Written by:
Allison Steinberg
Shelley Halima is a rare bird. Halima, 33, is one of the few straight authors to include a multitude of sexual expressions and experiences in her novels. But why shouldn’t she? Her life parallels her novel’s characters in their diversity. “One thing that bothers me about a lot of novels is [that] everyone is one color and sexuality, and that’s not how the world is. I want people from all backgrounds to be able to relate to at least one of my characters,” Halima says.
Raised in Detroit, Halima attended primary and secondary schools in the city and Henry Ford Community College in nearby Dearborn. She currently resides in Redford, Mich. As a child, Halima wanted to be a lawyer or a criminal investigator. “I still have a fascination with law and investigation,” she admits.
She had an interest in reading and writing from a young age, specifically Stephen King and romance novels. “I still read Stephen King but let the Harlequin romance go,” she says with a laugh.
Although she wrote poetry during her teen years, she didn’t begin her first novel, Azucar Moreno, until 2000, when a bad breakup inspired her to pour her heart out through her pen. “That breakup was the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Halima says. She completed Azucar Moreno in just nine months, and it was picked up by a publishing house six months later.
The creative process doesn’t start on paper for Halima. “In the beginning stages of a novel, I can’t just sit down and write,” Halima explains. She spends time developing the characters before she brings them to life on the page. Once the ink starts flowing, she can build a story where the characters illustrate behavioral patterns consistent with their imagined personalities.
She takes a raunchy, tell-it-like-it-is approach in Azucar Moreno and Los Morenos, novels about cute Puerto Rican actress Nikki, who moves from Detroit to Los Angeles to make pursue an acting career. Nikki “has a strong sense of loyalty,” says Halima. “She’s passionate about who she loves and what she does and she’s wonderfully flawed.”
Nikki’s cousin and confidante, Rosie, a beauty in her own right, brings both boys and girls to bed with her coquettish charm, and rest assured there is no heterosexist tone in Halima’s writing. Her descriptions of same-sex relations and overt sexual acts are raw and honest.
Halima’s inclusion of the character Odell, a close friend of Nikki’s and a loud, effeminate gay man, is illustrative of Halima’s compassion for differences and her understanding of the intricate (and often controversial) nature of a gay man’s life. “Odell just wants to be able to be himself and not someone he’s not in order to be more accepted by straight people and other gay people,” she says. The character is based on a friend of Halima’s.
Halima’s work invites the reader into a world of close friendships and family strife, the struggle to find love, and the pursuit of a career. In an honest and simple voice, she tells the story of a close group of friends that parallels our own experiences of finding ourselves, as well as sharing hardships and triumphs with our own versions of family.
Halima is currently focusing on her new passion, music. She is in the process of recording an album and writing her third novel, an epilogue to Los Morenos.
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