Natasha Williams
Author Interview - Natasha Williams
Author of The Parts of Him I Kept: The Gifts of My Father's Madness
One cold night in April, Natasha William’s father drove his car into the frigid water of New York Bay with her two-year-old half-sister in the backseat. Natasha was twenty-one. She was the one to walk him past the column of hungry reporters demanding an explanation.
The headline in The New York Post read: Back from a Watery Grave.
But Natasha’s experiences growing up with her schizophrenic father in the gritty New York City of the 1970s are not so easily captured in a single headline. How could she possibly convey the power of her father’s love in the face of this tragedy?
William’s memoir, THE PARTS OF HIM I KEPT (Apprentice House; April 29, 2025; $33.99), is an intimate account of a daughter’s coming of age in the face of her father’s schizophrenic unraveling. Williams investigates the limits of our medical and cultural understanding of schizophrenia while chronicling the shared burden and benefits of caring for a mentally ill family member. In the tradition of Michael Greenberg’s Hurry Down Sunshine and Robert Kolker’s Hidden Valley Road, The Parts of Him I Kept asks us to consider the ways mental illness is as much a social issue as a biological condition.
Author Interview - Natasha Williams
Author I draw inspiration from:
Narrative creative nonfiction is what I mostly read. Jesmyn Ward’s "The Men We Reaped" and Michael Greenberg’s "Hurry Down Sunshine", Justin Torres " We the Animals" and Ocean Vuong's "On Earth we are Briefly Gorgeous" are some of my favorites. All these writers have a story to tell and write such beautiful prose. Ward reluctantly shared the story of the lives of four young African American family members she lost in her twenties, Greenberg had the intense challenge but an envious container of writing about the summer his 15-year-old daughter had a psychotic break. He brings remarkable empathy to the exploration of her psychosis. Torres set such powerful scenes of the feral pack he and his brothers moved within and outside their dysfunctional family. And ocean Vuong poetically explores " how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are"
Author Interview - Natasha Williams | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
On vacation; with enough time to relax and dig into the story!
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
James Baldwin was a visiting professor when I was in college. I would love to be stuck in an elevator and ask him how he came to such a deep understanding of race coming up in his family, at that tumultuous time in New York City-I would be courageous enough to ask the questions I was too shy and star struck to broach when I was a college student. The honest truth is I still imagine him thinking my questions are missing the mark.
Author Interview - Natasha Williams | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
When I realized that writing was the one form of expression ( unlike music or drawing or any other art) that I could do for hours on end and be energized and want to keep going. I realized I was more a writer than anything else.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
My favorite is a soft cover book, the way it feels, it's weight, the way the cover folds. But I do like an audio book for time spent in the garden or cleaning or cooking- I love that I can hear a story and get something done. But I miss less when I read the book!
The last book I read:
I just finished "James" by Percival Everette- and I really liked the ending. I started Salt Houses by Hala Alyan three weeks ago but with the book launch I have no time to read!
Author Interview - Natasha Williams | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
In workshop or class I write on paper. Or I will write an idea for a story or line down when I think of it. But most of my writing happens on the computer.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
I could imagine my younger self being best friends with teen sex worker. Iris in Taxi Driver because we would have found companionship in our edgy survivalist approach to life. An adult best friend could easily be mother character in Valeria Luiselli's "The Lost Children Archives" because we could spend hours talking about what matters to us.
Author Interview - Natasha Williams | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
A singer or an actor, I've have done both, I sang in a kwella influenced family band called "Grenadilla" and tried with little success to become a child actor- I love when songs land with an audience or when a performance helps us empathize with people we didn't understand before- but really I don't love the limelight, so writing satisfies that craving for for lyrical prose and deepening understanding with out having to face an audience.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
1970 in Europe maybe?
Place I’d most like to travel:
I've always wanted to travel to Turkey. Just a feeling. We will make that trip soon I hope.
My signature drink:
I like whisky but for a cocktail I enjoy my drinks with lots of citrus and not too sweet.
Favorite artist:
I love Chopin's Nocturnes and Charles Mingus on piano. I recently heard Jon Baptist say that "jazz says what words can't" - So true.
Number one on my bucket list:
Traveling to Turkey and having time to stay in one place and make friends there. I love how traveling helps you know and understand other ways of living and thinking thru the people you meet.
Anything else you'd like to add:
I am humbled by the process of launching a book. It truly takes a village of friends and colleagues to help get the word out and make connections. People like you who love books are a port in a storm. Thank you.
Find more from the author:
https://www.instagram.com/natasha_w/
https://twitter.com/NatashaW_writes
https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-williams-5998949/
https://www.threads.net/@natasha_w?hl=en&xmt=AQGzobh0prQ1vuQ75bq_0dtK2yFn21DWQnnhef7kVCRTSwQ
About Natasha Williams:
Author Interview with Natasha Williams
This is Natasha Williams’ debut book. She has an MA from the University of Pennsylvania and attended the Bread Loaf School of English and the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Excerpts and essays have been published in the Bread Loaf Journal, Change Seven, LIT, Memoir Magazine, Onion River Review, Writers Read, Post Road, and South Dakota Review.
