We recently had the chance to connect with Avery Brooks and have shared our conversation below.
Avery, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
Any time I can spend with my dogs or animals in general grounds me and brings everything back into perspective.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Avery Brooks and I’m an author of sapphic fiction. My books are sapphic contemporary romances set in New Orleans with a mixture of heart, humor, and heat. My debut novel, Other Girls, was a finalist for the Golden Crown Literary Society’s Goldie Award in Contemporary Romance. It centers around a single mom who lost her wife three years ago and whose high school bully has just moved back to town and joined her recreational softball team. In April, I continued the series with my newest release, Beautiful Disasters, which centers around two of the supporting characters from Other Girls, a player and a hopeless romantic, in a slow-burn workplace romance. The audiobook of Beautiful Disasters will be out in February 2026 and is narrated by the amazing Quinn Riley, so I’m very excited about that. It will be my first audiobook, so I’m happy to be able to offer that format to my readers who prefer audiobooks.
I also served as the editor of Slamming Bricks: An Anthology, which featured poetry from LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and AAPI poets addressing themes of resistance and liberation. The anthology was a two-time Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist.
When I’m not writing, I work as a copy editor for fiction authors, especially LGBTQ+ fiction.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
My brother is a punk rock musician and very social justice minded. We both care deeply about social justice issues. Seeing his example when I was a kid, and especially through our teenage years, definitely played a role in how I evolved as a person. He’s the person I have the deepest conversations with and we both are members of the queer community.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Obstacles, trials, and tribulations have shown me what I’m capable of. In 2023, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The year and a half after that diagnosis were very challenging physically, emotionally, and mentally, but thankfully I had a strong support system and my body eventually responded to the treatment. I feel grateful to be here, especially knowing that many people were not as fortunate.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
Jane Goodall recently passed away, so she’s the first person who came to mind. My background is as an evolutionary biologist and she inspired me from a young age when I dreamed of studying primates in Africa. Jane exemplified human compassion for all animals, including humans, and the world we live in. She led with kindness and fought for chimpanzees and the environment her entire life. In a world filled with noise from social media and politics, her life is an example of what really matters. Integrity, kindness, empathy, compassion.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What will you regret not doing?
I’m going to reframe this question as “What will I not regret spending my time on?”
Two things. Traveling and standing up for the LGBTQ+ community. I didn’t travel much for a few years after COVID, and after making it through cancer treatment, I realized that traveling was one of the most important things to me. I’ve always loved exploring the world and experiencing different cultures. So, I’m happy to be able to travel again.
And as a writer of sapphic fiction, standing up against book bans (25% of banned books include an LGBTQ+ character) and supporting LGBTQ+ rights in general is very important to me, especially given the actions of the current administration. I’ve been working hard with many members of the sapphic literature community on a campaign for Banned Books Week to help educate and bring visibility and awareness to sapphic fiction. So I will never regret the time I have spent on those two things.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://averybrooksauthor.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/averybrooksauthor/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/averybrooksauthor/
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