278: Mami Wata and The Little Mermaid (with Natasha Bowen)

We’re joined by author Natasha Bowen, who spins us the tale of her love of mermaids, the darker fairy tales of her youth, and connecting to the West African mermaids of her family.    Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of drowning, slavery, death, grief, and racism.    Guest Natasha Bowen is a New York Times bestselling author, a teacher, and a mother of three children. She is of Nigerian and Welsh descent and lives in Cambridge, England, where she grew up. Natasha studied English and creative writing at Bath Spa University before moving to East London, where she taught for nearly ten years. Skin of the Sea is her debut novel and the start of an epic series born out of her passion for mermaids and African history. Natasha is obsessed with Japanese and German stationery and spends stupid amounts on notebooks, which she then features on her secret Instagram. When she's not writing, she's reading, watched over carefully by Milk and Honey, her cat and dog. Follow her on Twitter at @skinofthesea. You can order Skin of the Sea, and pre-order Soul of the Deep.   Housekeeping - MERCH! Preorder the Tarot Tee Shirt and get your other merch at spiritspodcast.com/merch! - Recommendation: This week, Amanda recommends the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch.   - Books: Check out our previous book recommendations, guests’ books, and more at spiritspodcast.com/books - Call to Action: Join the Multitude Discord today!   Sponsors - Brooklinen delivers luxury bed sheets, pillows, comforters, & blankets straight to your door. Go to Brooklinen.com right now and use promo code “spirits” to get $25 off when you spend $100 or more, PLUS free shipping. - Inked Gaming is your one-stop-shop for premium gaming goods. Visit inkedgaming.com/spirits and use the code: spirits when you’re ready to checkout! - BetterHelp is a secure online counseling service. Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/spirits   Find Us Online If you like Spirits, help us grow by spreading the word! Follow us @SpiritsPodcast on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads. You can support us on Patreon (http://patreon.com/spiritspodcast) to unlock bonus Your Urban Legends episodes, director’s commentaries, custom recipe cards, and so much more. We also have lists of our book recommendations and previous guests’ books at http://spiritspodcast.com/books. Transcripts are available at http://spiritspodcast.com/episodes. To buy merch, hear us on other podcasts, contact us, find our mailing address, or download our press kit, head on over to http://spiritspodcast.com.   About Us Spirits was created by Julia Schifini, Amanda McLoughlin and Eric Schneider. We are founding members of Multitude, an independent podcast collective and production studio. Our music is "Danger Storm" by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.