibly moving, not to mention disturbing in places. Is it difficult to 'decompress' after inhabiting those worlds for so long?

Chika Unigwe Thanks for reading both. With OBSS, particularly, I had days I was almost overwhelmed into paralysis by the things I had written ( I had also done research in the red light district for the novel , so my characters seemed very real to me). I learned to take breaks when that happened: I hugged my boys; I walked into the city centre and looked at beautiful things (shoes, clothes, architecture); I watched comedy, read poetry, went to cafes and had hot chocolate and delicious cakes. I live in the US now (so walking into the city centre isn't an option, but Iuckily, there are malls to get lost in ; TV shows to watch; podcasts to listen to and my boys still give the best hugs, when they are around :))

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