Honors students are always doing great work, inside and outside of DePaul’s doors.
We take great pride in the achievements of our alumni, who work across a wide variety of disciplines all over the world. Avery Cunningham is one such alumna. A 2015 graduate of the Honors Program, Cunningham is now officially a published author. Her debut novel The Mayor of Maxwell Street is set to hit shelves in 2024. I reached out to her to ask a few questions about the book and how the Honors Program has influenced her career.
When you enrolled in DePaul did you have a specific goal or ambition in mind for your career after graduation? Did this change throughout your college career, and how did your early ambitions influence where you are now?
I’ve always loved writing fiction, but when I started at DePaul, I had no intention of becoming an author. I planned to join a publishing house or pursue a PhD when I graduated. However, the support and enthusiasm of DePaul’s faculty inspired me. They saw potential in my writing and encouraged me at every step. Prof. Rebecca Johns-Trissler especially has been my constant champion. I owe so many of the opportunities that have shaped my career to her.
Others who have mentored, supported, and encouraged me from Day 1 include Ted Anton, Miles Harvey, Megan Heffernan, Michele Morano, Francesca Royster, Chris Green, Hannah Pittard, and so many brilliant others. Truly, the whole of the DePaul faculty has profoundly influenced me.
I still work as a freelance editor and sometimes imagine my life as a stuffy literary professor passing hours dissecting Alexander Pope (shout out to Prof. Squibbs). But, to be a published author is the fulfillment of an impossible dream, and I am forever grateful to DePaul for helping me make that dream a reality.
Can you share a little bit about the process of writing your novel, The Mayor of Maxwell Street? What was your inspiration?
The initial inspiration for The Mayor of Maxwell Street was the infamous 1920s and the novel that embodies the era, The Great Gatsby. I was reading The Original Black Elite by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor around the time this idea came to me and realized that the exclusive, wealthy, and complex society described in Gatsby existed in the Black community, but has rarely been explored. I originally wanted a novel set in the world of the original Black upper class awash in the bright lights of the ‘20s, and while that is of course the core of what The Mayor of Maxwell Street is, it grew to be much more than that.
Over the year or so it took to outline and draft the novel, this became a story about the Great Migration, classism within the Black community, the corruption of the ‘20s, and the diversity of Chicago. That decade in American history was boozy, flashy, and provocative, but it was also pivotal. Through primary sources (newspapers, reports, art/music) and the profound work of historians like Isabel Wilkerson and David E. Kyvig, I learned that the ‘20s changed the way Americans viewed themselves and I attempted to capture all of those facets in the final draft.
What brings you joy in writing? What were your earliest influences? Favorite books? Writers?
Characters bring me joy. The more complex and flawed, the better. I can probably blame Shakespeare for this; when I was 10 years old, I read Hamlet and was stunned by how tortured and complicated the titular character was. I didn’t realize such imperfect characters could be the heroes of their own stories. Ever since, I’ve been drawn to narratives where people make mistakes, love selfishly, fail terribly, and learn that there is a moral cost for every decision. Writers who portray these types of characters expertly and continue to influence me include Tananarive Due, Neil Gaiman, N.K. Jemisin, and Zora Neale Hurston, to name a few. My influences for The Mayor of Maxwell Street specifically include Isabel Wilkerson, Margo Jefferson, Lawrence Otis Graham, and Nella Larsen.
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