Exploring A.K. Herman’s The Believers: A Podcast Review

This episode is about A.K. Herman’s The Believers. A.K. Herman is a Caribbean poet and fiction writer whose compelling collection of eight short stories, mostly set in Trinidad and Tobago, explores themes of religion, politics, love, sex, and spirituality. A.K.’s storytelling pays homage to the storytelling traditions of the Caribbean.

A Goodreads Editors’ December Book Pick, A.K. Herman’s The Believers captivates with its seasoned storytelling. A.K. shares the inspirations behind her writing, the cultural and spiritual influences shaping her narratives, and how she grew as a student of literature.

If you’d like to know what I think of the book, skip to 6:00 of the show! 😊

Also, if you’d like to get your own copy of the book, and I highly recommend that you do if you’re a fan of Toni Morrison, you can do so here. 

Got any thoughts on this episode or want to suggest authors you’d like to see on the show? Send me a note here.

Show highlights

• 2:03 – AK’s journey into writing
• 6:00 – Lola’s high-level review of A.K. Herman’s The Believers
• 7:30 – Sex as communication
• 10:35 – On the theme of spirituality
• 16:19 – Writing about violence
• 22:57 – On the theme of spiritual vengeance
• 27:23 – On identity and rejection on the basis of language
• 33:11 – Allegory in The Iridescent Blue-Black Boy with Wings (After Márquez) 
• 40:36 – Advice for writers who don’t have an MFA 

About A.K. Herman’s The Believers

A. K.’s wondrous and shattering debut collection imbues people on the periphery with power hardly visible to outsiders—where no one conforms to type. In the title story, to leave a seemingly friendly and supportive church, a family must risk everything.

In “The Iridescent Blue-Black Boy with Wings (After Márquez),” children find a winged boy in a seaside village in Tobago. In “Ready for the Revolution?” uncertain lovers play rough with identity politics and are set on an unexpected path. In “Drink the Dew,” love and wrath become one, while the young woman in “Inside” navigates a complicated business arrangement with her lover. 

In “Love,” a scandalous affair produces a love child born with a dark omen, while in “Exile,” a pregnant teen from a staunchly religious family is exiled to have her baby in secret. A gardener in “Love Story No. 8” falls for a rich man’s daughter to disastrous ends. The Believers is at once poignant and subversive, utterly haunting and unforgettable.

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