5 minutes 5 questions with, african american author, african american authors, african american book, african american books, amazon.com, interview

5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… MG Hardie, author of It Ain’t Just The Size

12 Comments

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
MG Hardie, author of It Ain’t Just The Size
(Aventine Press)

Princess has returned home after a 3-year absence to heal her heart. She now seems to have it all: a job and a house. She has everything except one thing, real love. Lance is no stranger to having the odds stacked against him. He is a hard working father, but he believes that he may never really find true love.

It Ain’t Just The Size shows Lance and Princess as they find their way to love. While these two passionate hearts begin their journey towards love many discussions and conflicts arise.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write It Ain’t Just the Size?

MG Hardie: I wrote It Ain’t Just The Size because I was tired of hearing that black literature has little value, blacks don’t know politics, men are dogs or that black women are hated and so forth.

I had enough of the one-sided discussions between men and women. I see so many people not communicating. Well, they are communicating, but they aren’t really talking to one another.

I wrote this book so that it could be used as a tool to help people and to bring about a greater understanding.

JP: Your books have a common thread in that they take a humorous approach to discussing political and socio-economic issues. Is this by design?

MG: Yes. I have been told that the opinion of black people doesn’t count because they don’t read. I confront that head on. In my book, I show real people with real thoughts on politics, love, society and the world in which we all live in. I show black people actually living their lives and being positive forces in their communities, not just caricatures.

There are some really great books out there written by Dr. West, Dyson, Harper and others that really need to be read The people who really need to read what is inside of those book aren’t going to read them. I decided to put the book where everyone could access it.

My book does contains many serious topics, but intermingling those topics with humor was a rewarding challenge. I love it when a reader smiles at something a character does, it shows engagement.

JP: As an author, what are the keys to your success that lead to It Ain’t Just the Size getting out to the public?

MG: Be yourself, be real, which is difficult to do in this day and age. That’s made even more difficult for me because my books tackles some really tough issues. I have been compared to Tyler Perry, but I am not trying to be the next TP, I am much too busy being MG.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish It Ain’t Just the Size?

MG: I draw inspiration from just about everything, so anytime is a good time to jot something down. That is the main reason why you can find me writing articles on just about any topic. Articles on my blog range from literature, political, hip hop and humor. It took me about eight months to write the book.

JP: What’s next for M.G. Hardie?

MG: It Ain’t Just The Size has just come out and people are really being surprised by it. I want to bring It Ain’t Just The Size to the stage.

Awards:

Urban Title of the Year – 2009
Literary Award- Humo r- 2009
Best Kept Literary Secret – 2008
Founding Member of Black Authors Day
California State University Panels on Hip Hop, Media, Masculinity

http://www.facebook.com/mg.hardie
http://www.myspace.com/mghardie

P.S. Join the Joey Reviews Newsletter at http://joeypinkney.com/joey-reviews-newsletter.html.

Please click on the banners to learn more about each JoeyPinkney.com sponsor:

You need to advertise with JoeyPinkney.com! (Click here for more information.)

12 thoughts on “5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… MG Hardie, author of It Ain’t Just The Size”

  1. I really would like to know where all the literary awards are? I am just curious about that. I do not know much about MG’s work but I think just from reading the interview, I think we have similar writing styles.

  2. It seems like a very interesting book and would love to read because it gets away from the every day same topics and books, I know his writing style gets a lot of debate and would really want to just see what his topics consist of…

  3. ONE of the first FIVE people to comment on this author interview will win a free copy of the book.

    Here is the list of people who are in the running for a FREE copy of It Ain’t Just the Size by MG Hardie.

    1) N.S. Ugezene
    2) Joyce Dickerson
    3) ???
    4) ???
    5) ???

    Leave a comment about your thoughts on the interview.

  6. I would love to read the statistics or documentation that proves African Americans don’t read or talk about political and world issues. That is such a big misconception. It’s good to see that you are bringing to the forefront what most of already know. Thanks for keeping it real.

  7. Nice interview. Sounds like a very interesting book. Kudus to Joey for always having great interview. MG is my FB friend and I love the status he puts up. He a deep brother and I wish him all the success in the world

  8. ONE of the first FIVE people to comment on this author interview will win a free copy of the book.

    Here is the list of people who are in the running for a FREE copy of It Ain’t Just the Size by MG Hardie.

    1) N.S. Ugezene
    2) Joyce Dickerson
    3) Jennifer C.
    4) SiStar Tea
    5) ???

    Leave a comment about your thoughts on the interview.

  11. ONE of the first FIVE people to comment on this author interview will win a free copy of the book.

    Here is the list of people who are in the running for a FREE copy of It Ain’t Just the Size by MG Hardie.

    1) N.S. Ugezene
    2) Joyce Dickerson
    3) Jennifer C.
    4) SiStar Tea
    5) Daniel Williams

    Leave a comment about your thoughts on the interview.

Comments are closed.