Read to Know Basis: Annabelle Tometich
The author of The Mango Tree shares writing advice from her journalism days and a literary crush.
Read to Know Basis is a weekly interview series with authors. It features debut authors and established writers talking about reading, writing, and of course snacks. This series is free to all. If you like what you read considering upgrading to a paid subscription to support the work of Unstacked, and of course go out and buy the book!
Annabelle Tometich went from med-school reject to line cook to journalist to author. She spent 18 years as a food writer and restaurant critic for The News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Catapult, USA Today and many more outlets. Her debut book The Mango Tree: A Memoir of Fruit, Florida, and Felony (Little Brown, April 2024) centers on a 2015 incident where her Filipina mother used her BB rifle to shoot at a white man she claimed was stealing mangoes from her precious South Florida tree. It delves into identity, place and the tangled roots that make us.
What are five words to describe your book?
A juicy-sweet quest for understanding
What is the strangest thing you googled while researching/writing this book?
I fell down a rabbit hole of 1980s/90s Philippine commercials trying to find the jingle for Hakone sardines (Sar-deen-ahs Hah-ko-nay! We love Hah-ko-nay!).
The chapters in the book where my family goes back to Manila when I was a kid were, by far, my favorite to write. It felt almost indulgent to sit with those memories again — really sit with them — and let them come back to life in my head and on the page.
How did you celebrate the completion of this book?
I wrote most of The Mango Tree in the middle of the night when my kids and work email were asleep. When I finished the first draft of the manuscript, it was fall 2020 and a lot of the world remained in lockdown. So, to celebrate, I took a weekend and just slept. It was glorious.
Describe your ideal reader?
Anyone who has struggled to figure out themselves and their family, and who approaches the world with curiosity, empathy and an open mind. If you love mangoes, that helps.
When is the first time you really felt like an author?
It’s funny, I know a lot of writers have trouble calling themselves “writers,” but that was never an issue for me. I wrote SO MUCH (10+ stories a week) as a journalist; it was easy to call myself a writer. “Author” I’m still wrapping my head around. I think I first felt like an author when The Mango Tree sold. As soon as I saw that white, rectangular Publishers Marketplace Deal Report, I got more comfortable with “author.” And each milestone since — getting copy edits, a cover, a pub date — has helped more and more.
What is a piece of writing advice that you’ve received that you think is really bad? What is a piece of writing advice that you think is really good?
The idea that Real Writers™ must write every day makes my brain hurt. There’s so much more to writing beyond pencil-to-paper, fingers-at-keyboard. I think strapping yourself to a desk to write every day is a quick way to burn out. You need to trust that you can walk away from a piece, think, live, breathe, come back — and still be a Real Writer™.
One of my favorite pieces of advice came from a colleague back in my days as a sportswriter before I pivoted to food. It’s an old journalism adage: “Always get the name of the dog.” It reminds me to be inquisitive and place the reader into the story with concrete details. While it stems from journalism, I think it works in all genres. I constantly ask myself what a memory/scene looked like, felt like, smelled like, tasted like, sounded like, so I can immerse the reader into it and put them alongside me.
What are you reading right now? And what book are you desperate to read next?
I’m reading Gator Country: Deception, Danger, and Alligators in the Everglades by Rebecca Renner, who’s also a Florida journalist. I’m (sadly!) almost done with The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan, and I just started Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History by the tenacious and brilliant Margaret Juhae Lee.
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks by Crystal Wilkinson is calling to me from my stacks, but I’m trying to save it for a quiet weekend when I have time to cook some of her mouthwatering family recipes.
What book are you an evangelist for?
Heavy by Kiese Laymon. I think I’ve bought at least half a dozen copies. I keep giving them to friends who then pass them along to more friends, meaning I need another copy to keep me company at home. It is an exquisitely brilliant book on so many levels. For me it’s a reminder to seek the truth of situations/people/memories and to hold that truth closely, no matter its weight.
What’s a book you’d recommend to someone who wants to know you better
The Body Papers by Grace Talusan and Monsoon Mansion by Cinelle Barnes. Those two books made mine feel possible. Ooh and Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden, which is so very Florida in the queerest and most wonderful of multiracial ways.
Who is your literary crush?
Minda Honey. She is as beautiful inside as she is out, as is her book The Heartbreak Years. Minda is one of those people, those writers, who makes you laugh until it hurts. But somewhere mid-hahaha, you realize she’s actually made a biting critique that cuts to the heart of patriarchy/systemic racism/societal woes. With Minda, it’s hahaha and then, aha!, holy crap I’m seeing everything in a new light. She’s incredible.
If you could not be a writer what would you do?
I’d probably get back into food in some way, maybe as a recipe developer — or in a dream world where my body could handle it, I’d be one of those mukbang TikTok-ers who eats mountains of noodles all day.
You’re invited to a literary potluck, what are you bringing?
My mom’s lumpia with a lightly fizzy bottle of vinho verde. I’m drooling just thinking about it!
Connect with Annabelle: Website | Substack | Instagram | Twitter
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Thank you Traci! This was such a pleasure!!
Great book recs too!