(bell rings) (jazzy music begins) - [Tara] Hi, I'm Tara M. Stringfellow. I'm the author of "Memphis," my debut novel. (jazzy music continues) I really wanted to write a long epic poem, a sonnet, a love letter to Memphis, to my city, to the black women living in my city. It's a black fairytale in a way. I really wanted to write a black love story too. So there's all that in there. I think it is in itself black joy. (groovy music) - [J.T.] It's kind of unbelievable that this is your debut. - [Tara] This is my first time writing fiction ever. I'd never written a short story before. - And you're a poet? - [Tara] Yeah. - You're a poet by trade, you're a lawyer by trade. - Yes, I say poet by birth. That's my birthright. - [J.T.] Okay. - I just became an attorney 'cause I needed to eat food and pay for things. - That's a very legitimate reason. - Yeah, but going to law school did teach me how to write, I think, a lot better. - Your dad shaped you as well? - [Tara] Oh yeah. - Can you tell us very quickly the story of when you were three years old and he pulled a book off the shelf that changed your life? - It was a collection of greatest poems of all time, something like that. And he started reading this poem. I was three, I stopped him. I said, "Start over." Like what is, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard in my life. And so he started over, and I stopped him again and I said, "I will be a poet. This is for me." And my dad pointed at the book. He said, "Okay, well you have to write three times better because you're a black woman." And I said, "I got that." And so that's always been what I'm thinking of every single sentence I put down, like, is this a purely beautiful sentence? - Tara, thank you so much for sharing your light with us today and sharing your gift. We really appreciate it. - Thank you so much. This has been a delight. - And thank you for watching "A Word on Words." I'm J.T. Ellison. Keep reading. (bell rings) - [Tara] I'm really appreciative for the fact that the Marine Corps let me grow up in Okinawa, Japan, in a tropical paradise. I was a black little girl and I could just be that, just a black little, and no one made me feel less than.