Here at LGBTQ Culture, I am offering you the exclusive chance to “Question Kiki.” 

All you have to do is record a 10-15 second video clip of yourself on your phone asking Kiki a question. 

Send the video clip to lgbtqculture@sky.com

Remember to introduce yourself and ask something interesting. 

I will be posting her responses sometime next week. 

Kiki Archer is a UK-based, best-selling, award-winning author.  Her debut novel “But She Is My Student,” won the UK’s 2012 SoSoGay Best Book Award.  Its sequel “Instigations,” took just 12 hours from its release to reach the top of the UK lesbian fiction chart; and Kiki’s third novel “Binding Devotion,” was a finalist in the 2013 Rainbow Awards.  All quickly became bestsellers in their genre, and Kiki’s fourth offering, “One Foot Onto The Ice,” has been her most successful to date, breaking into the American contemporary fiction top 100 as well as achieving the US and UK lesbian fiction number 1. 

Kiki Archer is a UK based lesbian author.  I came to find her through my Kindle Fire when looking for a new, juicy romance novel.  Before her writing career, Kiki was a secondary school teacher (what we know in the US as middle school) then went on to being a full-time mommy.  Her and her partner of 7 years have two beautiful children together.  What I find so appealing about her is that she’s very down-to-earth and her motherly duties come first over writing.  Once her little ones fall asleep her creative juices get going and she gets lost in her element.  She states in an interview with G3, “I feel incredibly lucky saying this, but being an author is the dream job for maintaining our style of family life.“ 

Her first novel “But She Is My Student,” was released this year.  Amazon’s book description says:

“Miss Katherine Spicer started her first day at Coldfield Comprehensive, confident, enthusiastic and very well qualified; that was until she met the eyes of the student sat hidden in the corner of her classroom.  Kat’s final weekend of freedom was about to turn her life upside down and threaten everything she had been working for; how was she to know those mesmerising green eyes would reappear here?  Great lesbian chick lit.  A cross between Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller and Sugar Rush by Julie Burchill.  The novel deals with the many issues of sexuality in a gripping, yet funny manner, pulling the reader back into a world of teenage nostalgia and school day memories.” 

If any of you have seen the film Bloomington, this book reminded me of it.  The teacher/student romance that is!  I got through this book quickly and was so happy to know there was a sequel. “ Instigations” was released a few months following the first.  Both books are best sellers is their genre, with “But She Is My Student” reaching a #1 best seller on Amazon in the US & UK, Smashwords, Lulu, iTunes Book Charts in the UK & Austrailia. 

I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Kiki Archer and share it with all of you.  Enjoy! 

Which moment/s of “But She’s My Student” or “Instigations” have people expressed they’ve been most excited about?  What are your own favorite moments in your books? 

When you read the books on a kindle you can see which sections other people have highlighted the most, and they tend to be the bits where Kat is talking about sexuality, or trying to persuade Freya to come out, or just generally being a wonderful advocate for LGBT rights. 

I am also told people love the build up of tension between the pair, along with the relationship between Kat and her flatmates. 

And for those who have read “Instigations” I am constantly told that their favourite line is: “Your hands are wet.  Have you been chopping the veg?” 

My own personal favourite moment is from the end of “But She Is My Student” where Freya appears at Kat’s door when she is least expecting it. ( I am a soppy so and so!) 

What do you hope people will get out of reading your works? 

I just hope they can relate to it.  I hope they feel that they can connect with the characters and see part of themselves somewhere in there.  I hope they get what I get out of reading a good book – a feeling of satisfaction, with a smile of memory, or regret, or amusement. 

After the books were published, did you ever feel like you should’ve revised certain parts of it?  Why or why not? 

“But She Is My Student” was criticised for ending too quickly.  People wanted to have more of the fairytale.  They wanted to see what happened next.  And I must admit, it was a rather abrupt ending.  But on the plus side, this meant that I wrote the sequel “Instigations”, where I explored their ‘ending’ for a whole further novel!  The raunchy les fic readers out there also said that “But She Is My Student” was a bit tame – (however I did write it for the young adult market, so I think it was appropriate) – but I did give in to them and sauce up “Instigations” …slightly. 

Being that I live in the U.S., what do you think is the most obvious difference between lesbians in the U.S. and lesbians in U.K.? 

I’m not sure what it is like over there in the US for lesbians, but here in the UK, sexuality seems of little importance anymore, especially for the current teenage generation.  Being a lesbian isn’t something that defines you, it’s just something that lets people know a little bit more about you.  Plus, it’s true what they say – All the cool girls are lesbians!  But I do think my books are very ‘British’ in style.  The schooling.  The language.  The humour.  But regardless of where you live in the world, women fall in love with women and I guess that’s why my books are so relatable, because they simply follow the ups and downs of two women in love. 

What gets your creative juices going? 

Meeting new people actually, and getting to know them.  Finding out about their lives / loves e.t.c … I am a very big people watcher and I believe that everyone has a story – you just have to ask the right questions. 

What’s your guilty pleasure? 

Power Ballads.  Trashy TV.  Gossip magazines.  Turkish Delight. ( In no particular order … but preferably at the same time, with a gang of girl friends!)