A place we belong is worth fighting for: Louisa Onomé discusses her young adult novel Like Home

Reading Louisa Onomé’s debut novel for young adults, Like Home (HarperCollins Canada) is like biting into a perfectly ripened fruit: sweet, complex, juicy and worth savouring. Readers will be immediately drawn to the novel’s feisty protagonist Chinelo, a character that came to Onomé “fully formed as this rebellious girl who is bold, loyal, and sticks up for what she believes in”. Onomé would have liked to have been more like Chinelo at her age: “She really knows what she’s about, and I think that’s very admirable!”

Like Home is one part mystery, one part romance and one part love letter to the nostalgia of a childhood home. The novel follows 17-year old Nigerian-Canadian Chinelo (or Nelo, as her friends call her) who lives and attends high school in Ginger East. She loves her neighbourhood and feels fierce loyalty to the community . . . but home just isn’t what it once was.

When the story opens, a deadly event at a local arcade has compelled all of Nelo’s friends, except for best friend Kate, to move away. Then the convenience store which Kate’s parents operate – and which is a hub of the neighbourhood – is vandalized, and Nelo feels Kate pushing her away, just when they need their friendship most. On top of this, the opening of a mega-supermarket chain promises gentrification and higher living costs for residents already struggling to make ends meet. Add in the actions of a misinformed media and an unfortunate viral sound bite, and it feels as if life in Ginger East is changing only for the worse. Determined to find a return path to normalcy, Nelo devises a plan to uncover the vandal’s identity and restore Ginger East to the home it once was.

The authenticity of the vernacular and cadence of the teenaged characters in the novel will hook readers immediately. In particular, Nelo’s narrative voice conjures a teen straight out of Insta world with an a-ha! accuracy. “Thank you so much!” Onomé smiles, when asked how she hit upon Nelo’s voice so precisely. “No big secret here, I’m afraid! I think my interests and way of being often tend to skew younger than I am. I look upon youth culture with such respect and openness. And if anything, that’s been my way forward where Nelo’s voice is concerned. Also, connecting with that younger part of myself while writing has been a big help, too!”

Onomé based the fictional Ginger East neighbourhood on her childhood home in Mississauga, Ontario, which is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse cities in Canada. Where she grew up was mostly residential, but the layout and location of Nelo’s house in relation to the main road are the same. “I loved having that reference point in my mind because it helped me see the neighbourhood as a real, living thing that I was then able to translate onto the page.” It should be noted that the core plot of the book was not inspired by Onomé’s personal experiences: similar to most of Nelo’s friends in the story, Onomé moved away from her childhood neighbourhood when she was around 10 – 11 years old.

Onomé loves being asked questions about the book, and a popular one asks about her favourite scene in the book. “At this point, I have many,” she smiles. But the day we chat, one scene which brings to life the evolution of that neighbourhood sticks out: “Mr. Brown is the resident OG, as he immigrated to the city from Trinidad ages ago, and he owns a loans shop on the main road. There’s a really cool scene where he’s describing to Nelo how there used to be a band that played in the alleyway back in the day. I loved digging into that nostalgia, and I think it was a great opportunity for readers to get to know Mr. Brown’s history, as well.”

The novel’s title “Like Home” encapsulates a core theme of the novel. It summons that “homey and comforting feeling that we often get when we think of a place we belong,” Onomé offers. “It’s one of the main reasons we chose it, and why I believe it resonates so well. To me, ‘home’ means a sense of belonging within yourself – and, by extension, within your environment. I feel at home most when I’m secure in who I am and what I’m doing.”

Since its release in February, the novel has attracted a large readership and critical acclaim, cementing Onomé’s place within the literary landscape as an author to watch. She is a Nigerian-Canadian writer with a BA in professional writing and an MA in counselling psychology. A part of the Author Mentor Match round 3 cohort, she is also a writing mentor and staunch proponent of diverse works and writers. And this fall, Onomé is an organizer of the popular Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD) and Word on the Street (WOTS), the revered festival dedicated to promoting the works of Canadian authors.

Asked about her writing process, she is humble, describing it as 50% inspiration and 50% perspiration. “Usually, one idea will stick out more than the others, and it could be an idea that’s come from anywhere,” she explains. “After some percolating, I start to sketch out ideas for characters and then main plot points. I’ve recently gotten into writing outlines before I start drafting, and that has been pretty helpful!” Her best advice to young writers is simply to begin: “Your beginning doesn’t have to be perfect, and it won’t be. But the most important thing is taking that first leap of faith.”

Onomé assures that this process becomes easier with practice. And aspiring writers – as well as readers clamouring for more of her fiction – need look no further than Onomé herself for proof. As she revealed in a recent Instagram post, her much-anticipated second novel for young adults, Twice as Perfect, will be released on June 7, 2022 in Canada and July 22, 2022 in the US. The story follows 17-year old Nigerian-Canadian Adanna Nkwachi and is broadly about “culture, family and the poetry of life”.

Keep up with Louisa Onomé’s news on her website and Instagram.

© Arpita Ghosal, SesayArts Magazine, 2021