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It's hard to meet British writer Malorie Blackman in the days immediately following Barack Obama's famous victory and not mention the United States' President Elect. But black leaders of state are nothing new in the alternate world the 46-year-old first wrote about in 2001.
Her Children's Book Award-winning Noughts and Crosses depicted a dystopian society where the darker-skinned Crosses ruled over the lighter Noughts. "It's so momentous; it's like history in the making," says Blackman. "To be honest, I knew there would be a black president at some time but I didn't think it would happen in my lifetime.
In Noughts and Crosses, the Prime Minister is obviously black but it is one of those things which is not science fiction any more, it has actually happened. It's like Lewis Hamilton becoming the Formula One world champion or Tiger Woods.
Twenty years ago it would have been inconceivable but look how we've moved on. Progress is slow but at least the overall movement is forward." The Clapham-born author, who lives in Kent, was inspired to write her first book - 1990's Not So Stupid!: Incredible Short Stories - by the lack of children's novels featuring characters of her own race when she was growing up in London. "I really thought I didn't exist in the world of literature," she recalls. "When you read a book, you put yourself into it but I was very aware I wasn't in it. The first book I read that featured black characters was The Color Purple and that was when I was 23.
In my mid-20s I decided I wanted to write books for black children so they could grow up seeing themselves. For me, it's about presenting black children in all kinds of situations and using their own resources to get out of those situations." Blackman has since written more than 50 books and several television scripts but it is Noughts and Crosses, adapted last year into a successful stage play by the Royal Shakespeare Company, that she is best known for.
Originally conceived as a trilogy, the first volume was followed by Knife Edge in 2004 and Checkmate a year later. However, she recently returned to the series with Double Cross, which centres around the offspring of the original series' central characters. "I wasn't going to write any more but then one of the minor characters from Checkmate, Tobey Durbridge, started whispering in my ear," she laughs. "He started telling me his story and wouldn't leave me alone. It's more of a standalone story because you don't necessarily have to have read the first three to get this one but I couldn't say that about Knife Edge and Checkmate as you would be a bit lost if you hadn't read Noughts and Crosses."
However, Blackman doesn't spend much time in Double Cross detailing the intricacies of how the society works. "With Noughts and Crosses, I didn't reveal that the Crosses are black and the Noughts white until well into the book, as I wanted to play with people's preconceptions as to who they were.
With this book, hopefully you'll be aware of that and then you'll be able to get straight into the story." Apart from some allusions to the texture of Tobey's Cross girlfriend's hair, Blackman makes few references to ethnicity, leading some readers to mistakenly conclude she is writing about other races or groups. "I have had letters from Ireland saying you're talking about Protestants and Catholics and letters from people saying you're talking about the Jewish and Palestinian situation. People are drawing what they want from it, which I love. I deliberately only mentioned colour once in Noughts and Crosses. It's always Noughts and Crosses or the derogatory names 'blankers' and 'daggers'. In this book, very rarely do I mention colour although Tobey is white. It's more like this is their society and he's trying to find his way through it."
While the three previous instalments explored the consequences of terrorism and suicide bombers, Double Cross strikes closer to home as the normally law abiding Tobey is embroiled in a dispute between two rival crime families after a momentary lapse in judgment. Like Mark Billingham's recent thriller, In The Dark, it was inspired by the spate of teenage knife crime that has swept London in the past couple of years.
"Even though it is an everyday threat around the world now for most people, terrorism feels more like a remote situation, whereas gang violence is more of an immediate concern as you can be in the wrong place at the wrong time and get caught up in it," says Blackman, referring to 9-year-old Rhys Jones, who was shot dead after being trapped in the crossfire between two rival factions in Liverpool last year.
After being unexpectedly drawn back into the milieu of Noughts and Crosses, Blackman is unsure whether she will write a fifth instalment. "I'd been telling everyone that Checkmate was the last one but then I had to bite the bullet and say I was writing another," she concludes with a smile. "If another character starts whispering in my ear, then there might be yet another one. I don't know yet if that will happen but Double Cross has taught me never to say never. It's a world I am very attached to and where anything can happen."
* Double Cross (Doubleday $32.99)
