Junauda Petrus brings magic to The O’Shaughnessy

By Skylar Mattson

On Thursday, Nov. 16, Junauda Petrus, author of “The Stars And The Blackness Between Them,” the campus One Read for Racial Justice, sat down with Eva Ngono ‘25 (Art History/Political Science, Critical Studies of Race and Ethnicity/Museum Studies minors) at The O’Shaughnessy to answer questions about her award-winning book.

“The Stars and the Blackness Between Them” is a Queer love story between Audre, a Trinidadian teenage girl who moves to Minnesota from Trinidad and true Minnesotan Mabel, another teenage girl who falls ill and in love with Audre at the same time. As their love develops, the characters navigate complex concepts as Black, Queer teens, such as racism, love and death.

For the audience to get to know Petrus as an author, Ngono asked Petrus a series of questions that she had prepared. Petrus shared about the characters in her book, her inspirations for her writing, her work in youth education and her experiences as a Black Queer woman.

Petrus shared, “As a kid, I knew something magic was going to happen in me.” Her intuition was right; Petrus’s words and writing brought a magical essence to the evening. Her answers showed her compassion for others, along with her belief in the fantastical, as she read a tarot card and talked about how important her ancestors were to her.

While answering some questions from the audience, Petrus encouraged college students to connect with themselves by finding ways to do what they love, exploring their sexuality and studying abroad. She reminded them to enjoy school, but to remember that other opportunities to make memories will come after too.

Amy Mars, coordinator of the One Read for Racial Justice, selected Ngono to facilitate the conversation with Petrus.

Ngono explained that to prepare for the event, she and Petrus chatted over Google Meet so they could get to know one another. The two found “some weird connections, like Junauda’s wife is Cameroonian, and my dad’s Cameroonian. We were like, ‘Somehow, we’re here together and we’re going to have this conversation.’ It was just all of these things that kind of made us click.”

Petrus shared with The Wheel that she was honored for her book to be selected as St. Kate’s One Read for Racial Justice. She pointed out that St. Kate’s being so accepting makes it “a very special school to our Twin Cities community.”

St. Kate’s acceptance is demonstrated by the diversity of its students and its large Queer student population. Petrus encouraged these students to, “Continue to listen to your heart, your desire, the things that make you feel good,” and, “things that resonate with you,” because, “college is a time of discovery.”

She gave students credit for, “really guiding and sort of giving me permission to be more accepting and loving of myself.” Petrus did not come out until she was 29, so she is, “in awe of people’s abilities at this age to be in their truth.”

Petrus said that the characters in her book would definitely use a Queer space like the one at St. Kate’s. “Spaces like that are just really important to normalize that we exist and that we deserve to take up space, actually.”

Ngono explained that before reading Petrus’s novel, she had never sought out romance or queer novels, “because there’s often a lack of color.”

Seeing and listening to two Black girls, along with one of them being an immigrant, was special for her because of the centering of Black characters and her parents being immigrants. “A lot of times I don’t see that in literature. It was really nice to be able to listen to that and kind of feel in community with these characters, and now, being able to talk about the book with people who maybe aren’t a part of that community, but now, they’ve gotten to step into that community. It has been really helpful in building a relationship outside of that book in reality.”

From her conversation at The O'Shaughnessy, building relationships seems to be exactly what Petrus wants people to do after reading her book. Petrus said, “At the end of the day we’re all here to teach. We’re all here to learn.” Petrus and Ngono agreed that “The Stars and The Blackness Between Them” is an opportunity for all to step into the worlds of Queerness and Blackness and to learn from the experiences of the characters.

Petrus’s next appearance at St. Kate’s will be in the spring when she hosts a slumber party-themed creative writing workshop. Her next novel is in the works and is titled “Black Circus.”