Books
Parsons, who splits her time between Providence and Westport, Mass., will be launching her new young adult mystery “Blue Beach” at local events this week.
After leaving acting behind, longtime summer resident of Westport, Mass. Karyn Parsons is now a full-time writer. File Photo
When I reached Karyn Parsons at her Providence, Rhode Island, home recently, we talked two things close to her heart: “Fresh Prince” and fresh print.
The former, she holds close for nostalgia — the latter, for the future.
While you likely know the New Englander from her role as Will Smith’s cousin Hilary Banks on the NBC hit “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” the kid in your life might know her as their favorite author.
The longtime summer resident of Westport, Massachusetts, left acting full-time to pursue writing. In 2005, she founded Sweet Blackberry, which produces books and films with a mission “to bring little-known stories of Black achievement to children everywhere.”
In February, Parsons was honored on “The View” for her work with Sweet Blackberry, including her Sweet Blackberry children’s books: “Saving the Day,” about the inventor of the traffic signal, Garrett Morgan, and “Flying Free,” which tells the story of Bessie Coleman, the first African-American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license.
Oh, and someone named former U.S. President Barack Obama read her book “Flying Free” to a group of Chicago kids a few months back. Yeah.
“I lost it,” Parsons says. “My friend texted me to tell me. She was so excited that she was texting without knowing what she was saying. It was all over the place.”
She’s also a reading — and teaching — advocate. Through Sweet Blackberry, Parsons visits classrooms. She works as a Scholastic “Rising Voices” mentor. She works with DonorsChoose, helping teachers get needed supplies.
Karyn Parsons’ “Blue Beach” is on shelves as of June 9. – Random House
Her fifth book and YA mystery debut, “Blue Beach” (Little Brown), hits shelves June 9. You can celebrate the launch of her mystery-with-a-message June 11 at Plainville’s An Unlikely Story.
Parsons — who splits her time between Providence and Westport — is doing two hometown summer appearances: June 14 at Books on the Square in Providence, and July 25 at Westport’s Partners Village Store.
I admit I picked up Parson’s 2019 middle-grade debut “How High the Moon” because, like most millennials, I was raised by the Banks family.
But I read her second, “Clouds Over California,” because Parsons has writing chops and a natural voice. “Blue” marks a rock-solid foray into the YA mystery genre. The nutshell:
California, 1929. Blue Collins, 15, loves spending time at her family’s Blue Beach — the only Black beach in Santa Monica. One day, Blue and friend Ben discover the body of Dottie Whitehouse, a white debutante, washed up on Blue Beach. In a panic, they move Dottie’s body into the waters of a nearby white beach. Still, all eyes are on Ben …
It’s an intriguing plot, with fully realized characters made all the more nuanced by introducing historical elements, like colorism — Blue’s mom doesn’t approve of Ben because his skin is darker than Blue’s, for example.
Just as intriguing: Blue’s Beach is based on the real-life Bruce’s Beach, a Black-owned California beach resort founded in 1912, and seized through eminent domain by the city in 1924. I went down a research rabbit hole after reading — which is, of course, part of its point.
Parsons, 59, has two kids with her husband, Cambridge native Alexandre Rockwell — a noted film director/producer/screenwriter.
She talked to us about “Blue Beach,”“Fresh Prince” (now on Hulu), reading advocacy, the joy of comic cons, her favorite local restaurant, her new film with Rockwell, and all things writing.
Boston.com: I love that you’re a full-time New Englander now. You’ve had the house in Westport for a long time, but last time we talked, you were splitting your time between Westport and New York.
Karyn Parsons: We did lockdown in Westport, and whenever we needed our big city-fix, we went to Providence. When we finally went back to New York, we said, “What would it be like to live in Providence?” My husband started going online, looking at properties, next thing you know, we were doing open houses. It moved very fast. [laughs] And it’s beautiful here. The people are nice, it’s gorgeous, the restaurants are great.
Favorite restaurants?
Persimmon in Providence — they deliver on the food every single solitary time. And the waiters are the bomb.
[laughs] Always a plus.
Everybody who works there — the maître d’ is the bomb. [laughs] It doesn’t feel stuffy. They hit the sweet spot.
I love that you’re doing book events in both adopted hometowns — Westport and Providence — for “Blue Beach.” What sparked your first murder-mystery?
Growing up in California, I was a total beach kid. A few years back, I visited a friend in Manhattan Beach. We were driving and she pointed out the property that used to be Bruce’s Beach.
Bruce’s Beach was an all-Black beach that was wrangled from the owners by the city, who said that they needed it — they gave them hardly anything for it. It was a tragic situation — this awful racist mess. I didn’t know anything about it.
The beach is something I just took for granted as being for everybody. We know about busses, schools, and diners — but the ocean?
Exactly.
And I watch a lot of thrillers. I thought: what if a white girl washed up on a Black beach?
I love mysteries/thrillers. Like you, I’d never heard of Bruce’s Beach. So learning at the end in your Author’s Note that it was a real place was almost another twist. I went down a rabbit-hole afterwards. Historical fiction can be such a great hook.
Yes! I hope so. It just tickles me that my books are historical fiction, and I hated history in school. [laughs] It was dry and it was about memorizing dates — I’m like “Why?” [laughs]
Why not bring it to kids with fun and joy, and all of the drama that was really in these circumstances? Bring them that, and then they’ll tune in.
Were there any messages you hoped to get across?
The important thing to me is revealing the truth. This existed. That’s what I love about it: lifting the cover off of something, and readers go, “Oh, I didn’t know.”
I put myself in the characters, I time-travel, and I’m there — I fortify myself with as much research as I can, and things start to resonate. Like colorism came into the story naturally, knowing the brown paper bag [test] that existed at that time.
You mention Blue’s mom attended “paper bag parties,” which I’d also never heard of.
Yeah, you had to be lighter than a brown paper bag to get into the party — if you were darker, you were rejected. Which is horrifying. We look at it now and go, “What?!” But there were some people who did it, like “eh, not a biggie,” or thought it was funny.
Growing up, there was a neighborhood I visited with friends, and I noticed that everyone was light-skinned — and not mixed, like I was with a white parent and Black parent. Their parents were both light-skinned.
I realized that this community was made up of people who came from that line [of thought]: Don’t marry somebody darker than you. I knew that was a real thing, but I’d never thought much of it until I saw it in front of me.
This is your first murder-mystery. Will you do more?
I might. It’s a fun genre. I didn’t want to be gimmicky, too gotcha-y! I had to resist that [laughs]
[laughs] You have to walk the line.
Stephen King is more horror, but he also has a thriller aspect in his books I want to learn from. I need to read more Stephen King. I read “Pet Sematary” recently, and was shocked at how good it was.
I’d read “Misery” ages ago — well, I didn’t finish because I threw it across the room, halfway through. I freaked out. I was like, “AAH!”
[laughs]
I picked it up, read a little more, and I threw it again.
[laughs] You sound like me with “It.” Meanwhile, you’re doing so much reading advocacy work. Aside from Sweet Blackberry, you’re a Scholastic “Rising Voices” mentor.
Yes, I helped curate a K-5 collection: Honoring the Richness of Black Stories. I’m working on two Scholastic books coming out next year, “Stage Fright” and “Grandma’s Toes.”
And I’m working with Kwame Alexander‘s literary organization, One Word at a Time. We’re trying to bring the joy back to reading for kids ages 9 and up. Because when kids learn to read, they’re excited, but when they get to 9 or 10, when it starts to become like assignments, we see this downturn. The joy of reading starts to fade.
And we want kids to love reading. To see that reading isn’t just about school lessons, it’s about enriching yourself and using your imagination, going to the magical places that books take you. And anything can get you there — audiobook, graphic novels. It’s all reading.
So true. Do you visit New England schools?
Absolutely. People can visit sweetblackberry.org and request a visit. I love being with the kids.
Tatiana Ali [Ashley on “Fresh Prince”] is also on the board of Sweet Blackberry, and a Scholastic Rising Voices mentor with you. Had you stayed in touch since “Fresh Prince,” or did you reconnect through books?
We’ve all stayed in touch. Some of us get to see each other more — I see Tatiana quite a bit now. But I get to see people at comic cons [laughs] which is really fun.
You must make people so happy at Comic Cons. People love that show. I think it just reminds people of a happier time. I remember the internet freaking out about the 30th anniversary in 2020.
Most of the “Fresh Prince” cast — from left, Will Smith, Daphne Maxwell Reid, Karyn Parsons, Alfonso Ribeiro, Joseph Marcel, Tatyana Ali and DJ Jazzy Jeff — reunited to celebrate 30 years of the series. – Saeed Adyani/HBO Max
It really is something. For a long time, it was hard for me to accept. I’d be like, “Oh, that’s really nice, ha ha.” I wouldn’t let land — the weight of what it really meant to people.
Then I saw Kristy McNichol and Tatum O’Neal, and lost it completely, because they meant so much to my childhood. Then I had to go: “Wait a minute, Karyn. When people tell you this, they mean it, and take it in. It’s an honor to sit in this space.” So I recognize it now.
What are some favorite memories from that time?
Oh my gosh, I mean, that was just like the best times, boy. Woo!
[laughs]
It was so fun going to work every day with people I adored, and playing a character that was so fun to play. Every Friday live-taping was like a party. D.L. Hughley warmed up the audience. We had a DJ. That whole time was just a blast. No one thing stood out. It was a beautiful time. We were family.
Did you want to be a writer or an actor as a kid?
Actor. I was that annoying 6-year-old, “I wanna be an actress! I wanna be an actress!” I never stopped saying it. [laughs] When I shifted to writing, it was hard for me to accept that I was a writer. Because everyone called me an actress. It was my identity.
With writing, I’m doing deep dives into characters and all their complexity — scratching the itch for me that acting did, in terms of a relationship to story and character. Only I couldn’t give myself permission for a long time to say “writer” out loud. I was afraid people would dismiss me, laugh at me.
When did that urge to write overpower the urge to act?
Right after “Fresh Prince” ended. A friend of mine pushed me to take a writing course with Jim Krusoe at Santa Monica City College. My brain exploded. I loved what he was talking about. I loved the challenges. He’d give us an assignment, I’d come back with five.
A couple years ago, I told my friend she changed my life with that suggestion. She’s like, “What? I don’t remember that.”
[laughs] Classic.
[laughs] Changed my whole life. Doesn’t remember it at all.
[laughs] You’re clearly driven with writing now — but you’ve done some acting recently.
My husband directed a film called “The Projectionist,” which is on the festival circuit right now, starring Vondie Curtis-Hall. I play Vondie’s wife. My husband, Alexandre, is in it as well. He insisted I play the part. I didn’t want to do it. [laughs]
That also happened with his film “Sweet Thing” (2020) — he insisted I play the role of the mother. So it’s a never say never kind of thing. I never stopped liking acting, but I’m so entrenched in writing right now, and I’m loving what I’m doing.
Interview was edited and condensed. Lauren Daley can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagram at @laurendaley1. Read more stories on Facebook here.
Lauren Daley is a longtime culture journalist. As a regular contributor to Boston.com, she interviews A-list musicians, actors, authors and other major artists.
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