March Author Spotlight: Gabi Burton
Ashyle Noelle • Mar 28, 2023

BIO

Gabi Burton grew up reading and writing in St. Louis, Missouri. She graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine in 2021. Now, she works as a paralegal and author on the East Coast. When she’s not working or writing, she’s probably watching Netflix (the trashier the better), scrolling through Twitter, or finding beautiful places to walk—preferably near a body of water. She is represented by Naomi Davis at BookEnds and her debut novel, Sing Me to Sleep, comes out with Bloomsbury in Spring 2023.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR BOOK(S)!

Sing Me to Sleep follows Saoirse, a siren who survives on lies. By day, she’s a soldier at the fae barracks in the kingdom, lying about being a siren to avoid execution. At night, she’s an assassin for dangerous mercenaries.


When she’s forced to accept a job guarding the crown prince, Hayes, she expects to despise him the way she despises his father. But Saoirse finds herself increasingly drawn to him—especially when they’re forced to work together to stop a deadly killer who’s plaguing the city.

 

There’s only one problem: Saoirse is that deadly killer.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE READERS WILL GET OUT OF YOUR BOOKS?

I love messy characters because I think most people are messy. After reading Sing Me to Sleep, I hope readers take away that people rarely make choices because they’re good or bad. Often, people make the “right” choice for the wrong reasons, or the “wrong” choice for the right reasons. 

WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE?

Honestly, I’m not sure. Like a lot of authors, I love to read. I especially love books that make me feel something intensely, be it happy, heartbroken, hopeful, or angry. For as long as I can remember, whenever I read something emotional, Ive always wanted to create something that elicited that same response from readers.

HOW DO YOU WEAVE YOUR CULTURE INTO YOUR WRITING?

It depends on the kind of story I’m doing, but across the board, I love to celebrate Black beauty in descriptions of skin color, hair, and Black bodies/features. I also like to emphasize the closeness of extended families, so most of my main characters are disconnected from their ancestry, but close with the family they have.

WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING A BLACK CREATOR IN PUBLISHING?

I’ve always struggled with feeling like I’m not palatable for white readers because I’m Black, and not palatable to Black readers because Blackness isn’t a monolith. I don’t like the phrase “not Black enough” but at the same time, it’s always described how I feel. It’s something I’m working on!

FAVORITE LINE FROM YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR AND/OR FROM YOUR OWN BOOK?

“My face and soul are a double-sided blade. A curse. Those who think I’m ugly don’t know I’m beautiful. And those who know I’m beautiful can’t see my ugly.” - Sing Me to Sleep

BEST TIP ON WRITING CRAFT?

My biggest craft tip is to read. A lot of what what we know about writing we absorb naturally when we read. What works for me won’t work for everyone, but I think reading is a good way to absorb story structure and get a good feel of how sentences flow naturally.

ANY ADVICE FOR OTHER BLACK CREATORS?

Make friends with Black authors and be upfront with what you’re unwilling to compromise on. It’s no secret publishing is a very white industry. Having a support system of Blacks authors trying to navigate it as well has really made this process feel less daunting. Not just because of shared issues and difficulties with the industry, but because they’ve helped empower me to ask for things I want. It can be scary to tell a white publishing professional that there’s something in your story that’s inherently Black that you won’t compromise. Having a support system of Black authors can make that challenge more manageable. I also just love Black excellence, and seeing Black author friends accomplish amazing things in this industry is a pretty great serotonin boost when you’re feeling low.

FUN QUESTION: IT'S THE FIRST MET GALA FOR BLACK CREATORS. WHAT ARE YOU WEARING ON THE RED CARPET?

It depends on the theme, but for color scheme, I’m thinking either red or gold, or at the very least gold accents with another color. Red because it’s my favorite and gold because it’s regal like the other Black creators at the gala.

On a side note: can someone please make this happen? I’ll fly out anywhere to go to a book met gala for Black people.

WHERE CAN PEOPLE FIND YOU?

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