My interview with Erica Kennedy, author of "bitch lit" novel Feminista

I interviewed Erica Kennedy, author of "bitch lit" novel Feminista (seen above reading at last month's In The Flesh) for The Frisky. We'd done a 5,000 word Q&A via email (crazy, I know) that I had to drastically cut down so I tried to keep the most interesting parts, including this Prince story that in the book is about "The Raven," kindof a fictionalized tranny version of him. We (well, really, Erica) also discussed her book cover in relation to the Justine Larbalestier Lair cover saga, why female ambition is seen as bad in Hollywood, Oprah's Vogue cover, and more.

My Prince interview is such an awesome and unbelievable story. I had just started writing professionally after quitting my PR job at Tommy Hilfiger. I had sent my clips to In Style and one Friday afternoon they left me a frantic message. Turns out they wanted me to interview The Artist (as he was called then) and it could happen at any moment so they wanted to have me on standby. Of course, I’m psyched, but I’m also suspicious because they had never worked with me and I was so green. So I asked, “Why me?” They tell me he specifically asked for an African-American female writer and I thought, Out of the whole Time, Inc. network, I’m all you got? At that point in my career, anybody would have been more qualified than me!

Read the entire interview with Erica Kennedy about Feminista