INTERVIEW | SELINA BROWN ON FAMILY, FOOD AND CULTURAL PRIDE IN HER NEW CHILDREN’S BOOK ‘MY RICE IS BEST’

By Mark Mukasa • On Interviews

Selina Brown is a power­house in chil­dren’s lit­er­at­ure and a pas­sion­ate advoc­ate for rep­res­ent­a­tion in pub­lish­ing. As the founder of the Black Brit­ish Book Fest­iv­al and the acclaimed author behind the Nena series, she has already inspired a new gen­er­a­tion of read­ers and writers. Now, with her latest pic­ture book ‘My Rice is Best’, Selina deliv­ers a joy­ful, mouth­wa­ter­ing cel­eb­ra­tion of cul­ture, fam­ily, and pride, all through the uni­ver­sal lan­guage of food. We caught up with Selina to talk about the inspir­a­tion behind the story, the play­ful rivalry between Carib­bean and Afric­an rice dishes, and why shar­ing laughter, iden­tity, and tra­di­tion is at the heart of everything she writes.

‘My Rice is Best’ is such a vibrant cel­eb­ra­tion of cul­ture and food. What sparked the idea for this story, and why rice in particular?

I wanted to write some­thing that felt like a true cel­eb­ra­tion – of fam­ily, food, and cul­ture. My Rice is Best! was inspired by the age-old debate between Carib­beans and Afric­ans: who makes the best rice? It’s a play­ful rivalry, but also full of pride – because in every fam­ily, there’s always that one dish that means some­thing spe­cial. Rice shows up in so many homes around the world in unique, deli­cious ways. I wanted to cap­ture that warmth, fla­vour and gen­er­a­tion­al love – and show chil­dren cham­pi­on­ing their her­it­age while learn­ing about oth­ers through food.

Shane and Yinka’s rice rivalry feels play­ful but power­ful. How import­ant was it for you to show cul­tur­al pride in such a fun, access­ible way for kids?

It was abso­lutely essen­tial. Cul­tur­al pride doesn’t have to be ser­i­ous or heavy – some­times, the best way to explore iden­tity is through laughter, curi­os­ity, and fun. By show­ing Shane and Yinka proudly defend­ing their fam­ily rice recipes, I’m encour­aging chil­dren to cel­eb­rate where they come from and take joy in shar­ing that with oth­ers. The rivalry is cheeky, but it’s rooted in love – and that play­ful pride opens the door for empathy, con­nec­tion, and understanding.

You’ve lived in places like New York, Jamaica, Kenya and Gam­bia. Did any of your travels influ­ence how you shaped the food and cul­tur­al themes in the book?

Def­in­itely. Liv­ing in dif­fer­ent parts of the world gave me a deep appre­ci­ation for how food tells a story. Wheth­er I was eat­ing jol­lof in West Africa, rice and peas in the Carib­bean, or soul food in Brook­lyn, the mes­sage was the same: food is com­munity. It’s how people cel­eb­rate, grieve, gath­er, and con­nect. Those exper­i­ences helped me under­stand the emo­tion­al lay­ers behind a dish – and I wanted to bring that rich­ness into the book. For chil­dren, food is such an access­ible entry point to cul­ture, and I wanted them to feel proud of their own while get­ting curi­ous about others.

We love the bold­ness and joy in the illus­tra­tions. What was it like col­lab­or­at­ing with Max­well Oginni, and how did his visu­al style bring your words to life?

Work­ing with Max­well was great. He brought such energy, warmth, and humour to every page. From the express­ive faces to the vibrant col­our palettes, his illus­tra­tions made the story jump off the page. He really under­stood the rhythm of the text – the joy, the ten­sion, the com­edy – and elev­ated it with art that chil­dren can get lost in. Max­well cap­tured the essence of both Shane and Yinka’s worlds beau­ti­fully, and I’m so proud of what we cre­ated together.

There’s some­thing power­ful about chil­dren see­ing their food, cul­ture and fam­ily life reflec­ted in books. What do you hope young read­ers feel when they see them­selves in ‘My Rice is Best’?

Rep­res­ent­a­tion is vital. When chil­dren see them­selves in books, they feel val­id­ated – like their world, their fam­ily, their voice mat­ters. It builds con­fid­ence, iden­tity, and creativity.

But it’s also import­ant for every child to exper­i­ence diverse stor­ies – that’s how we raise inclus­ive, empath­et­ic people. We need to keep cham­pi­on­ing diverse authors, push­ing for authen­t­ic stor­ies, and mak­ing sure all chil­dren can access books that reflect the full spec­trum of experiences.

As founder of the Black Brit­ish Book Fest­iv­al, you cham­pi­on Black voices in pub­lish­ing. How does this book fit into your mis­sion of rep­res­ent­a­tion and storytelling?

My Rice is Best! is part of that mis­sion – to cen­ter joy, pride, and cul­tur­al authen­ti­city in our storytelling. The Black Brit­ish Book Fest­iv­al was born out of a need to show­case the incred­ible range of Black tal­ent in lit­er­at­ure, and this book is a cel­eb­ra­tion of that spir­it. It’s not about trauma or ste­reo­types – it’s about kids being kids, fam­il­ies being fam­il­ies, and cul­tures being hon­oured in their every­day bril­liance. That’s the kind of storytelling we need more of, and it’s what I’m com­mit­ted to build­ing through the fest­iv­al and beyond.

Rice is clearly more than just food in this story – it’s tra­di­tion, iden­tity, even love. What does rice mean to you personally?

To me, rice is com­fort. It’s Sunday din­ners, fam­ily argu­ments about who gets the last scoop, the smell of coconut milk or scotch bon­net drift­ing through the house. It’s memor­ies of my Jamaic­an grand­moth­er in the kit­chen, teach­ing me about life between stir­ring the pot. Rice is love, laughter, and leg­acy – and that’s exactly what I wanted to hon­our in this book.

Humour plays a big role in the book. How import­ant is laughter in help­ing chil­dren learn about cul­tur­al dif­fer­ences and similarities?

Laughter is a power­ful tool. It breaks down walls, opens hearts, and helps chil­dren con­nect across dif­fer­ences. Humour makes things relat­able and mem­or­able – espe­cially when tack­ling cul­tur­al top­ics. When kids can laugh togeth­er at a rice debate, they’re also learn­ing about pride, respect, and appre­ci­ation for each other’s back­grounds. The humour in this book invites chil­dren to cel­eb­rate dif­fer­ence, not fear it.

You’ve already inspired many with the “Nena” series and your work empower­ing young girls. What mes­sage does ‘My Rice is Best’ send to the next gen­er­a­tion of storytellers?

That your story mat­ters. That your cul­ture, your voice, your fam­ily tra­di­tions – they all belong in books. My Rice is Best! says: be proud of who you are, share your world boldly, and nev­er feel like you have to shrink your iden­tity to fit in. I hope young read­ers come away think­ing, “I could write a book like this too.” Because they can – and I want them to know the world needs their stories.

And finally, the mil­lion-pound ques­tion: rice and peas or jol­lof? Or are you stay­ing neut­ral to keep the peace?

Let’s just say… I’ve had very good ver­sions of both! How­ever, rice and peas has my heart – espe­cially when it was cooked by my granny who didn’t meas­ure any­thing and just “knew” when it’s done. That’s ances­tral cook­ing – you can’t com­pete with that!

My Rice Is Best is avail­able in all book­stores from May 8th 2025

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Mark Mukasa

Mark is a South Lon­don based writer and avid fan of all things hip hop. He’s also an MMA and his­tory enthu­si­ast who tries to keep his love of animé under wraps.

About Mark Mukasa

Mark is a South London based writer and avid fan of all things hip hop. He's also an MMA and history enthusiast who tries to keep his love of anime under wraps.