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# Write Now with Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
- URL: https://justincox.com/blog/2026/09/write-now-with-olugbemisola-rhuday-perkovich/
- Published: 2026-09-02T15:00:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-02T15:00:52.000Z
- Description: Today's Write Now interview features Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, author of DAISY HELPS WITH THE DRESS.
- Author: Justin Cox
- Tags: #olugbemisola-rhuday-perkovich, Interview

## Who are you?

I’m Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, an author and teaching artist based in New York City.

## What do you write?

I’ve published primarily children’s books, fiction and nonfiction, from picture books through young adult works. I’ve also written a play, and I’m currently working on fiction and nonfiction for adults.

I started writing because I grew up immersed in stories. My mother was an immigrant from Jamaica, and my father is from Nigeria, and I grew up in a home rich with stories about migration, home, and family. Our bookshelves were always packed full, overflow towers of books perched at their edges. Weekly library visits were a highlight. We moved a lot, all over the place. I didn’t always know all of the places that I was from until I encountered them in stories. I was very shy, and I found freedom, discovered my creative and intellectual strengths through literacy.

My parents provided me with a liberal supply of blank books, legal pads, and writing tools. I grew up doodling and scribbling, jotting down scraps of dialogue and description, even the occasional line from a favorite read. I've always known, from my days writing and illustrating stories for my little sister in exchange for some "stop bothering me" time, that I would write for children. Who am I? Who do I want to be? Those are the questions I wrestled with daily, in my scrapbooky childhood journals.

I love what I do because I always have questions, I’m always wondering, I’m curious about the world and how we move through it, and story helps me work on those questions – not necessarily always finding answers, and sometimes coming to more questions. Writing is not always easy, but I love the ways it can be like a puzzle, working to figure out a story, the ways that it can be joy-filled and make me laugh out loud, the ways that it can really be exciting. One of my favourite pieces of writing is from [Gwendolyn Brooks’ *Paul Robeson*](https://amzn.to/4fIEoUD?ref=justincox.com):

> we are each other’s  
> harvest:  
> we are each other’s  
> business:  
> we are each other’s  
> magnitude and bond.

I love the ways that stories help us forge bonds and build community, remind us that “we are each other’s harvest,” and I hope that my stories encourage readers to see their whole selves as valuable to the world. I hope that my stories affirm theirs, help to empower readers to treasure, examine, and grow their own stories.

## Where do you write?

I usually write at different branches of the public libraries in New York City. I love the different personalities that they have. If the weather allows, I love working outside, by the Hudson River, or in city parks. I always have a couple of small notebooks with me, and a few different-colored pens.

## When do you write?

I’m at my best early in the day, but I’m writing whenever I can, depending on deadlines, etc. I try to set 90 minute blocks of work throughout the day. I also consider long walks a part of my writing process; they often help me get unstuck, or let the ideas that have been simmering just below the surface of my consciousness become a little more solid.

![](https://justincox.com/content/images/2026/08/DAISY-HELPS-WITH-THE-DRESS-book-cover-1.jpg)

Photo courtesy of Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

## Why do you write?

I write to create new opportunities to listen, to step outside of myself and my affinities into unknown people and worlds. I write to learn things I didn’t know I needed to learn. I write because I adore the magic and mystery of life, and we want to imagine, and remember, and share.

## How do you overcome writer's block?

Reading something I love or am excited about can be very helpful, also music and movement. Sometimes knitting or sewing – making something with my hands really helps. Sometimes working on something else (I usually have more than one project going at a time) or giving myself an intentional break – some space to \*not\* think about the story, or the fact that I’m stuck, is very helpful.

## Bonus: What do you enjoy doing when not writing?

Walking, knitting, sewing, making toys, cooking, baking, Legos, live music, spending time near the water, exploring new neighborhoods!

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*My thanks to Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich for today's interview.*