Creative non-fiction writer and founder of Curious Monarch Press, Princess Abudu, is set to release her debut novelette “thoughts on grief” in fall 2026 a deeply personal meditation on sibling loss, identity, and belonging inspired by the death of her brother, Prince.
Blending fluid prose with cultural touchstones from the 2000s, the book rejects conventional “how-to-heal” narratives in favour of an honest and unfiltered exploration of grief, memory, and the enduring imprint of love.
In an exclusive interview with the Ghanaian American Journal, Princess shared that writing the novelette became both an act of remembrance and personal reckoning, describing grief as “nuanced, messy, raw, contradictory, and alienating.”
Below is the full conversation with GAJ.
GAJ: Tell us a little about yourself
PRINCESS: I am a writer, editor and founder of the boutique imprint Curious Monarch Press. I have always been an avid reader. I am currently reading Waiting for First Light: My Ongoing Battle with PTSD by one of my personal heroes Roméo Dallaire. I have edited a linguistic anthology, a fitness book filled with personal anecdotes, and now my foray into my first novelette thoughts on grief.
I have worked as a writer in London, Toronto and have been featured in places like HuffPost, Thrive Global, and King’s College London where I led the delivery of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu tribute issue which used elements of creative-non fiction. I love travelling and learning about new cultures.
There is beauty everywhere. I love to watch documentaries as well as reading and watching long-form interviews. I find people deeply intriguing.
GAJ: Why did you choose to write on the topic?
PRINCESS: When writing my first book, I could’ve chosen any topic, a children’s book or something light. Discussing the loss of my brother, Prince and its impact on myself seemed the most natural choice.
It is something I still am recovering from all these years later. His absence is painfully acute. And there is a clear distinction in my life pre- and post-Prince.
I felt there was enough distance where I could write about the topic in a detached manner. Whereas in the initial aftermath of his death, I was just writing on the fly and not allowing my time to process things, or perhaps it was harder to articulate things because of the freshness of it all.
There is injustice surrounding his death, though I don’t delve into specifics in the novelette or discuss it publicly. But I suppose some indignation was also a driving motivator for this book.
However, my brother also had such levity, gravitas, zaniness, quirkiness, and humour and so I also want to articulate that in my novelette. My friend recently said I’m “Prince 2.0” and I wouldn’t be the person I am today by a longshot if it wasn’t for his influence and involvement in my life, and so I wanted to honour him in a small way.
GAJ: What was the journey or thought process writing the book?
PRINCESS: It’s really years of writing, scribblings in my journals, or online blog posts – though I didn’t include those in the book. With years of travel, and endless hours of introspection , I tried to boil down where I was impacted the most by Prince’s death. I found areas like identity, home, mental and physiological processes were key areas in which I was affected by his loss.
I thought about what defined Prince. I thought about Prince’s appearance, what made Prince Prince…his essence. His favourite shows, comics, his style, hair….Anime and gaming were obvious answers. Though Prince was ashamed to tell his then girlfriend of his love for anime, these things were what made Prince alive, and through my time with him I also adopted a love for the art genre, alongside gaming and comics.
I had taken a Creative Non-Fiction: Introduction with Marcia Walker and there we were given some writing assignments.
I was still very protective of talking about the loss of my brother openly, but for some private assignments I started writing about it. Going through some workshops and seeing other students work, and some of them candidly discussing intense subject matters made me slightly more comfortable opening up after being quite guarded for many years.
After the class had ended, I started thinking of overarching themes for my novelette. I wrote during my freetime, it was an organic process. I did a bit of writing each day. I also read works and spoke with writers who discussed grief such as Natalie Morris, Chimimanda Ngozi Adichi.
I started sourcing editors for my work. It was important to find one who had the right understanding of what I wanted, which led me to connecting with veteran editor Hugh Barker who worked at places like Ebury, Bloomsbury and Atlantic.
Home was in my brother and with him gone I had a reckoning that I didn’t expect. I felt so unsettled, destabilised and lost. Within my family structure I often cleaved unto my brother so I found myself as an outlier of sorts, obtuse and struggling to reintegrate myself within the family structure I grew up in. With everything I thought I knew up to the point seemingly destroyed I had to rebuild my life from scratch in some ways.
There are other ancillary things I touch upon briefly in the novelette such as finding my voice, and so on.
GAJ: Why is it important to know and understand one’s voice or identity?
PRINCESS: Knowing who you are…I feel if you don’t have a sense of self you may try to find that in other ways. Through peers, trying to become something you’re not. If you know who you are and who God made you to be you won’t feel the need to perform. Earlier I tried to be an overachiever for attention because of lack of validation and affirmation. But now my faith in Christ helps me to be content in being who He made me to be, though I still strive for excellence.
So you may try to find that validation in guys, being “cool”. I found my travels helpful though knowing the rich Ghanaian history I am apart of, learning my history and those who went before us what they fought and died for. You feel a small obligation to continue their stories by being the best you can be.
The message you want to send across.
My brother lived, he existed, he mattered. I find throughout our lives there were many attempts to suppress or erase us, he is more than the headmarker that has his name.
Grief is nuanced, messy, raw, contradictory, alienating. And I just wanted to capture my journey in a way that felt authentic and honest.
I hope readers can be more compassionate to those going through grief at the very least. In this microwave culture, we want people to get on and carry on, but grief doesn’t necessarily work like that.
GAJ: Is there a specific audience you are targeting with this book?
PRINCESS: Anyone who has dealt with grief. We all will deal with grief in life, and I think readers will find that although their grief may be different from sibling loss, there can be overlaps with the emotions experienced during grief. Often you will find anger, feeling at loss, lack of direction, impact on physiological processes, and so on.
GAJ: How did you use creative non-fiction and fluid prose as tools for mental recovery.
PRINCESS: To express anger you can use symbolism to show the extent of your fury – instead of saying, “I was angry,” you can say, “My body was fuming blue flames (blue is the highest temperature of flames).” I found creative non-fiction is great in expressing things that may be otherwise difficult to discuss in a literal sense.
I refer to my brother by the Japanese word nii-chan, as I felt that was a better way to express the closeness between my brother and I. I found Chimimanda Ngozi would often use her native tongue in Notes on Grief to express things that are better expressed and understood in that language. I feel language is really interesting in that you find the tools and mechanisms to best articulate the ideas you are trying to express.
GAJ: How can we access your work?
PRINCESS: For those interested in getting a copy of thoughts on grief, they can register to my newsletter to be informed when my book comes out, planning for a fall 2026 release.
