Crime novelist talks inspiration, Netflix deals at 8th annual Novel November
Speaking to a crowd at the Peters Township High School auditorium, author Shawn “S.A.” Cosby talked about growing up in a family of vociferous readers.
His mother enjoyed biographies and historical novels, and Cosby recalled reading detective novels with his uncle.
“Which, side note, those books had these, like, very lascivious covers, and my mom wouldn’t let me read them until we cut the covers off. I never had the heart to tell her … There is so much worse stuff in the book,” Cosby said.
Cosby is an accomplished author of crime novels generally set in the American South. On Thursday he was the featured writer of the eighth annual Novel November, an event put on each year by the Peters Township Library Foundation.
His 2023 book, “All the Sinners Bleed,” was a New York Times bestseller, and landed on former President Barack Obama’s summer reading list. Both “All the Sinners Bleed” and “King of Ashes,” Cosby’s most recent novel, are being adapted into limited series for Netflix.
Maura Kelly, the president of the Peters Township Library Foundation, facilitated a conversation with Cosby at Thursday’s event, which was followed by a question-and- answer session with the audience.
Cosby told the audience his mother encouraged him to start writing his own stories at a young age after he would interrogate the plots of fairy tales she would read to him.
“Why didn’t the three little pigs just build their house out of bricks in the first place? Why did they mess around with sticks and straw?” Cosby said to laughter from the audience. “She challenged me to write a story when I was 7. ‘Well, write your own story, you can do whatever you want.'”
Another inspirational figure for Cosby was his 11th-grade English teacher. Cosby recalled writing stories for the amusement of his friends, often about teachers they did not particularly care for.
When his English teacher intercepted a story Cosby was passing to his high school crush, he asked Cosby to stay after class. Cosby was surprised by what the teacher had to say.
“He said, ‘You’re not in trouble. First thing, stop writing stories about teachers … You have a really unique gift for this. This is a powerful voice, and you should consider going to college for creative writing,'” Cosby said.
Kelly remarked to Cosby that his books are often touching upon challenging political topics that the country has a “really hard time” discussing.
“And you do it in such a way that you’re not bumping people on the head, and I think people can hear you through your characters,” Kelly said.
Cosby responded that he once received the advice that “nobody wants a 300-page sermon.” So long as the story is good, you can talk about any issue you would like.
“I had a friend of mine ask me, ‘Why are you so political in your books?’ I said every act of art is a political act. Even if you’re not being political, then you’re making a political choice,” Cosby said. “So for me, it’s important to talk about the things that are important to me.”
Higher Ground Productions, Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, are adapting Cosby’s novels into series for Netflix.
He recalled negotiating with Netflix over the “King of Ashes” series, and being unsure if he would go with the streaming service for the television adaptation or take another offer. Then, he got a call from Barack Obama himself.
“He was just really nice and really fun. He was really funny. We get off the phone and I call my agent, ‘I guess we’re going Netflix,'” Cosby said.
The Peters Township Library Foundation already has plans to continue Novel November next year, when they will welcome author Katherine Center.