Celebrating Dope Reader’s ‘Written in Black’ series: In Conversation with founder, Que and Author Rufaro Faith Mazarura

Female athleticism, Black narratives, romance and… condoms? 

These are brief snippets from the range of conversation that took place at the first session of Que’s Dope Reader’s ‘Written in Black’ series hosted by Waterstone in Angel, London.

The session itself was intimate and energised, with all sorts of questions and conversations flying around; exploring the gender pay gap between male and female sport teams, how it felt writing from a male perspective as a female author, the representation of Black Olympians and yes… the infamous breaking news that the Olympic village has run out of condoms…

The things that make the headlines aye?

We heard a snippet of Skate It Till You Make It read out loud by author Rufaro, which gave more incentive – although not needed, to grab a personalised signed copy after the session. It was the type of session that made you wish you could sit and read the book all in one sitting. 

Rufaro spoke openly about how each character lived in her mind during her writing process, so much so she was desperate to find out what happened to them next and wrote a mini sequel for herself (#release the pages sis!). She also explained how she manages critics with the understanding of not only an author, but also as a fellow reader and consumer of stories herself. She shared how seriously she takes researching topics such as sporting rules to make her story more meaningful to sport fans that may pick up her book for that very reason. 

The night could have gone on longer. It was only brought to an end by Que encouraging members to continue having open conversations and making meaningful connections. This was a safe space. This was easily done with homemade cupcakes waiting for us after the talk. 

Accompanied by one of my best friends, our journey home was nothing but inspired, grand scheming on how we would strategically recommend this as the next read in our ‘We Like to Read’ circle. If you're reading this friends, yes… this is where my recommendation came from <3.

The birth of something more than a book club.

PS: Men we know you like to read, please don’t be shy! Join Que and the Dope Readers every month for the rest of the year!

I also had the pleasure of interviewing two amazing individuals before we kicked off; Que Wolfe, the Founder of Dope Readers Club and Rufaro Faith Mazarua Author of Skate It Till You Make It. 

Let’s hear from Dope Readers founder Que:

Thank you for hosting this event, what kind of range can people expect from your book club?

Although cool, I want to dispel the term book club. Book club can feel restricting, almost too formal like the idea of reading books being like doing your homework. It starts to make people feel like; “oh I haven’t read the book so I’m not going to come”. I want this to be an Author Awareness Event. Tonight is an opportunity to introduce new diverse Black authors to an audience. If you haven’t read the book no worries, still come down, engage and get an idea of maybe new tropes or story lines the author is working on which could  be your next read. Come and hear the story, interact this could be your next read you never know!

How have you selected the novels and authors for each month so far? How do you know when a partnership is the right fit for this platform?

Keeping it real, I’ve picked the books and genres I like and that I would read. This platform has been built on peer-to-peer recommendation, I keep that in mind when thinking about the range I want to bring to people. I think of partnerships in terms of alignment of goals and values. I want to celebrate and promote Black and diverse authors, doing that in a space like Waterstone is a new level of exposure. A whole evening dedicated to conversations promoting and discussing Black authors in this historic space; that’s a flex!

What does it mean to you personally to have this book be the start of the series?

I’m a big advocate for fiction right now. Fiction is an opportunity to simultaneously escape reality whilst finding yourself more in tune with reality, especially the humanity behind different perspectives. It's a way to expand your mind. It being a romance was a coincidence, and I can’t complain because I love romance, it’s fun! Romance, if imagined as a T.V programme, feels the same as a lovely light watch.

Finally, if there’s one thing you want people to take away from this whole experience over the next couple of months, what would you like?

That there are plenty of diverse and Black authors that you can pick from, whatever genre you want there’s a black Author there, look around and search black!

Now, let’s hear from Rufaro Faith:

Any major tips for writers struggling to stay in the flow of creativity?

Give yourself a tight deadline. If given an infinite amount of time I’ll find a new reason to procrastinate or allow room for self-doubt. What has helped with working within the deadline is outlining the chapters intensely before starting to write. The goal with the first draft is to finish and then get better in the second, third etc draft. Just focus on getting words on paper!

Who’s your favourite character across your books so far?

My favourite character is in my second book, Skate It Till You Make It, spoiler Drew’s sister Tandy – the captain of the USA’s ice hockey team. I really enjoyed writing a character that was unashamedly ambitious in going for what she wants. She doesn’t care too much about what people think about, literally the antithesis to the main character in this book. I find the relationship and dynamic with ambition that individuals have in the UK vs in the USA very interesting and see these cultural aspects play out in both Ari and Tandy.

As a lover of romance - please don’t stop making your romance novels - but do you think there’s any other genre you would want to test out in the future?

Yes definitely! I would love to write contemporary fiction exploring family dynamics. A nod to one of my favourite books; Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, a beautiful book that follows different families for generations, something that has some history in [it]. 

Additionally, Rufaro would like to tap into her day job as a producer for audio crime documentaries and produce a light crime (you know a little thievery, nothing too violent!).

You mention your 9-5, how do you balance a full-time role with being an author?

Well… I don’t! I’m either stressed at work or delayed with my writing. But I think about writing books the same way I think about reading books; I enjoy it! That feeling when you’re reading a good book that keeps you up late at night, ‘I need to know what happens next’ that’s how I feel when writing.… even though I know what should happen since it’s in my head. I try not to put too much pressure on myself when writing, my timelines are mine; no one else knows about them so I can push them if I need to!

You have a habit of visiting the places your books are set after you’ve written your book! You went to Athens after Let the Games Begin and then the Winter Olympics after Skate It Till You Make It. How do you feel when you’re there? Do you start to imagine how your character would have felt? 

The entire time at the Winter Olympics I was saying “This is just like my book”. It brings the story to life in an exciting way and it’s also a lovely moment to celebrate. There are things I wished I would have been able to capture in the book that I became aware of after visiting. For example, I realised I wasn’t capturing the energy of the streets of Athens or the simple things like the cost of food in quite the same way because I was having to grasp all of this from pictures when writing the book. With Skate It Till You Make It, I didn’t capture the atmosphere and feelings of the fans watching these Olympians! I did consider how fun it would be to write a book from the perspective of the people dedicated enough to make the journey to support their favourite team.

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How I wish we could have more conversations with these two talented individuals but the conversation doesn’t have to end here! 

You can find out more about what’s coming next for Que and the Dope Readers Club by following their Instagram pages: ‘quethewolf’ and ‘Dopereaders.Club’. Don’t forget to turn notifications on so you don’t miss the next ‘Written in Black’ event.

You can support Rufaro by checking out her newest release; Skate It Till You Make It, published February 2026. This is available for purchase at Waterstones or on Amazon. It is also available as an eBook and Audiobook.