Regina Porter is Here to Stay
Regina Porter's The Rich People Have Gone Away is an enveloping novel that explores multiple storylines that collide when Darla goes missing after an argument with her husband, Theo. The book's themes are the same in marginalized people’s lives, too, leaving them with fewer options when crises arise. The primary crisis present in this book is COVID-19, which sits above the underpinnings of class, socioeconomic disparity, etc., and the story unfolds from there.
Speaking with Ms. Porter was a delight! She is authentically herself and a born storyteller. Hailing from Savannah, Georgia, Regina's writing journey began as a playwright and took her on a journey at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow. She fondly recalls a mentor's advice, 'Writers need a lot of quiet to write,' which was instrumental in completing The Travelers. Originally a short story, this work grew into the 2019 novel that garnered widespread acclaim.
She also explains the gratitude she feels for being a writer and gives honor to the “Heavy hitters” [Black writers] that “paved the way” for her, like Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, August Wilson, and Octavia Butler.
There are multiple characters in this novel with connections or representations of many societal characteristics and themes:
Class and Social Division
Race and Identity
Family Dynamics and Secrets
Change and Displacement
Socio-Economic Mobility
Personal and Collective History
BKH: Your characters are so rich and developed. How do you bring your characters to life? Do you follow a particular pattern, or is your process more fluid?
RP: It changes from book to book or play to play. But it is usually something a character says or does that sends me down the yellow brick road of wanting to learn more about them. It might be a concrete physical detail. For example, in this book, I realized pretty early on that Theo likes to have sex in doorways, and I wanted to know why. It took off from there.
BKH: Given your experience as a playwright, do you anticipate any film adaptations for either of your novels? The novel is full of descriptive dialogue and intentional character development, which makes it a great segue for film adaptations. Ms. Porter is interested in the silver screen path for either of these books with the right team involved.
BKH: Savannah and Brooklyn are two very different cities yet share similarities. Do you visit Savannah frequently?
RP: I visit at least once a year and like to return for the holidays.
BKH: What about Brooklyn caused you to select it as your new home?
RP: New York offers so much diversity, and as a kid, I always wanted to live in NYC! From as young as eight years old, I knew that I wanted to be in New York and see the ball drop. I came to New York to attend NYU, Tisch School of the Arts. I did see the ball drop, and once was enough, LOL.
BKH: What are your guilty pleasures?
RP: Travel, but I am not always able to get up and go. My writing reward is watching movies, and I am a few blocks away from a movie theater. I enjoyed watching movies during childhood, and my father, who was a longshoreman, loved movies. He was very knowledgeable about films.
BKH: Where or who did you inherit your love of reading from?
RP: When I became an adult, one of my mother’s best friends told me that I got my writing from my mother, who was a “Fine poetess.” As a child, I loved school and reading. My mom would treat me to the bookstore on her paydays, and my parents often let me hang out at the library. “People are smarter than their circumstances.”
BKH: What are you hopeful for with this project?
RP: I hope that this book finds good readership and that it touches people, maybe even frightens them, and makes them think.
BKH: What are you hopeful for with this project and the rest of the year?
RP: I hope that this book finds good readership and that it touches people and maybe even frightens them and makes them think. And for the rest of 2024, I hope we wake up in November and find that Kamala Harris is President!
Theodore Harper, an Aesthetic Advisor, and Darla Jacobson Harper, a Bassoonist, seem like a low-key couple, right, nah. This book will take you on a ride. Buckle up for safety!
Brittany is a book lover with a continuously expanding To Be Read (TBR) List and her unofficial love language is good food! She lives in an Atlanta suburb with her husband and two daughters.