Interview

On a bleak autumn afternoon, Portowebbo hooked up with newly acclaimed author Courttia Newland at a local Portobello cafe, to find out how he is coping with all his new found fame and fortune.

We meet Courttia inside, order coffees and take a seat outside in an attempt to gain a bit of quiet (it’s bloody cold, no-one else is going to be stupid enough to join us.) Sitting out in the street Courttia appears to be like any other regular guy, the average West Londoner you might see sloping around the streets on any random afternoon, not the extensively publicised author he has recently become. "My friends call me a superstar now," he laughs, "something I always deny." Something I find increasingly hard to believe, as the interview progresses and he is consistently greeting or being greeted by new found acquaintances or admirers. He introduces us to a passing friend, another local author about to have his book published.

Courttia began writing his first novel ’The Scholar’ at the age of 21, a story based on a West London estate and set around the lives of two cousins who become entailed in a web of crack, crime and inner city ’street life’. By the age of 23 his novel was published, grabbing the attention of press and literary critics who took to labeling him as ’part of a new breed of young black British writers’. Since then Courttia’s second book ’Society Within’ has been published, he has taken part in an anthology of black British writing and is currently at work on his next novel, as well as participating in numerous events such as the Edinburgh Festival and Arthrob. So now Courttia has been flung into the depths of the British Literary world, how is he dealing with all this press and publicity?

During an attempt to snap a shot of him for the interview, he informs us that he doesn’t like having his photo taken for a start. Unfortunately something which is now a common day event, ’I have learnt to ignore it, I try not to worry about it anymore’, so we snap away as he leans back in his seat and attempts to look comfortable.

It is obvious that the publishing of his books have changed his life in one form or another, his book deal with Abacus has boosted his financial situation, "I can buy the music I want, the clothes I want and I can travel more." He is no longer living in a squatt or working in a local retail shop, but he is certainly not attending literary dinner parties, with the likes of Mr Amis and shopping on Saville Row. "You have to attempt to remain grounded, I treat it as a job, it pays the bills," he says leaning back in his chair "That is the only way to deal with it."

The publication of his first novel generated a lot of personal attention, attention that has made him a little uneasy. "The papers and the reviews create a persona for me, one that I don’t necessarily have of myself," he says pulling his hat down over his ears, "I am a lot more wary of people now, attempting to work out where they are coming from." Interviews have tended to concentrate on his background - of living this young, black, working class, inner-city life. "The publicity and interest highlighted the fact that I am writing: rather than concentrating on what I’m writing. The persona, which has developed from this publicity is one of ’a working class, black, city boy made good’, I want my books to be famous, not me, not my life."