Writing Objects

Art & Activism Interview: Sarah Diemer

2012-01-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

I am delighted to begin this new series of interviews and guest posts on art and activism. For those of you who don't know, I am doing a series of interviews and guest posts on the subject of art and activism--two topics very near and dear to my heart.

This first interview is with Sarah Diemer, who (whom?) I "met" online through a series of serendipitous connections. Actually, it was me clicking on links that led to links that led to her beautiful writing, then me clicking on "buy" and getting her book, The Dark Wife.

But before I go on and on (and on) as I am wont to do, here is Sarah in her own words!

NM: I was struck with how beautiful the language is in The Dark Wife. You have some gorgeous use of imagery and emotional layering. Can you give us a sense of what have you done to hone your craft? What would you say has been the most helpful method of improving your writing?

SD: Thank you so much, that is so kind of you to say. :) I was home-schooled my entire life, and wrote about five hours a day, every day, growing up. I read voraciously and was just so completely obsessed with the craft of writing from a very young age--I wasn't normal in that regard! *laughing* I was also co-leader of the writer's group in our city for...I think five years, six years? Working so closely with my peers and on so many different projects during that time really pushed me to be able to put out the best work I'm capable of, and to always reach for that level.

NM: Wow, that's a lot of writing! :) When did you first realize you wanted to write stories and have them published?

SD: I was six. I'd written a story about a unicorn--and illustrated it! I sat down with my little sister, who--at that time--was two, and I told her very, very seriously: I am going to be an author. *laughing* I still remember that ridiculous moment, this little girl I was, being so serious. I had that same moment again, a little more seriously, when I was twelve. I'd just written this TERRIBLE BOOK, a fictional account of WWII involving magic, and I told my mother, very seriously, "this is the first. I'm going to be a published author someday," and she knew I meant it.

NM: The Dark Wife is a retelling of the Demeter/Persephone myth. Can you tell us what led you to rewrite the story, and why you picked *this* story, in particular?

SD: As a Pagan woman, Persephone is my matron Goddess. I've been obsessed with her story since I was very small, but it upset me. She's kidnapped and raped and held against her will--hardly empowering stuff. As a lesbian woman, I began to reclaim the myth to something feminist, something that I could relate to. I truly believed that this story was open to new interpretation, that the story could and should be retold and reclaimed, so I set out to do it.

NM: I love that! I believe one key role of good fiction is the reshaping of imagination and retelling/reclaiming myths is so much a part of that. What are your thoughts about the future of publishing? Personally, I am very excited about the possibilities! :)

SD: I am, too! :) Now, more than ever before, as authors and writers, we have so many choices and so many opportunities before us. I believe that traditional publishing will never die, but I believe that the landscape of publishing before us is a new one of independent, self-publishing and traditional publishing working together. Times are changing, and it's exciting how much possibility is now presenting itself to us!

NM: I couldn't agree more. Do you have any tips or suggestions for writers who might want to go the indie publishing route, but don't know how, or are nervous to take the plunge?

SD: I always have a little difficulty answering this question, because I believe, whole-heartedly, in self-publishing, but I also don't want to sit here and yell through a megaphone that it's all tinsel and diamonds and step right up to your six figure publishing year of self-publishing bliss and unicorns. ;D Self-publishing is HARD work, and it requires a work-ethic that the puritans would have commended (oh, those puritans!), and a LOT of energy and tenacity. If you're the type of person who loves crunching numbers and designing book covers and talking about your book tirelessly and you have a very outgoing personality, you will do well with self publishing. If you're daunted by the idea of doing anything but writing/editing a book, self-publishing is not for you. So consider these things--if you believe in your story completely, think you have what it takes (and you MUST believe you can do it, what you believe is a self fulfilling prophecy in any creative endeavor!), then you do. Do it. :) Self-publishing has been the most rewarding thing I've ever done (and I lied--in my self-publishing, there ARE unicorns, but they're part of the stories. ;D).

NM: GREAT advice. Those are sage words of wisdom, dear readers. Sarah, do you think The Dark Wife could be used in a classroom setting? In what ways might the story be of use to educators?

SD: Absolutely! It's a feminist retelling of a very not-so-feminist myth, so educators could use it in feminist or mythological studies, the changing roles of women in history, or even in a creative sense, reclaiming myths and changing them to create something you can relate to. In a minority setting, it could be read and discussed, as to why it's important that queer stories are told, and why it's important that straight people read them (empathy toward minorities, etc.).

NM: You deal with some pretty heavy issues in The Dark Wife, and you might be aware that the topic of sex and violence in books for young adults is a hot button topic with passionate opinions on both sides. What are your thoughts on this?

SD: We were all young adults once, and we all know what we were thinking about/feeling. As as a lesbian teenager, I was one big roiling ball of hormones and angst and walking-drama-and-tragedy-my-straight-best-friend-will-never-know-I-love-her. Teenagers, gay and straight, use expletives, have sex, explore themselves with adventure and prose and story-telling and all of these wonderful things, and the stories that we put out that reflect them need to reflect the rich variedness of their experiences. Sex, swearing, etc. is part of the young adult experience, and they see violence in their everyday lives. If a story is stripped of the inherent truthiness of life, teenagers are going to notice, and it won't touch them. I want my stories to touch them, to reach them on the level that they're at, not try to sugar-coat their story.

NM: Speaking of speaking to teenagers, what has been the response to TDW from young readers?

SD: It's been...wow. Outstanding. Staggering. Humbling. I have been told that this little story made a girl have hope about life again. I've been told that this one young girl now had the courage to come out--something she never thought she could do--because of THE DARK WIFE. One girl read it and said she finally believed she could find a girlfriend, could now find the courage to do it. It's given hope and courage and the belief in something better to young girls, and that of all of the responses and ways that it's changed MY life, is the most rewarding, the most amazing. That my book touched people on such a deep, changing level is the most wonderful thing I could ever know. I'm so grateful that these girls told me how much it meant to them, so grateful that they were so touched, and so deeply humbled that it helped them in any way.

NM: Where can readers purchase your books?

SD: You can get them on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords in both print and eReader versions. You can find all of the links on my site, http://www.oceanid.org

NM: If you had one message you could go back in time to give to your 17-year-old self, what would it be?

SD: You're gay, and you're a writer, and you're trying to do this crazy thing: write gay girl stories that everyone will love. People are telling you that's impossible, people are telling you that because you're gay, you're less than. None of this is true. Some day, you'll find out that your stories about gay girls will change lives, and you need to keep writing them, and you need to keep believing in yourself. You're gay and you're awesome and you need to remember that when everyone else tells you differently. (And that goes for every seventeen year old [or any age] gay boy or girl reading this. <3)

Blackout

2012-01-18T09:40:00.000-05:00

I can't seem to black out this blog, so I will put a post up with links to information about the SOPA bill. Read these articles. If SOPA goes through, it will affect ALL of us. Clearly, some of the moneyed folk are getting antsy about the democratization of art and creativity. And they are scrambling to keep profits completely and strictly under their control. Do what you can to make sure the internet stays open and available, and UNCENSORED. Stop SOPA and IPA and any other act they concoct to take away freedom on the internet.

Colorlines

Google.com

Watch this great video when it comes back online

It's here, too, though - on Kelley Eskridge's blog

http://sopastrike.com/

http://americancensorship.org/

Feminisms

2012-01-09T20:54:00.001-05:00

I just watched the Bhutto documentary on Netflix. Holy wow, was it fascinating. Benazir Bhutto was elected Prime Minister of one of the largest Islamic republics in the world (Pakistan), during some of the highest political tension in the middle east, after her father had been executed by the military regime that ousted him. And still she moved forward into the role she felt compelled to take - for the country and people she loved, in the name of a set of values and beliefs she held dear - even after her own imprisonment and her husband's, and the murder of both her brothers. She showed courage and grace, poise and a steadfast commitment to the people of her nation right to the end.

If you get a chance to watch, I highly recommend it. The archival footage is amazing and there are interviews with Condoleezza Rice, Pervez Musharraf, NY Times columnists and journalists. It makes me want to know more - and I'm embarrassed to admit I knew almost nothing before.

There was one comment a little over half way through the film by a young woman - "[Bhutto] was not a feminist." I'll admit I had to restrain myself from hurling something at the screen in that moment. Imagine being the first woman elected to office and trying to run a country, when the military officers don't want to salute a woman? She was elected twice in landslide victories by the people of the nation, and twice she was removed from her post by the military. And still she came back, despite threats, imprisonment, and the execution and public maligning of her family members. I'm sorry - I don't care how you define feminist. This lady was badass.

I won't say any more at this point, but here's the trailer for the documentary. Let me know if you watch it!:

New Look for A New Year!

2012-01-03T22:53:00.000-05:00

Happy new year, readers!! It is Armageddon Year, if the whispers I hear all about are true. If so, how exciting! If not . . . still exciting! So far, I've lived through several historical moments - 9/11, the election of President Obama (who I am currently mad at, but that's for another conversation), and now the end of the Mayan calendar. And, perhaps, the end of the very world as we know it.

But, honestly? The world as we know it really does need to end. So many things are so very, very wrong. And sometimes I wonder if the only way to address them is to wipe the slate clean and start all over. I don't mean Hollywood-disaster type annihilation. I mean a massive spiritual cleanse. Maybe we need to go on a global liver cleanse. You know - just get all that toxicity and guck out of our system and then start living right.

I am a believer in working within a structure and helping shape it into something new. Like your body - you have to work with what you've got. You can't just walk away and get a new one. I've done a lot of cut-and-running in my life and, to tell you the godz-honest truth, I always found myself exactly where I left off. I learned somewhere along the line that, eventually, you have to stop, roll up your sleeves, get elbow-deep in crap, and clean house. There's no avoiding it. You always end up right back where you started. With new insights, maybe, and new hair . . . some grays, a few more lines around the eyes . . . but always back. Because that's your journey. It's your task while you're here - you hammer away at your specific work, diligently, trying to make things right and make things fit the way they're supposed to. Sometimes you get tired and wander away for a bit - take a break. But then you come back and the work is exactly the way you left it, waiting. And you have to pick up that hammer again and start shaping your imperfect self into the perfect building block you know you can be.

But I digress! This post is about newness and new things!! Like this blog! How do you like the new look? The new title is a nod to Jeanette Winterson's book, Art Objects, a collection of essays that I loved - and taught every chance I got, and will teach again. I wanted something that spoke more to the person I have become in the years since I began blogging, began this writing/publishing journey. I wanted to incorporate some of the new things I've learned and the insights I've picked up along the way. I thought a lot about Winterson's book, and how it helped shape my thoughts around art and dissent and effecting change in the world, and I decided on Writing Objects.

Because it should. Writing, and all art, should object. It should rebel and revolt and buck and grow teeth and claws. It should gnash and growl and tear the jugular out of stagnation, out of complacency and status quo. It should shriek through the night in the name of love, justice, and the eternal life force.

I read a quote recently that I am about to mangle here, but it went something like this: Art says, "If we all agree, then I am not needed." That rang really true - art should not be about enforcing the dominant narrative. That is propaganda - public relations by the powers that be. Art wants to challenge, make us squirm, show us Possibility. It wants to ignite. That is something new . . . creation. It is the life force, and it is very, very powerful.

One of my favourite quotes from Winterson's book is, "Better to pretend that art is dumb, or at least has nothing to say that makes sense to us. If art, all art, is concerned with truth, then a society in denial will not find much in use for it."

So let us move forward in this final year of the calendar of the Mayans, those wise and eternal souls, and object. Let us continue in our quests and step sure-footedly, and with purpose, on our paths - and create. Create, create, create.

HAPPY 2012!!!

My Real Life Time-Travel Story

2011-12-22T13:33:00.000-05:00

If you get a chance, check out my guest post for The Book Smugglers' Smugglivus Festival. I reveal my real life time-travel story and share my favourite films/TV shows/books of 2011, in addition to offering a quick glimpse at what I'm looking forward to in 2012... aaaaand, you can win an advance reading copy of INTO THE WISE DARK :).

Happy first day of increasing sunlight hours! And happy holidays to those of you celebrating something this month!!

It's A Great Time to Speak Up

2011-12-07T09:43:00.001-05:00

Sometimes, I look at my timeline on Twitter, and see authors, myself included, squeeing about new book covers, pleading with readers to buy/help promote books, discussing ways to hone one's skills and increase chances of getting published, etc. Usually, this is in the midst of tweets from other parts of the world where people are tweeting about the very real climate crisis, the very real revolutions going on in different parts of the planet, and the very real movements for social justice during one of the most critical times our collective human brain has witnessed to date. In case you missed it, we're teetering on a cusp right now. The decisions we make as a collective can really affect whether we survive. Seriously.

As I've written before, many, many voices and expressions are routinely muted while others are lifted in this society of ours. That's what the Occupy movement is all about. A handful of people make decisions about who gets to sit in the spotlight and how many thousands hold audience in the dark. A limited few perspectives get held up to the light, receive financial support, or are aggressively marketed and amplified. But you know what? We're not living in times where we can afford to wait for someone to give us the nod before we express our thoughts and opinions. One voice can and does make a difference. We've seen it time and again throughout history.

Things are changing--fast. There is access to new technology. Anyone can record and broadcast human rights violations and police brutality as they are happening. Thousands tweeted the eviction of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, despite Mayor Bloomberg's "media blackout." In fact, Occupy Wall Street has morphed into Occupy Our Homes -- taking back hundreds of thousands of empty, foreclosed homes in one of the highest periods of homelessness in this country, ever. Ebooks are widely accepted and read, and are available globally to anyone who has access to a reader, computer, or cell phone. Thoughts, ideas, and information are exchanged with lightning speed over the internet. The balance of power is totally shifting.

If ever there was a time it was more important for people to speak up, to not wait for someone else to provide validation, to throw their contribution into the ring to help shape the future of this little planet under siege, now is it.

Some of my friends have said to me, "Come on. It's not that bad. There are some really great publishers/filmmakers/singers, etc., doing great stuff, no?"

Yes, there are. But they're not the most visible or as widely publicized. And there are not enough of us to compensate for the tremendous imbalance in access and representation. I tell my friends, "If you think things are not 'really that bad,' you haven't been paying attention. Or you've been paying attention to the loudest, not necessarily the truest. Turn off mainstream media for a week and seek out other sources of news and information, then let's talk." Because guess what? We're not supposed to know how bad things are. If we did, we'd all be dropping everything to make it right. We'd unplug from the buying machine, and demand something different -- create something different.

Things are that bad. But the good news is that there is time for change. The U.N. Summit for Climate Change just took place in Durban, South Africa. There are scientists pleading with nations to take responsibility, to implement policies that will reverse some of the damage we've done to the planet, to reduce greenhouse emissions and help steer us toward another path -- a less destructive path. But the most powerful nations on the planet are, at best, not listening. At worse, they are flat out denying that climate change is even real, or even worser, putting the blame/responsibility squarely on the shoulders of poorer nations.

The message is: We don't have to change anything. Things are working fine the way they are. Don't worry your pretty little heads, we got this.

The problem is that things are not working fine for a huge majority of the planet. And that huge majority just happens to be mostly PoC, mostly women and children, and mostly working class.

So, yeah. Now is the time to speak up. Artists/writers/storytellers/musicians have, historically, helped shape the cultures and societies they've lived in. They've served as a voice and mirror for the people. They've entertained, educated, and enlightened.

Folks in positions of power are not about to give their power up. But the rest of us are not completely power-less. If someone won't help you put your book out, you can put it out yourself. These days, the production quality of independently published books is right on par with corporate publishers. Just make your book the very best piece of art you've ever created. Put your expression as an artist, a world citizen, as someone with something valuable to contribute, out there. Release your voice into the world, so that more and more perspectives are heard. Until there is a strong chorus, challenging the same tunes we keep hearing over and over again. Art that supports the status quo is akin to propaganda. Art that challenges and throws the status quo into a new light is creativity. It's dynamic love.

The audience always outnumbers the performers. Participate. And totally squee about books and promote them and buy them. But let's help get more voices out in the mix. It'll completely change the landscape. More people speaking up and putting their perspectives out there is the only thing that will create the kind of change we need right now.

"I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We've been taught that silence would save us, but it won't." -- Audre Lorde

"Life is very short and what we have to do must be done in the now." -- Audre Lorde

"Say something!" -- Bob Marley

Still On Representation

2011-12-05T09:48:00.001-05:00

From BBC.co.uk

This past weekend, I saw Stick Fly, a play produced by Alicia Keys, featuring Dule Hill, Mekhi Phifer, and Tracie Thoms. I can't say that I loved it, or that I even thought it was *good*, but I am absolutely glad I got to see it. Out of the literally hundreds of shows on Broadway, there are about *three* featuring (or written by) PoC.

As I mentioned, I wasn't crazy about some of the things in this play (for a show about family, I would have included mothers on the stage, and I would not have silenced a woman for speaking truth, but that's just me), but I truly appreciated this writer's humor, characterization, psychological depth, and frank dialogue on race dynamics, class, and colorism among the African-American elite. It's her perspective, her contribution, and I can respect that.

As I thought about it later, I wondered again, what it would be like to see more representations of PoC, in all our myriad expressions, on center screen, on the main stage, in the spotlight. How differently would we navigate life? What new possibilities would we conjure up? What new opportunities would we see that now elude us?

Even after multiple shining reviews in other cities, Stick Fly took almost six years to make it to Broadway for lack of funding and support. I thought about how many wonderful, brilliant stories there are out there that will never see the light of day because there is no financial backing for them. This story was not how I would have written a story about family, but it was a good story that deserved to be on stage -- on Broadway -- nonetheless. How many others are out there just like it, waiting for a producer's approval, an editor's nod, a bookstore's/reviewer's stamp? And how many will never get that nod because the person reading/viewing the story doesn't relate to it, or simply can't see themselves in it?

And then, this morning, I read this post on Zoetrope, about the "dead girl" look on some YA book covers, and I was reminded, once again, that the struggle for representation continues on all fronts.

But I was heartened by this BBC article about Indian youth wanting to see their own faces on stage. Whereas before, the preference was for white faces on the stage, young Indians now want to see their own images and valuesreflected back to them, in all their unique beauty and complexity. And the result is a uniquely Indian sound, exploding onto the Indie music scene.

History has shown us that independent thinkers/musicians/artists have paved the way for sweeping social and cultural change. I think we're in the midst of some of that same sweeping change here, too, with the balance of power shifting. It's exciting...like we're on the cusp of something very significant, very important. It's slow going, yes, but I'm in it for the long haul.

Cover Reveal!

2011-11-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

So this is the cover for my new book, coming out in March, 2012. I am more excited and nervous about this one than I have been with any of my previous books, adult romances included.

I've put so much of everything that's important to me into this book and it was the hardest one I've ever written. For one, I wrote it during some of the toughest times Life has thrown my way, so far, as an adult. Finding the time, motivation, focus, and energy to write was often a mighty challenge in itself. And I've lost count of how many times I revised this novel from the ground up. I revised with an agent and two editors -- I'm talking tear-down-the-walls, clear-the-nether-regions, blast-through-rock revisions.

This book is my Little Engine That Could. It's the mountain I climbed because I loved it and because I wanted to see the view from its summit. I still haven't seen the view. I'm waiting for you to read it to complete the picture :).

ARCs should be available late December/early January. If you'd like a review copy, please email me and I'll put you on the list.

*And now, the cover...

*Designed by the fabulous Eithne Ni AnLuain

Tomorrow - SAWCC Lit Festival at Revolution Books!

2011-09-23T09:59:00.001-04:00

Please join us tomorrow for the SAWCC Literary Festival! The panels begin tomorrow at 1 pm and go throughout the day. The entire conversation will be about political change and social justice through literature. There are wonderful panelists on board and there will be a "rapid fire" reading at 6 pm at Bar 13. I've very much looking forward to it and hope to see many of you there!

Here is the line-up, taken straight off the SAWCC website:

Saturday, Sept. 24, 1-4:30pm

Panel discussions

at Revolution Books
Free
1-2pm: Sparking Revolution: Engaging Youth through Literature
- Neesha Meminger (author, Jazz in Love)
- Jyotsna Sreenivasan (GenderEqualBooks.com)
- Marina Budhos (author, Tell Us We’re Home)
Moderated by Yesha Naik (YA/children’s librarian, Brooklyn Public Library)

2:15-3:15pm: Writing about Human Rights
- Monisha Bajaj (author, Schooling for Social Change)
- Nisha Varia (Human Rights Watch)
- V.V. Ganeshananthan (author, Love Marriage)
- Maniza Naqvi (author, On Air and Sarajevo Saturdays)
Moderated by Sunu Chandy (lawyer and poet)

3:30-4:30pm: The Personal Is Political: Writing about Social Justice in the Home
- Priyanka Motaparthy (Human Rights Watch)
- Fawzia Afzal-Khan (author, Lahore With Love: Growing Up with Girlfriends, Pakistani Style)
- Zohra Saed (co-editor, One Story, Thirty Stories: An Anthology of Contemporary Afghan American Literature)
Moderated by Purvi Shah (author, Terrain Tracks)

Saturday, Sept. 24, 6-8pm

Rapid-Fire Reading: South Asian women perform poetry, fiction, and spoken-word on the themes of rights, radicalism, and revolution. Featuring Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Sita Bhaskar, Marina Budhos, V.V. Ganeshananthan, Neesha Meminger, Yesha Naik, Vani Natarajan, Purvi Shah, Jyotsna Sreenivasan, and Mathangi Subramanian.

at Bar 13
35 East 13th Street (at University Pl.)
New York, NY 10003
$5 at the door
(21+ only)

Open Fire

2011-09-14T13:09:00.000-04:00

It's been a tough summer. We lost a loved one after she fought a battle with cancer and there is a quiet sadness that brackets our days here in the Meminger home. But it also makes us grateful and deeply appreciative of the ones we love who are still here. By the way, can I just say how sick I am of cancer? Seriously. It has been popping up way too much lately.

In any case, I am glad to get back into a busy rhythm of school, writing, and reading again. Who'd have thunk I'd be relieved to get back to the mundane rituals of daily life? :) I am also working super hard on my next novel, which is set to release in March, 2012. I've had a quick peek at the first drafts of the cover and I am *loving* it.

One of the events I have coming up is the SAWCC literary festival. I'll be on a panel with Marina Budhos and Jyotsna Sreenivasan, talking about YA novels and politics. Can't wait. If you're in New York on the 24th, please stop by Revolution Books. Our panel is from 1-2pm, but there will be others throughout the day, followed by readings in the evening.

October is birthday month, so I'm hoping I haven't scheduled anything for then, but November is another busy month. I'll be in Chicago (where I get to meet Ari of Reading In Color, Edi Campbell of the Crazy Quilts blog, and Maggie Desmond O'Brien of Bibliophilia!) for the ALAN workshops on the 21st and 22nd.

Hope everyone had a great summer and is off to a smooth start for the fall.

The Big C

2011-08-22T09:46:00.000-04:00

Lately, cancer has been swirling around my life. Earlier in the year, I blogged about fellow YA author, L.K. Madigan, who passed away after a battle with the Big C. Shortly after that, H got a gig working on the show of that same name, the big C, on Showtime. While he was on that show, we found out that a close family member was diagnosed with stage four cancer. Most recently, L.A. Banks passed away. I was surprisingly, and inexplicably, saddened by the death of this woman I've never met. I read her blog for the first time only a few months ago and she seemed to be fighting the good fight. Her blog entries exuded honesty and passion, and I was crushed that the world lost another voice speaking truth to power.

Since I am, and always have been, an alternative kind of gal (and since the battle for accessible health care seems to be sliding down a slippery and corrupt slope) all of this has prompted me to look for alternative options to current, traditional methods of approaching health and healing. In my research, I came across this video which gave me a lot to think about. It's worth watching, even if you're skeptical. I'm big on reading up on everything in every way possible, and this was another angle to the story we're told over and over. I'm also a big believer in questioning the dominant narrative - especially when it's not doing me any good. If you get a chance to see the video, I'd love to know what you think.

In the meantime, my thoughts and prayers (and heart) are with anyone who is struggling with health issues in their lives - whether illness has hit a loved one, or whether you are battling for your own health. Much love and healing vibes your way.

Jazz in Oz!

2011-08-10T22:27:00.000-04:00

Jazz in Love is now distributed in Australia! So, so, SO excited about this...

It is here. And here. And here!

Things to Read

2011-08-01T21:31:00.000-04:00

If you haven't yet checked out Zetta Elliott's interview with Jacqueline Woodson on the Ms Magazine blog, do that ASAP. Here's a short excerpt:

"The Cooperative Children’s Book Center keeps annual statistics that show that authors of color wrote less than 5 percent of U.S. books published for children in recent years. You are a prolific, award-winning author–but could you name five other black LGBTQ authors of children’s literature?

Um…I couldn’t. I probably could name two, but I don’t know if people are just not out. I think there are people who are still very closeted. You’re dealing with a society that automatically associates pedophilia with anybody who’s interested in children in any way, and a lot of people who still think that queerness is some pathology.

I haven’t come across a lot of young black writers who are new but I feel like, if the book is finished and it’s halfway decent, there’s a home for it. I don’t know if that’s me just being out there and not knowing enough about publishing. I mean, I think of Coe Booth, Brenda Woods, the woman who did Fly Girl [Sherri L. Smith]. You’re one of the new writers coming up: I think you’re one of the people who’s potentially going to change the world of speculative fiction. But I think in terms of publishers trying to figure out where it belongs, that’s kind of a slower movement—especially with the business of books changing so quickly.

Do you feel optimistic about the future of publishing?
I feel optimistic but I think people can’t expect it to be the old way of doing things. I mean, my first book was published in 1989. I think if I was starting to write today, I would be self-publishing."

That's from the condensed version that made it onto Ms Mag's blog. The full interview is on Zetta's blog as well as her Youtube channel.

Here's an excerpt from an interview Lori Devoti did with me about turning to indie publishing:

"Q: What route would you suggest for an author who hasn’t been published before? Should they still follow the old route of agent/publisher or do you think going straight to self-publishing is a good option?

A. I would urge them to think about what they truly want from being published. If it is the recognition of being accepted by the publishing establishment (which is a totally okay goal), then I would say press on along the traditional publishing route. If, however, an author wants only to get her/his work out there, under the eyes of readers who might devour it, connect with it, change their lives because of it, then I would say explore the wonderful world of indie publishing. But I would highly recommend doing a lot of research. Read the stories of people who’ve self-published, check out blogs, pick up books that have been self-published and are highly recommended by trusted sources. Ask a lot of questions!"

And here's an excerpt from an interview with our fave goth megastar, Le R. on critiquing and editing others' work:

"Is there one specific thing that you gravitate toward while critiquing?

Le R: It sounds sort of corny, but I think I gravitate toward the writer. I read so, so many query letters and manuscripts when I worked in publishing, and I read so much unpolished work now as a freelancer, and you develop--or at least I have developed, I don't know if this is always true, not everyone used to be a social worker--this weird ability to see the person producing the work. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they frame a story. I don't mean that in a sinister way--just that I try to think in terms of what would be most useful to that particular person. I don't have to worry at all any more about whether something is "good" or "publishable" or "salable"--it's not my job to sort things, it's my job now to help someone move forward, and anyone can move forward with their writing."

change it she said

2011-07-29T13:07:00.000-04:00

my mother used to tell me
there was an energy that destroyed
and an energy that created
these energies exist
in all of us
she said

later i learned of yin and yang
of the masculine principle
            and the feminine principle

later i learned
of single mothers prostitution pornography no childcare violence against women rape weapon of war fgm female feticide bride burnings dowry deaths beauty industries body shame
shame

later i learned
of heads of state presidents prime ministers CEOs heads of corporations oil billionaires bankers profits money makers progress industry conquests occupations empire invasions
domination

later i learned
of earth
     mother earth
and nature
     mother nature

there is a crisis
we have a crisis
we are in a crisis
                  it is now

there are some who see

nature
        mother nature is
     wailing
spinning
          wildly
       out of balance

earth
      mother earth is
dying

destructive energy run amok
creative energy on its knees
sexuality
          the life force
                       tethered
                  the captive unicorn

everyone knows creation
requires a mother
                 and a father
a masculine principle
        and a feminine principle
a destructive energy
      for new life to grow
and a creative energy
the womb, the cocoon
a feminine energy to birth
                                        nurture
                                  sustain
a masculine energy to curb
                                         weed
                                   prune . . .

still

almost every religion
in the world
             hails

THE FATHER OF CREATION

the greatest story ever told
our myths
of creation
shaping psyche
creating reality

erasing feminine
worshiping masculine

the mother
            is dying
bleeding oil
her children crying
                     starving

the feminine principle
    life
    creativity
         arts
            sexuality
              spirituality
            crumbling
wildly
    spinning
out of balance
               bleeding
in the jaws of her captor

my mother told me
when i was young
there is a creative energy
and a destructive energy
these energies exist in all of us
she said

they are
out of balance
      in our minds
          our bodies
   our stories
                our psyches
          our planet

change it
she said

first
in your mind
         your body
          your story
                your psyche

tell everyone
she said

there is a crisis
we have a crisis
we are in a crisis
                   it is now

Muslish

2011-07-27T11:06:00.000-04:00

Here's Colbert's report on media coverage of the gunman in Norway's recent tragic attack...

Picking From Many Battles

2011-07-22T14:18:00.000-04:00

Last week, my ten-year-old came home from camp upset. She said that during a team game, one of her teammates didn't want to hold her hand because "she's a black girl". This was not in the sixties, it was not in the "pre-racial, pre-Obama era" - this was last week.

Normally, I would go to the parents of the child in this situation, just to inform them of what's been said, and hope that they deal with the issue in the best possible way. But I don't know these parents, so I went to management. My daughter will be in this camp for the rest of the summer and deserves to be in a safe, comfortable, non-toxic environment. Not to mention the arm and leg we're paying to have her there.

But this post is about picking your battles - and there are so many to choose from. This morning I learned that, at this same camp (a gymnastics camp), girls are required to wear leotards under their T-shirts and shorts while boys have no clothing restrictions at all. I asked my girls what they've been told the reasoning is behind this rule and they said it's because "when girls do flips and cartwheels, their shirts go up and it's distracting."

None of the girls at this camp are over the age of thirteen. If there are counselors who are "distracted" by a little girl's bellybutton or midriff, those counselors should not be at a camp for children. This is all about accountability. Grown men are responsible for their own actions. What a novel concept!

I grew up in a culture that hammered home the need for "modesty" in girls' and women's dress. God forbid a man should happen to see a naked elbow or ankle and be sent into a mad frenzy of lust at the sight of it. It would be the girl's or woman's fault of course, because, hey, she was told to dress properly. A man shouldn't be expected to take responsibility for how a woman dresses, or his response to her naked parts! And here I am again, in another culture that is hammering home the same message to my girls. As many times as I've encountered this line of logic, it still never ceases to amaze me.

So I'm struggling now with whether I complain again and become That person - the one who complains of everything and has a problem - the one you can discredit and shrug off because, well, next week she'll be complaining of something else - or whether I say nothing and let this one go.

I know, quite clearly, that the issue is not just with this particular camp. The problem is that most of the world is immersed in unchallenged, unexamined racism, sexism, homophobia, and all kinds of other abuses of power - with no accountability at all on the part of the person in the position of power. When you're someone who is not only aware, but actively challenging such power abuses, you become the complainer. Or the trouble-maker. Or the conspiracy theorist. Or the [insert other silencing descriptor here].

I like being happy. I like having joy in my life. I like to laugh and joke around. I HATE having to confront things like racist bullshit and misogyny. Truly - nothing bums me out more than having to go at it with someone wielding unearned power and privilege. A someone who is almost always ignorant of said power and privilege. All I want to do in the morning is drop my kids off at a safe place where they can learn and have fun. And I want to go home, have a nice breakfast and some tea, and get on with my day. Seriously. That's ALL I want to do. I hate complaining. But when you have kids, speaking up or staying silent takes on a whole new significance. Because now I am modeling how to deal (or not deal) with abuses of power. My children are watching what I do and learning from it. Either way, I will have to explain to them why I spoke up, or why I did not, in the face of clear inequality or injustice.

I'm not going to change the current system single-handedly and overnight. But I can at least challenge and question things *in the home*. If I don't, my children think the way things are is they way they ought to be. If the people they trust to protect them and guide them are not challenging "small", everyday infractions like the ones above, then everything is as it should be and the children are simply over-sensitive - they should swallow their pain/anger/fear and move on as if no violation has taken place. In other words, the entire emotional, psychological, and spiritual impact on their psyche becomes their responsibility. And the violator gets away with his/her actions, words, and behaviour, without ever examining it or being accountable in any way.

I haven't yet decided how I will proceed, but at the very least, the girls know there is something to be questioned - something not quite right about the scenario - and that their mother is mulling over how to deal with it.

Water, and an Interview

2011-07-12T10:41:00.000-04:00

I'm thrilled to be part of Chasing Ray's Summer Blog Blast Tour this week. I was interviewed by Doret at The Happy Nappy Bookseller blog and that post is up today. She asked me some very interesting questions about Jazz In Love, publishing, and dating shady characters. Please check it out if you get a chance!

Speaking of very interesting questions, I came across this very interesting video called The Story of Bottled Water. I highly recommend watching it. There is a counter video on Youtube, but it is rather weak in comparison. Watch both for yourself and see what you think. (Plus, I had NO idea bottled water waste was being sent to India for land fills! Did you?).

The Politics of Story

2011-07-01T10:41:00.000-04:00

I have a post up at Hunger Mountain, an arts journal put out by the Vermont College of Fine Arts. In The Politics of Story, I address the idea that only some stories are political and only some stories are message-driven. I argue that ALL stories are political and ALL stories put forth messages.

Here is a brief excerpt:

"Author and poet Suheir Hammad once said, “Writing must always have intention because words have power.” I know well the power of words. I know how a single slur can reduce a person to shame and humiliation . . . and fear. Some words—like racial epithets—have long and brutal histories of violence behind them. They carry with them the power to dehumanize and the inherent threat of attack. In an interview with Al-Jazeera English, Hammad stated, “I think it’s a political decision to leave politics out of your work.” Within a cultural, social and economic structure that advantages and privileges some over others, there is no way to make writing the “other” a non-political act. The very fact that there are “others” means that some perspectives are put forward more frequently and more consistently to create a norm, or dominant narrative. [...]

"As soon as voices of the marginalized are brought front and center, out of the fringes of the dominant narrative and into the center, our stories are automatically politicized. Because “othering” certain segments of the population is a social, political and cultural act. In the same way that leaving certain voices out of a narrative, or certain faces out of a film, book cover, magazine, television show, etc. is a political act, bringing those voices into the spotlight and giving them a platform, assigning them equal value and importance and weight, and listening to what they have to say is also a political act, intentional or not."

You can read the full post at Hunger Mountain. Let me know what you think!

Reflection

2011-06-23T12:06:00.000-04:00

Today's one of those reflection days for me. I just finished up with school-related activities for my kids and I'm now in that shell-shocked, bewildered "It's over?" place.

It's bittersweet. Even with all my complaining about how busy I am throughout the school year with kid-related events, writing, working, etc., I wouldn't have it any other way.

At the end of it all, when I'm doing the ultimate reflecting upon my life, I'm going to care less about how many books I've written and how many accolades I've garnered, than I am about how happy my loved ones are. And how they'll fare when I'm gone.

It's all about interacting with one another and the impressions we leave upon one another. Because it's through those impressions that we help shape ourselves and those we interact with. My writing has always been about that - about me shaping you with my words and you, in turn, shaping me with your response. And then again. That's how I've always thought I could change the world - one little interaction at a time.

That's probably why I'm a great candidate for independent publishing. I want that response so I can keep the creative flow unimpeded. I want an ongoing interaction where we elevate one another on the journey. If I keep getting stopped at the pass, neither of us will ever know what a (life-altering? Beautiful? Explosive?) exchange we could have had. Even the biggest wave has to start out as a little ripple, right?

This past year, I have begun to define "success" in my own terms. I've learned that it is pointless for me to seek the "success" others seek, or have achieved. And what that word means to me is very different than what it may mean to others. It's hard to keep your footing solidly on the path you create for yourself, but there is nothing more rewarding - that, I can guarantee.

Open Heart/Closed Fist

2011-06-03T10:14:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, June 9th, I will be on a panel for SAWCC (South Asian Women's Creative Collective) called "Open Heart/Closed Fist: Sikh Women Speak Out on Faith and Feminism." It'll be at the Asian American Writers' Center at 7pm. There's more information on the SAWCC website, but here's the blurb:

From the Middle East to the Midwest, revolution is spreading. Women of all faiths have joined radicals in solidarity, even as their own rights come under fire by conservative elements. But besides the images we see—women in hijab with their fists raised in Tahrir Square; women of all races with their fists raised in Madison—what about the women we don’t see, women who advocate for themselves and their sisters in the homes, gurudwaras, mosques, and temples? What does it mean to be religious and radical?

In this panel, author Neesha Meminger (Jazz in Love), community organizer Tejpreet Kaur (Sikh Coalition), and blogger Simran Kaur (thelangarhall.com) will discuss the ways in which their work explores issues of faith and feminism, particularly in the diaspora.

I'm delighted to be on this panel and super excited to meet my co-panelists. I think women of all backgrounds struggle with this concept of allegiance--when do I speak out? Who gets thrown under the bus if I raise this issue? Usually the answer is "me." But because girls everywhere are taught to first think of others, then ourselves, or to be compliant, acquiescent, "good" girls, the struggle to speak up and speak out rages strong within.

I think it's going to be an awesome panel. Please join us if you can.

Summer! Wiscon! Desserts!

2011-06-01T11:49:00.002-04:00

so now that the madness of summer (at least work-wise) is simmering down, school madness is picking up. the kids have end-of-year events all month and it has got to be hard for working parents to juggle being there for their kids and trying to keep the bills going at the same time.

i just returned from my second wiscon and i can totally see why folks get hooked. there are people who've been going to wiscon for decades. it's one of the few places to have the kind of discourse i crave all year long. to be around people who just let you be. to be inspired and awakened and unsettled and enlightened.

this year was a mixed bag for me, but i am still sad it's over. here are a few pics of the people i met (some are courtesy of LaShawn Wanak), and the desserts i consumed. i'm already eagerly looking forward to next year.

l-r: Sheree Renee Thomas, Ibi Zoboi, me, and Zola Mumford

l-r: Jenn Brisset, Ibi Zoboi, me, LaShawn Wanak

key lime pie at the dessert salon - so, so yummy as you can see. i ate most of it before remembering to take a pic.

yes, i ate all of the above.
the aforementioned key lime pie, chocolate decadent mousse cake with raspberry something-sauce, and chocolate eclairs.
i would have gone back to get the maple pecan pie, but the speeches were starting.

Coming Up

2011-05-03T10:20:00.000-04:00

Happy Asian-American Heritage Month! Happy Mother's Month! (Yes, I think we deserve a MONTH.)

Tomorrow, Wednesday, I will be participating in a live-chat on Twitter with a few of the other authors involved in the Diversity in YA tour. The Tweetchat starts at 9pm EST, so join us if you're on Twitter!

And the book-signing-turned-into-panel at Books of Wonder takes place on Saturday, May 14th, at 1pm. I am keeping my fingers double-crossed that they will have copies of my books this time! The other panelists are Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Jacqueline Woodson, Rita Williams-Garcia, Matt de la Pena, Kekla Magoon, and Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich. The panel will be moderated by Cheryl Klein. Please join us if you can!

At the end of May, I am off, once again, to Wiscon, the *echoing announcer voice* WORLD'S LEADING FEMINIST SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION. This conference is something I do for myself because I love the people I get to meet and I always have a great time engaging in the kind of discourse I enjoy having. If you're going, let me know! Would love to say hi :).

And this is not in May, but I'm going to plug it now, anyway, in case you're planning vacations and such. On June 9th, I will be sitting on a panel with two other Sikh women for SAWCC (South Asian Women's Creative Collective). We will be discussing faith and feminism within a Sikh context. Should be an interesting conversation and a lot of fun. More on that soon, though.

Have a great day!

I'm Baaaaack

2011-04-27T13:13:00.005-04:00

Back from L.A. and Toronto and happy that the weather has taken a turn for the warmer. It was a pleasure to see the trees in bloom and daffodils beaming in their full glory on the drive in from JFK airport.

The Toronto events were lovely and I had a wonderful time with friends and family. Here are pictures from the Toronto Women's Bookstore event, featuring Zetta Elliott on the left, myself in the center, and Vivek Shraya next to our moderator, Annmarie Shrouder:

Blogger Niranjana Iyer has a great post on the panel and her thoughts on self-publishing here.

One of the more interesting conversations I had at the Saturday book-signing at Chapters/Indigo-Yordale was with a teen. We got onto the topic of bullying and harassment in school and she said that the worse type of "bullying" she ever experienced (her school is predominantly people of colour) was in the form of verbal and sometimes physical harassment from male peers. The terms most often used to denigrate young women are the same ones that were used when I was in high school - "slut", "bitch", "whore", etc.

And just today, Teen Voices posted this article about teenage domestic violence which points to the same type of harassment targeting young women. Here's an excerpt:

Ask a group of teenage girls how many terms of abuse are directed at them in school on a regular basis and they struggle to answer. Every week, they say, boys and young men in their peer group add a new phrase to their lexicon of disrespect.

"At my school we hear three words, slut, sket and slag, every day. It's got so it's not worth challenging it, it is not worth arguing about because it just doesn't change anything," said Bea Larby, 15 [... ]

"Sket" sites, where pictures of girls are posted by vengeful ex-boyfriends, often in compromising situations, are set up on Facebook and other networking sites, or the images are circulated on smart phone messaging systems, along with a request to give marks out of 10 for the "sket" or "bitch".

'One girl, her ex posted naked pictures of her and sent them around the school,' said Larby. "She left school because everyone thought she was a sket, she used to get bullied in corridors. People would say, look there she goes that sket, but no one did anything to stop it."

The one thing that struck me from my recent visit to a high school in L.A., the conversation in Canada, and the above-linked article was that many things--like this sort of bullying and harassment--have held strong since my days in high school. And as long as power imbalances remain the same in the larger world--with media images depicting young women as racialized and sexualized objects, this type of bullying will keep a stronghold on each new generation of young people.

Raising awareness among young people is important, but equally important is working for change on a larger, systemic level. I think that's why the publishing panel at the Toronto Women's Bookstore was so important to me. What Zetta, Vivek and I were talking about was exactly that - grassroots change, putting power back into the hands of creators, and offering different depictions of young people for young people. All three of us spoke of wanting to create the type of work we needed to see when we were young readers. It is the work of offering alternative visions and representations for young women, queer teens, working class folks, differently-abled teens . . . doors and windows into new possibilities.

If you missed the livestream of that event, you can watch it here. But I don't know how long it will be up, so catch it while you can...

Changing the Face of Publishing from Facing Out on Vimeo.

Upcoming Toronto Events!

2011-04-06T09:22:00.000-04:00

Next week, I am going to Los Angeles for a few days, then coming home and turning right around to go to Toronto for a little over a week. Talk about climate change! Though maybe I messed up with the times--should stay longer in the warm spot ;). But I am super, super excited about both, in any case!

In L.A. I get to meet some awesome high school students who will have had an entire week of classes, events, and awareness raising around issues of discrimination, bias, and bullying. And in Toronto, I will be with fellow authors discussing important issues of representation as well as signing books and -- the best part -- meeting and chatting with readers.

The first Toronto event is at the Toronto Women's Bookstore and, as mentioned, I will be discussing issues of representation and how changes in the publishing industry are affecting under-represented voices with fellow authors Zetta Elliott (A Wish After Midnight, 2009) and Vivek Shraya (God Loves Hair, 2010).

And the second event is at the Chapters/Indigo bookstore in Yorkdale Mall. I will be signing copies of Jazz in Love along with fellow authors Mahtab Narsimhan (The Deadly Conch, 2011), Helene Boudreau (Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings, 2010), and Cheryl Rainfield (Scars, 2010) who will all be signing copies of their recent releases.

If you're in or around the GTA area, please come by to either/both event/s!

Interview With YA Fantasy Author Mahtab Narsimhan

2011-03-31T21:24:00.001-04:00

I am delighted to have fantasy author Mahtab Narsimhan join me today in a chat about writing, inspiration, transformation and fantasy!

Mahtab is a fellow Canadian and her latest novel is The Deadly Conch, the conclusion to the Tara Trilogy (Dundurn Press). I was so thrilled to find another South Asian woman writing fantasy YA when I met Mahtab in Toronto last year, and I immediately knew I wanted to learn more about her.

Please join me in welcoming Mahtab!

NM: Please tell us about your publishing journey. Did you go the traditional route - getting an agent, then querying publishers?

MN: The road to publication of The Third Eye had quite a few pot holes. It took me about a year and a half to write it. I tried to get an agent and thought I was very fortunate when I landed one at a very reputable agency in Toronto. Unluckily she was not at all right for me or my manuscript. Rejections poured in. She gave up on me after eight months of trying to sell the manuscript. I was quite devastated at the time and ready to give up. But I had invested so much time, effort and sweat in this story that I was compelled to see it through. Also, this was a tribute to my dad. I told myself; I would give up on this manuscript only when every publisher in the world had rejected it.

I joined a critique group called Kidcrit, started by writer, Marsha Skrypuch. Fellow writers who are now close friends helped me streamline the manuscript – “sleekification” in kidcritter terminology!

At an OLA conference in Jan 2007 I got my first break. Marsha introduced me to the Barry Jowett, the editorial director at Dundurn. He asked to see my manuscript and I sent it to him expecting yet another rejection. Two years of rejection had primed me too well to hope for anything else. To my shock and utter amazement, he said. He wanted to publish my book. What followed was a week of walking on air, a few months of agony as the contract was finalized and signed, and the joy of holding my first book in my hands, knowing that it was born out of countless hours of writing and rewriting but above all, not giving up.

NM: What an inspiring story!! I love tales about people not giving up on something they really believe in. I'm so glad you didn't give up.

So many South Asians writing in English seem to be writing contemporary realistic novels. Why did you choose to go the fantasy route?

MN: I love fantasy as a genre, always have, and always will. I started out reading a lot of Enid Blyton as a child and my favourite then used to be the Faraway Tree series. It was about the adventures of three siblings who discovered a magic tree in the forest which bordered their backyard. Every week, an exciting world floated to the top of the tree. Sometime it was fun, like the land of birthdays or the land of chocolate. Sometimes the world had dangerous goblins or wizards who captured the children as slaves.

Since then, numerous series have caught my interest. Noteworthy are The Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman and the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Also love Philip Ness’s The Knife of Never Letting Go. Life is tedious enough without having to dwell on it even when I am writing. Fantasy fiction allows me the freedom to veer away from the routine to the totally unpredictable, the fun, and the unimaginable.

I realized that Asian protagonists were under-represented in children’s literature. I find Indian mythology quite fascinating and thought it would be great to bring it to the world in an interesting and palatable form.

NM: Speaking of palatable forms, I recently wrote a guest post on the dearth of genre stories available for young readers - for example, there are very few romances or mysteries or humour books featuring South Asians in YA. And YA author Y.S. Lee wrote a post called "Antidotes to Earnestness" where she writes that so many Asian-American books tend be "Earnest and Moralistic". Do you have any thoughts on this, and what would the teen Mahtab have liked to read?

MN: Loved your post, Neesha, and look forward to reading Jazz in Love. To answer your question, I believe literature subconsciously reflects the beliefs prevalent at a particular time or of a particular people. I think Asians were brought up this way. This is our culture and our way of life, or at least it used to be when I was growing up. Education and study took precedence over fun and frivolity. Education was the ticket to freedom from poverty for most average Asians, and they were driven to be academic over-achievers by their parents.

In a country where a billion people are struggling to survive, the situation is not in the least amusing and it’s no wonder that so many books written by authors who must now be in their fifties are serious and dealing with the problems of the time. A classic example is A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. A poignant and brilliant book, but not in the least light-hearted. I honestly cannot recall what I read as I teen but a couple of books that come to mind are Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach and The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. And you will notice, both are very serious books. I would have loved something light and funny but I’m not even sure what the teen me would have liked. I used to be quite serious then.

NM: Yes, the serious literature is important and necessary, without a doubt. My issue, personally, is with the fact that for the longest time, that is all we seemed to see. Things are changing at a snail's pace, but it is happening. Hooray for more diverse stories featuring the full gamut of experiences of people of colour!

What are your thoughts on some of the changes happening in publishing, with the explosion of e-readers and digital technology? Are you enthusiastic, or worried?

MN: With the way technology is moving, it was inevitable. As long as our publishers change and adapt to keep up with the times, and we authors continue to get a fair deal for our work, I think we will continue to produce books which will be read by an even greater audience, especially those who would never pick up a book but can read a ton of material on their iPhones or iPads.

There are pros and cons to every situation. We just have to figure out the pros and learn how to use them to the best of everyone’s advantage.

NM: Definitely. Having more options is always a good thing :). You've mentioned that you are a working writer. How do you manage your time between promoting books, blogging, social media, writing, and working? Give us a snapshot of your typical day.

MN: I have a set time, a set place and a goal every day. Every morning from about 6 am to 8 am I devote to writing and I have to churn out 1500 words a day. This includes Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. And yes, even on my birthday!

An interesting fact I discovered is that most habits, good or bad, take about two weeks to form. I have followed this routine, i.e. writing early in the morning in my basement office and giving myself a daily quota, for the last six years. It’s a deeply ingrained habit and allows me to complete the first draft of a novel in about four to six months. In fact, now, if I have not finished my “homework” on a daily basis, I feel terribly guilty and even cranky.

I work with my husband at his office from about 9 am to about 6pm. Evenings are for research, social media and other activities.

I’ve learned over the years that no task is herculean if you break it down into little chunks and attack it every day. That hold true even for writing a novel.

NM: I envy your discipline! Something I keep trying to work on (grin). Will have to try that two week trick...

What is the best fan feedback you've ever received?

MN: I read your book within a day because I just could not put it down.

This was for The Third Eye and I was so pleased! To have your fans devour a book that took you years to write, in a few hours means I accomplished what I set out to do. I knew then, all that trouble, heartache and frustration was worth it!

NM: And I'm sure that reader spoke for dozens of others who are too shy to get in touch!

Tell us your favourite part of writing your trilogy, besides seeing it published :).

MN: For me, writing is a process of self-discovery. I didn’t realize it when I was writing the trilogy but seven years later when I wrote the synopsis for all three novels and the over-arching theme, I realized it was all about believing in yourself and not letting fear stop you from doing what you have to do. Fear of change and of the unknown have always been a huge source of anxiety for me and in writing this story I worked through it along with my feisty heroine,Tara.

Since 2009 when I finished the trilogy, I have embraced a philosophy of change and of constantly challenging myself. I’m surprised and proud to realize that I can meet anything head on without the numbing paralysis that used to overwhelm me at one time.

I quit my full-time, well paying job of twelve years to help my husband, thereby starting a fifth career (I have worked as a Front Office manager, a credit card sales executive, a recruiter, and a VP Operations previously). I learned how to do school presentations, starting with an audience of seventy-five students and working my way up to three thousand. Public speaking no longer terrifies me.

And now whenever I am presented with an opportunity that scares me, I make sure my answer is yes. I’ve never regretted it to date.

NM: I love bold, brave and daring women! I wish you much success with your books, Mahtab, and thank you, again, for taking the time to graciously answer all my questions.

EVERYONE, go buy Mahtab's books here and visit her (very cool) website here!

What's Going On

2011-03-23T11:12:00.002-04:00

I've been meaning to post updates on my recent signing/reading events, but there is too much going on and I've allowed myself to become buried. But here are a few quick updates until I find time to do longer and more, um, picturesque (?) posts . . .

The Queens reading was absolutely lovely. Meeting teen readers is always a joy, but I've wanted to read in Queens, especially, since it has one of the largest immigrant populations in NYC. The class of pre-GED students we met with was one hundred percent teens of colour. Seriously. Every last one of them.

And the panel of readers? All white - and me. I couldn't help but wonder how many times a day those students see people who look nothing like them with a platform to freely express their opinions, values, ideas, and creative vision. I know what it was like for me as a teen, and then how powerful it was to finally see women of color speaking their truth boldly and without fear--and provided with a space to do so. Melina Marchetta was reading next to me and spoke beautifully, not just as an ally, but as a woman who could relate to the feeling of being "other" in a place you call home.

Here we are, above, at the Cupcake Cafe which adjoins Books of Wonder.

Speaking of which, I apologize to anyone who showed up at Books of Wonder and couldn't find copies of Jazz in Love. I'm not sure what the snafu was there, but for some reason my books did not arrive. I will be there again on May 14th for the Diversity in YA tour, so please stop by then!

In non-writerly news, the whole Chris Brown/Rihanna thing has been really upsetting for me. Even more so than the Charlie Sheen thing. Maybe it's because my girls and so, so many teen girls of colour are hooked in to popular culture and idolize these icons. And my girls, in particular, have many questions I'm always flailing to answer in a way that makes sense to them. Or maybe it's because the dynamics of that relationship are so familiar to me. I don't know.

But things like this help - if you haven't read Daniel Jose Older's piece on Racialicious about men's violence against women, do so now. He also had some great tweets about the topic yesterday - one of which was, "Batterers control anger by not lashing out at judges, cops, their homies, etc. They control it & direct it at their spouses," and the following one, "So u can do all the anger management classes u want but ur just feeding the problem until u instill a foundation of respect towards women."

Chris Brown's recent actions highlight violence against women in our society in stark relief, and are a reminder of the way the Creative Life Force has so brutally been taken hostage in our world. I have to keep telling myself that the fight is raging strong. That more and more people are waking up. Hard to tell sometimes, but I think it's true.

Interview With Sarah Jamila Stevenson

2011-03-14T15:58:00.000-04:00

Today, I am thrilled to host Sarah Jamila Stevenson, author of The Latte Rebellion. I was looking forward to reading this book since I first heard about it and was delighted by the plot turns and the Created Normal of the world in the pages. In other words, the "normal" of this book is PoC, in varying shades and hues, all described in latte terms :D. So, without further rambling from me, here's Sarah, in her own words!

NM: I love that Asha doesn't really have any angst about being a latte - she embraces it and kind of sees it as the norm (and in the world of your story, it IS the norm). What was your own journey to self-acceptance like? Was it long like mine (that body image thing is a pain)? Or was it easy and more of a non-issue?

SJS: I think the key word there is "journey." I feel like the challenges of
journeying toward self-acceptance have changed for me over time, and I
guess I could say that the journey doesn't seem like it's over! As a
latte myself, I felt a lot more caught between cultures when I was
growing up than Asha does in THE LATTE REBELLION. I wanted to be--felt
like--a regular mainstream American teenager, but the Pakistani side
of my family didn't always understand that. I wanted to respect my
Pakistani half without it being the entirety of who I am, but it was
really hard to explain that to my family or my friends or my
classmates. Every once in a while I'd have a big argument with my dad
about, say, why I wanted to go to a school dance--he'd talk about how
unseemly and immodest it was, and admonish me not to dance while I was
there, and while I didn't want to upset him, I also wanted to go and
dance and have fun with my friends. Or we'd argue over why I didn't
want to go to Islamic Sunday school. It made me feel like a terrible
and selfish daughter, but it also infuriated me because I felt like my
views should be respected, too. So I had some anger and frustration
about my identity, until I was able to move away for college and
figure out who I was on my own.

Really, most of the time it was a non-issue. Usually, it wouldn't even
come up unless someone asked me "what are you?" and I'd have to sigh
and give them this long and complicated answer with 7 or 8
nationalities in it. I grew up in a pretty diverse area, so I didn't
feel like I was too unusual.

NM: As I was reading your book, I kept thinking, "Asha needs to hang out with
Sam and Jazz." If you could plan a hang-out date with the three of them, how
do you think it would go? What would they talk about? What would Asha
wear???

SJS: Hee! I love this question. I bet there would be a lot of commiserating
and eye-rolling over strict parents on the part of Asha and Jazz, who
would envy Sam because of her cool, with-it mom. Asha would get the
appropriate amount of sympathy and outrage over the towel-head
incident. She would bring the lattes. :) And, of course, she'd wear a
Latte Rebellion t-shirt and bring shirts for Jazz and Sam!

NM: You mention above that your father is Pakistani. Yet, in your
book it is Asha's mother who is South Asian. What went into your
decision to switch the parent from your own experience?

SJS: In part, it was a little mental trick to keep me from slipping into
the role of identifying too much with the character, and inadvertently
turning her into me or unconsciously modeling her parents after mine.
It was something that worried me a little. Asha and I have some things
in common, but she's definitely not a stand-in for me, and I didn't
even want to be tempted in that direction. I wanted her to be her own
person. And I wanted to challenge stereotypes a little by making her
father--who's NOT the South Asian parent--the strict one.

NM: I read in Ari's interview with you that you did graduate work in
fiction writing, as did I. What would you say were the pros and cons
of doing an advanced degree in fiction writing? In retrospect, now
that you've seen your first book to publication, would you still have
gone that route?

SJS: I definitely would still have gone that route. Prior to my MFA, I
didn't have much knowledge of fiction writing except as an occasional
hobby--my undergraduate degree is in Art and Psychology. I desperately
needed the feedback and the additional background in literature and
craft. And what I've gotten out of it has been so much more than
that--specifically, a committed, diverse and very talented writing
group, and a far more critical eye about writing, both my own and
others'. As for the cons, I think they're the ones common to most
graduate programs, especially in the arts: personality conflicts, the
occasional teacher who played favorites, a relative lack of attention
to the realities of a career in the field. :) Overall, though, it was
a great experience--for me. I'm sure it's not the right route for
everyone, but I'm a school-loving nerd, so...

NM: What are you most proud of accomplishing so far? (This could be either
writing/publishing related, or otherwise general life related).

SJS: Getting my first novel published is definitely way up there! There was
a lot of pressure for success when I was growing up, perhaps
especially because I was younger than most people around me (I
graduated from high school at 16 and undergrad school at 20), and it's
a lot to live up to as an adult with the same advantages and
disadvantages as everyone else. Really, I think I'm the most proud of
having followed my dream of pursuing a career in the arts, despite
various naysayers and setbacks, rather than giving up and doing
something practical. :)

NM: I was very impressed to read somewhere that the doodling inside
the book was yours! As someone who is illustratively challenged, I find
this very impressive. Besides writing and doodling, what are other

ways you express your creativity?

SJS: Besides the graphic design I do as part of my day job, I still
consider visual art one of my vocations, so when I have time and
energy, I try to spend some time making artwork (generally drawing,
painting or printmaking). I can play the piano and sing a little,
though I wouldn't say I was either very creative or particularly
accomplished at it--I just enjoy it. I try to be a creative cook,
mainly because I like to eat yummy food, but again, I'm not going to
be on Iron Chef anytime soon!

Is it fair to say my messy office is one way I express my creativity??
Or is that just an excuse?

NM: What's next? Are you working on something new? I read that you are
fantasy/sci-fi fan - might we see something from you in that genre? :)

SJS: Yes, I love fantasy and sci-fi. I'm currently revising and trying to
find an agent for another YA novel, this one about a girl who develops
the power to hear thoughts in the wake of a family tragedy. (She's
also half South Asian! Go figure.) And I'm trying to get going on a
brand-new novel that's sort of a dystopian-ish steampunk-ish story of
intrigue. (That's all I can say about it for now. I'm still working on
the details and have only written about a page.)

NM: My friends and I sometimes daydream and share our Lofty Goals. Do you
have any Lofty Goals? Please share! These could be along the lines of "one
of my books gets a starred review in Kirkus," "I am asked to be a keynote
speaker at a national conference," "I set up a foundation to offer grants to
fiction writers of latte descent," or "PBS does a special on me and my
work."

SJS: I managed to reach one of my lofty goals, thanks to my book--I got to
be on NPR! It was a local NPR program, but still, that was one of my
lifelong dreams. :) A starred review in Kirkus sounds great, too! I
think the lofty goal that's always floating around in the back of my
head is to be some kind of Intellectual Icon. I'm not sure what that
entails, exactly, but hopefully it includes getting invited to TED
conferences and being consulted as an expert on some impressively
esoteric topic.

NM: I've had some of the TED fantasies, too! ;D Thank you so much,
Sarah, for stopping by!

Queens Reading & A Quote

2011-03-09T10:56:00.001-05:00

Wanted to share this wonderful quote I saw in an email today from an amazing feminist teacher. I did not ask if I could mention her name, so you will just have to trust me when I say that she is fantastic beyond words :):

"I think the importance of doing activist work is precisely because it allows you to give back and to consider yourself not as a single individual who may have achieved whatever, but to be a part of an ongoing historical movement." – Angela Davis

What an absolutely lovely way to start off the day! That quote encompasses everything writing is for me. Personal achievement means little if everything around me stays the same. My kids still have to grow up in the mess and the beauty that is this world and if I can do something to elevate the beauty and reduce the mess . . . that is accomplishment enough for me.

In other news -- I have been very excited to read in Queens, NY, because it is home to one of the largest Asian/South Asian populations in the city. When I volunteered at SAYA! (South Asian Youth Action), I was lucky enough to work with some of those diverse Queens teens and it was always the highlight of my week.

As part of the Teen Author Fest, I will be reading with Melina Marchetta, Barry Lyga and Brent Crawford on Thursday, March 17th from 10-12 at the Long Island City branch (37-44 21st Street, LIC, NY 11101), then signing books that Sunday (the 21st) at Books of Wonder in Manhattan. If you're in or around any of those locations, please come and say hi!

Why I do What I Do

2011-03-08T09:42:00.002-05:00

Last night, my fourth-grade daughter stayed up later than usual, finishing up her "A Woman I Admire" essay. She went on the computer and searched for images of Raven Symone, her inspiration, and printed them out. My daughter loves Raven because Raven acts, sings and designs clothing. She is not skinny and she is not afraid to be brown. And she is one of the only young women on mainstream television that look like my daughter.

This morning, as I was driving my girls to school, the fourth-grader looked at the picture of Raven Symone in her hands, crumpled it up and put it in her pocket. In a soft voice, she said, "Sometimes people say Raven is ugly." Then she looked up at me and I could see the sheen of tears in her eyes. "I don't think I'm going to talk about Raven, Mommy."

Even as my heart was breaking and I was doing all I could to remind my daughter of her beauty in the minutes before she headed off to school, I knew I had lost this battle. So much of this is bigger than I am. But I was reminded, with a surge of remembered pain, why I write what I write -- to counter some of what my girls see in the world, every minute of every day.

It will wear at them and they will not come out unscathed. But I can do my best to teach them how to fight. And part of that, I can do through my stories.

SHINE and JAZZ Giveaway

2011-03-03T10:38:00.000-05:00

Book Smugglers is giving away a copy each of Shine, Coconut Moon and Jazz in Love . . . . Go and comment on my guest post (about why I love feminist fiction) to enter!

Upcoming Events & Signings

2011-02-28T21:13:00.000-05:00

I'm in the revision cave, but here is a list of events where I'll be signing and/or reading for the next few months. This is a pretty solid schedule, but some things are still subject to change. More info will be posted closer to the events . . .

Thursday, March 17th, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m., Teen Author Festival, NYC - Reading from Jazz in Love at a Queens library (location to be announced).

Sunday, March 20th, Books of Wonder, 1:45 p.m.

Thursday, April 14th, keynote speech at San Gabrielino High School, San Gabriel, CA

Thursday, April 21st, 6:30 p.m. Toronto Women's Bookstore - Discussion with authors Zetta Elliott and Vivek Shraya on publishing options for under-represented voices. This discussion will be live-streamed from the bookstore, so even if you cannot attend IRL (in real life), you can attend virtually!

Saturday, April 23rd, 1:00 p.m. Booksigning at Yorkdale's Chapters/Indigo bookstore with authors Helene Boudreau, Mahtab Narsimhan, and Cheryl Rainfield.

Saturday, May 14th, 1 p.m. Diversity in YA tour with Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Jacqueline Woodson, Rita Williams Garcia, Matt De La Pena, and Kekla Magoon.

If you're in any of the above areas, please stop by and say hello!

LIVE-streamed Book Launch

2011-02-23T14:21:00.001-05:00

My dear friend, Sheila Batacharya, is celebrating the launch of a book she co-edited about the 1997 murder of Reena Virk in British Columbia, Canada. Reena Virk was a Punjabi teen who was murdered by a group of teen girls (and one boy) she wanted desperately to be friends with.

Most of the media coverage focused on the "girl-violence" aspect of the case and all but ignored the glaring race and hetero-normative elements. The book is called Reena Virk - Critical Perspectives on a Canadian Murder and takes a closer look at some of the issues that went largely unreported in mainstream media coverage.

The book launch will be live-streamed from the Toronto Women's Bookstore tomorrow, Thursday, February 24th, from 6:30-8:30 pm EST. At 6:30 EST tomorrow, go to www.womensbookstore.com, or www.ashrouder.com. I will most definitely be watching.

Margaret Atwood on Changes in Publishing

2011-02-16T11:53:00.000-05:00

I love this keynote address from award-winning poet and author Margaret Atwood at the Tools of Change conference. She talks about authors being the "dead moose" of publishing and says, "Authors are a primary source. Everything else in the world of publishing depends on them." She includes libraries, schools, book reviewers/bloggers, publishers, agents, printers, book cover designers, etc. in that analogy--all of whom rely, first and foremost, on authors to write books. She also says that authors are like anchovies in the food chain, and the anchovies are getting restless. Ha! She's fun, witty and engaging, and offers some great food for thought. (No pun intended! But she does use lots of food metaphors.)

Watch live streaming video from oreillyconfs at livestream.com

Nerds Heart YA

2011-02-15T08:59:00.000-05:00

If you're a book blogger, or just an avid reader who loves YA books, please consider going on over to the Nerds Heart YA site and nominating your favourite YA title/s for their 2010 tournament. Here is the criteria, as per their website:

1. Title can have no more than 15 reviews published throughout the book blogosphere
2. Title must be either authored by or include a character within the following category: Person(s) of Color (POC), GLBT, Disability, Mental Illness, Religious Lifestyle, Lower Socioeconomic Status or Plus Size.
3. All titles must have been published between January 1 – December 31, 2010

I just nominated my first title. LOVE it.

Jazz & Jeeves?

2011-02-14T12:40:00.001-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!! Today, being the day that it is, I just had to share this video from UK rappers, Raxstar and Sunit. It's called "Keep it Undercover," and Jeeves could totally have written it for Jazz . . .

Blog Tour, Interviews, and a Few Guest Posts

2011-02-08T21:32:00.002-05:00

All last month and most of this month, I've been doing interviews and guest posts. And while I love doing them, I'm going to have to impose a temporary freeze. I spend quite a bit of time and energy on these posts because I put so much of myself into them, but afterward, I am simply too exhausted to access that creative side in order to write new work. So, if you'd like to do an interview or have an idea for a guest post, please ask me a few months down the road? I would love to consider the request then :).

However, if you're not sick of me like I am, here are a few links:

An Equal Place at the Table (guest post on YA lit and representation)

The Book Smugglers' review of Jazz in Love

Review of Jazz in Love at Bibliophilia (love this blog by the very awesome, very talented 16-yr-old - Maggie Desmond-O'Brien)

This month and into next, I'll be doing a blog tour with Teen Book Scene. Click on the banner above for details, or follow the posts here. I had so much fun with these - there's even a character interview on the 28th with Deesh, Jazz's mom :D.

Ari's interview for Reading in Color will be up beginning of March and I'll link to that, as well. She asks some questions no one has asked me yet about Jazz in Love.

In the meantime, happy almost-Spring, all! (Yes, I'm very hopeful. Especially as the wind howls outside my window.) Please send lots of creative writing-y vibes this way :).

Ahmed, on Killjoys

2011-02-04T11:15:00.001-05:00

I saw this excerpt on Leonineclaire's tumblr and wanted to share. It's an extract from Sara Ahmed's "Feminist Killjoys (and Other Willful Subjects)". I could see great classroom discussion/debate emerging around this one excerpt:

“Take the example of racism. It can be willful even to name racism: as if the talk about divisions is what is divisive. Given that racism recedes from social consciousness, it appears as if the ones who “bring it up” are bringing it into existence . . . . To recede is to go back or withdraw. To concede is to give way, to yield. People of color are often asked to concede to the recession of racism: we are asked to “give way” by letting it “go back.” Not only that: more than that. We are often asked to embody a commitment to diversity. We are asked to smile in their brochures. The smile of diversity is a way of not allowing racism to surface; it is a form of political recession.

Racism is very difficult to talk about as racism can operate to censor the very evidence of its existence. Those who talk about racism are thus heard as creating rather than describing a problem. The stakes are indeed very high: to talk about racism is to occupy a space that is saturated with tension. History is saturation. One of the findings of a research project I was involved with on diversity was that because racism saturates everyday and institutional spaces, people of color often make strategic decisions not to use the language of racism.[18] If you already pose a problem, or appear “out of place” in the institutions of whiteness, there can be “good reasons” not to exercise what is heard as a threatening vocabulary.[19] Not speaking about racism can be a way of inhabiting the spaces of racism. You minimize the threat you already are by softening your language and appearance, by keeping as much distance as you can from the figure of the angry person of color. Of course, as we know, just to walk into a room can be to lose that distance, because that figure gets there before you do.

When you use the very language of racism you are heard as “going on about it,” as “not letting it go.” It is as if talking about racism is what keeps it going. Racism thus often enters contemporary forms of representation as a representation of a past experience.”

You can read the rest of the article here.

Daughters of Kali

2011-02-01T22:54:00.001-05:00

I'm very excited to share that I have a short story in this month's issue of Expanded Horizons magazine. The piece is called Daughters of Kali and it is my first published piece of speculative fiction for adults (er - that's written under my own name). I love the graphic they included with the piece, too.

Here's an excerpt:

She paid them no mind.‭ ‬She was used to gossip.‭ ‬Her mother was an unconventional woman who caused the village women to whisper like leaves in a storm.‭ ‬Her mother was a woman who’d never bowed to touch her father’s feet as custom dictated.‭ ‬She wore what she wished.‭ ‬She had two girls and refused to‭ “‬try for a boy.‭” ‬She adored and educated her daughters,‭ ‬and she did so with aplomb,‭ ‬often showing her affection in public.

The only reason Mother was never sent packing was that Father stood directly in the line of fire whenever anyone had anything to say.‭ “‬My wife does all she does with my blessing.‭ ‬If anyone takes issue,‭ ‬let him come to me.‭”

And come to him,‭ ‬they did.‭ ‬All the husbands and fathers and uncles regularly harassed him for setting a poor example and allowing his wife and girls far too much freedom.‭ “‬You’ll have all the women of the village wanting the same treatment,‭ ‬Harbir‭! ‬What will become of our traditions and way of life‭?”

But her father never budged.‭ ‬And while the other women in the village set their feet on prescribed paths,‭ ‬they did so with a hint of mischief.‭ ‬Just a small sidestep every now and then,‭ ‬much to Mother’s secret delight.

Read the rest here and let me know what you think!

Kirkus

2011-01-25T11:33:00.000-05:00

So every writer knows that getting a positive review from Kirkus, never mind a star, is quite a feat. Well, Jazz in Love was recently reviewed on the Kirkus blog. If it weren't for the "factual error" the reviewer pointed out, the actual review was quite lovely. I don't mind "predictable" - there are thousands of predictable books on the shelves featuring white teens. In a sea of books about PoC who suffer nobly, are rescued by white or western saviours, or are living amidst despair and violence, I am delighted that in this book, South Asian teens get to star in a light, fun, somewhat predictable read that was compared to some of Meg Cabot's (The Princess Diaries) writing :).

Even though my elation was slightly dampened by one line I didn't catch, I cherish the review, nonetheless. [The line: one of my characters states that same-sex marriage is legal in Hawaii - and it is not.] I am grateful to the reviewer, who personally sent me a kind email notifying me of the review, for bringing this to my attention and I have already implemented the change in all editions.

There may be a slight lapse of a few days in availability while Jazz in Love is updated, but it will be back up and available almost immediately.

Giveaway of L.K. Madigan's Books

2011-01-19T09:41:00.002-05:00

The Debs are giving away tons of copies of L.K. Madigan's books, FLASH BURNOUT and THE MERMAID'S MIRROR. Each of us is buying a copy of both of Lisa's books and offering them to readers as a way to show our love and support for Lisa, and also to celebrate the wonderful books, themselves!

I've known Lisa (also known as L.K.) as fun, funny, irreverent and a lady who tells it like it is. Last week, she shared some "hard news" on her blog and we were all devastated. We love you, Lisa!

Please go and comment to win a copy of (the 2010 Morris Award winning) FLASH BURNOUT, or THE MERMAID'S MIRROR - your chances are really good. And please help spread the word about Lisa's amazing books. Tweet the giveaway, announce it on Facebook and tell your friends!

Release Day!!!

2011-01-10T09:43:00.003-05:00

Today, January 10th, 2011, is Release Day for JAZZ IN LOVE!!! I am so excited and overwhelmed and full of gratitude. Please help me celebrate!!

Here is where Jazz is available:

Boone Bridge Books (indie bookseller)
Indiebound (US)
Powell's (US)

Amazon US

Amazon Canada

Amazon UK
Chapters/Indigo (Canada)

Barnes and Noble

And here is where you can find JAZZ in eBook:

For the Apple iPad

Sony e-reader, Stanza, Diesel, and hand-held reading devices

Kindle

If you don't see it at your local bookstore, please ask them to order copies!

Movie Links & A Giveaway

2011-01-04T11:36:00.000-05:00

And so we begin anew! Another cycle of birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, gray hair. >grin<

First: if you don't have a copy of Jazz in Love, Edi over at Crazy Quilts is giving away two copies, so if you'd like to enter your name in the draw, go on over and comment!

Second, here are a couple of films I watched over the holidays that I really liked -

The main criticism of the film seems to be that it was not an accurate depiction of the horrors of Partition. But honestly? I've read, watched, and heard enough about the carnage of Partition to last me a looong time. This was a love story by Kashmiri-born director, Vic Sarin, and for that, it was quite beautiful. Yes, they got a lot of it wrong (the accents, some of the details), but for the love story (for which I am, admittedly, a sucker), it was well worth watching.

And this one -

I got worried about this one partway through, but then it righted itself and ended up pretty good.

Happy viewing, all!

Happy Holidays, Everyone!!

2010-12-23T13:31:00.000-05:00

Wishing everyone a safe, warm, joyous holiday season, and a bright, healthy, prosperous new year!

See you all in 2011. :)

Jazz, Now Available!!!

2010-12-20T14:38:00.003-05:00

So I just was alerted to the fact that JAZZ is now available (early!!) on a number of online retail sites!

Here are the ones I've found so far . . .

Boone Bridge Books (indie bookseller)
Indiebound (US)
Powell's (US)

Amazon US

Amazon Canada

Amazon UK

Chapters/Indigo (Canada)

Barnes and Noble

And here is where you can find JAZZ in eBook:

For the Apple iPad

Sony e-reader, Stanza, Diesel, and hand-held reading devices

Kindle

Still waiting for the paperback to show up on Borders and other indie sellers in Canada, the UK, etc. But for now, this little book is slowly making its way out into the world . . . with a lot of help from its friends :).

Me & L.A. Banks - That's How We Roll...

2010-12-16T12:26:00.003-05:00

It looks like me and NY Times best-selling author, L.A. Banks, are going the same route with our books. I noticed her most recent release on Smashwords last night, which is the ebook distributor I'm going with, and saw that she listed herself as the publisher. I was so excited you do not even KNOW.

If you're interested in the ebook for JAZZ, it's available right now, here, and will soon go live on the Barnes & Noble and Borders online sites, as well as the Sony and Apple eBook stores within the next few weeks. The print version is on its way and should be available for purchase by mid-January (or sooner).

So exciting! Go, Ms. Banks! It looks like sisters ARE doing it for themselves *grin* (okay, that was cheesy). I'm going to buy her book for sure, and so should you. :)

JAZZ Book Trailer

2010-12-14T10:58:00.001-05:00

Here's JAZZ, in images and sound . . .

Food, Freedom, Control, and Profit

2010-12-08T10:00:00.001-05:00

This link was posted on Facebook and I had to share it here. Jason Taylor is over on Vimeo with a video series about food, freedom, control and farming (hence, the title of this post - clever, huh?). I saw three of the short pieces and was duly impressed. Unfortunately, my connection slowed, so I was frustrated and couldn't watch the rest, but I'll be sure to be back on Jason's channel as soon as I get another chance. Check out the videos - they're really interesting.

Here's one that shows the Golden Temple's langar ritual. Langar is the communal meal served at all Sikh temples. Anyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, whatever is given a free meal - it's one of the basic tenets of Sikhism, and one I whole-heartedly agree with. No one should go hungry.

Favourite Quotes

2010-12-07T12:25:00.002-05:00

A couple of *great* quotes this week . . .

This has to be one of my absolute most favouritest quotes of all time:

"The lack of regard for YA fiction in the mainstream isn't an altogether bad thing. There's something to be said for living in a disreputable, ghettoized bohemia . . . . There's a lot of room for artistic, political and commercial expectation over here in low-stakes land, the same way that there was so much room for experimentation in other ghettos, from hip-hop to roleplaying games to dime-novels. Sure, we're vulnerable to moral panics about corrupting youth (a phenomenon as old as Socrates, and a charge that has been leveled at everything from the waltz to the jukebox), but if you're upsetting that kind of person, you're probably doing something right.

Risk-taking behavior — including ill-advised social, sexual, and substance adventures — are characteristic of youth itself . . . . However, the frightened and easily offended are doing a better job than they ever have of collapsing the horizons of young people, denying them the pleasures of gathering in public or online for fear of meteor-strike-rare lurid pedophile bogeymen, or on the pretense of fighting gangs or school shootings or some other tabloid horror. Literature may be the last escape available to young people today. It's an honor to be writing for them. " -- Cory Doctorow

And this is one I swiped off CrazyQuilts, the blog of one of our favourite blogging librarians:

"I'm tired of YA books that stereotype teens of color and continually cast them as victims. Too often, whether the teen be Asian or Middle Eastern they are first or second generation with immigrant issues or retelling traditional stories. Blacks and Latino/as are urban dwellers with violent anger issues and Natives are silently stereotyped, too. No doubt we need to meet students where they are and validate their existence, however not all teens of any one ethnic group have the exact same experience. Even those who live marginalized lives deserve to see other possibilities for themselves and White readers need to see people of color in equitable situations." -- Edi Campbell

Introducing...JAZZ IN LOVE!!!

2010-12-01T12:14:00.001-05:00

So I have been very busy. I am so SUPER, TERRIBLY, UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED to share with you the cover of my second novel, JAZZ IN LOVE!!!!

I have to say that this is an incredible time in publishing for creative pursuits. I know there are many who are predicting doom for publishing and the printed book, but I think things are simply going to change (and for the better!) because people will have more options and choices. For instance, even five years ago, I would not have known about, nor had access to the types of resources that have allowed me to put JAZZ out into the world. I am releasing it under my own imprint, Ignite Books, and I worked with a very enthusiastic and supportive former Greenwillow/Harper Collins editor to get the book in the best shape it could possibly be. The result is a fun, funny story with elements of romance and a little bit of intensity thrown in. YAYYYY!!!!!

Here is the blurb from the back of the book:

"Jasbir, a.k.a. Jazz, has always been a stellar student and an obedient, albeit wise-cracking, daughter. Everything has gone along just fine--she has good friends in the "genius" program she's been in since kindergarten, her teachers and principal adore her, and her parents dote on her. But now, in her junior year of high school, her mother hears that Jazz was seen hugging a boy on the street and goes ballistic. Mom immediately implements the Guided Dating Plan, which includes setting up blind dates with "suitable," pre-screened Indian candidates. The boy her mother sets her up with, however, is not at all what anyone expects; and the new boy at school, the very UNsuitable hottie, is the one who sets Jazz's blood boiling. When Jazz makes a few out-of-the-ordinary decisions, everything explodes, and she realizes she'll need a lot more than her genius education to get out of the huge mess she's in. Can Jazz find a way to follow her own heart, and still stay in the good graces of her parents?"

The official release is slated for January. If you'd like a review copy, please leave a comment below, or email me, and I'll do my best to get one out to you as soon as I can!

"I Want My Life To Be Awesome NOW."

2010-11-29T08:00:00.002-05:00

Recently, I put up a link to a video that was created in response to the recent bullying incidents of LGBTQ youth. The basic message was "it gets better." Well, this video is by young people who don't want to wait for it to get better. They want it to be better now. And I can totally relate to that sentiment . . .

Reteaching Gender and Sexuality from Sid Jordan on Vimeo.

Class and Language

2010-11-24T20:53:00.000-05:00

Here's a fascinating glimpse of how accents and language play into perceptions around class and privilege:

Quotes of the Day

2010-11-20T13:59:00.000-05:00

I remember these quotes from my early years as a young activist on the arts and culture scene in Toronto, and it was wonderful to be reminded of them today. I found them on this blog; if you haven't had a chance to check it out, definitely swing by . . .

"When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid."
-- Audre Lorde

"If you are free, you are not predictable and you are not controllable."
-- June Jordan

The second one resonates quite strongly with me at this juncture in my life. Do either of the above quotes mean anything to you?

Roy on Obama's Visit to India & Globalization

2010-11-12T21:17:00.002-05:00

Here's an interesting clip from acclaimed Indian author, Arundhati Roy (GOD OF SMALL THINGS), on Obama's recent visit to India.

Roy has been an outspoken activist against corporate greed and globalization for years. She has made some controversial statements and has ardent fans as well as staunch critics. Personally, I love listening to her. Besides the fact that she's beautiful, I love that this creative mind, and acclaimed novelist, has become a voice for the poor--who often have no voice in the face of political and corporate power.

Screaming Purple

2010-10-20T09:56:00.000-04:00

Today I am wearing purple to remember those young people who took their own lives after intense anti-gay bullying, and to offer hope, support and solidarity to teens who are struggling with those issues in their lives now. You are not alone, and your voices are incredibly important and valuable. Hang in there - it will get better, I promise. You will get stronger and understand just how precious you are. And you will see all these voices around you in a different light. Not as powerful and big as they seem now.

Along the same lines, over at Chasing Ray, we're talking about what made us want to scream as teens. Here's an excerpt from the incredibly poignant contribution from Anonymous:

"...my mother despaired of my clothes when I went away to school. She complained when I wore knee-length sweaters, baggy jeans and long coats, all year ‘round. My mother always told me to stand up straight and didn’t understand why I didn’t make “more of an effort” in college.

Didn’t she understand that the message I’d already received was, disappear?"

And a bit from Cecil Castelucci:

"He told me I was wrong. That I didn’t know what my own thoughts were about it because I was too young. That I was just parroting what my clearly liberal parents said. So, he dismissed me. That enraged me. I mean, come on, just cause you're 15 years old it doesn’t mean that you don’t know what your own thoughts are. Or that you’ve been influenced or are parroting your parents. Ask my dad. When I was a teenager, we got into debates and disagreed about stuff all the time. He still thinks that graffiti on the subways is not art. I still totally disagree with him and I am now way older than 15. So, the thing that enraged me, made me want to scream and tear my hair out was being dismissed."

Here's a small clip from mine at the end:

"But what made me want to scream the most was the double standard. How I couldn't cut my hair, but my brothers could. How I couldn't play sports, but my brothers could. How I couldn't go out and have friends, but my brothers could. It was the same double standard I saw with my parents - my father was engaged in discussions involving family decisions, but when my mother spoke up, she was told that no one asked for her opinion. She ran our home, but in public had to defer to my father. She made every important decision, but had to pretend that my father was the one "in charge." It was infuriating, not to mention an outright lie."

Check out the rest of the post - it's wonderful to see all those voices together.

Links

2010-10-18T12:32:00.000-04:00

If you haven't checked out John Scalzi's "Things I Don't Have To Think About Today" post, do that now. He totally gets it.

"Today I don't have to think about men who don't believe no means no . . . Today I don’t have to think about whether I’m married, depending on what state I’m in . . . Today I don’t have to think about whether I’m being pulled over for anything other than speeding . . . Today I don’t have to think about the people who’d consider torching my house of prayer a patriotic act . . ."

And this article, by Will Neville of Amplifyyourvoice.org, a project of Advocates for Youth, gives us a good idea of just how deeply ingrained misogyny is in contemporary US/North American culture. There is video footage of frat boys at Yale shouting "No means yes, yes means anal..." as part of an induction exercize for new pledges.

Links, Upcoming Events, Awesome Video

2010-10-12T10:23:00.000-04:00

I shared this video on Facebook, but love it so much I want to share it here, too. It was created by my partner-in-crime, Hollis, and it ROCKS.

Interview
If you're not sick of me like I am, you can check out a recent interview on Sayantini Dasgupta's blog. I'm not doing many interviews these days, but Sayantani had the best, thought-provoking questions, and I cleared off some space to answer them. Check that out here.

Events
I'm going to be in Albuquerque, New Mexico from November 5-7th for YALSA (the Young Adult Literature Symposium of the American Library Association)'s conference on diversity, and on November 22nd, I'll be in Orlando, Florida for the ALAN conference (the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents, a branch of the National Council of Teachers of English). If you're in or around either of those, please come by and say hello!

My Thoughts on Self-Pubbing and Ebooks

2010-10-05T22:59:00.000-04:00

I have a post up here on my thoughts about self-publishing and ebooks. Here's a quote:

"I've been wondering which route to take with my own writing lately and these links were very interesting to come across. My debut novel, Shine, Coconut Moon (McElderry, 2009) released to rave reviews, has received enthusiastic support from the teacher and librarian communities and is holding its own vis-a-vis sales, considering it was one of the quieter releases last year. But publishers have become increasingly risk-averse over the past few years. I sold Shine in 2007. My current project, a contemporary, realistic YA with elements of humour and romance is, according to editors, "too quiet," "too commercial," or it "won't stand out." The first and last translate to something many of us, particularly writers telling the stories of marginalized folks, have heard incessantly: "this won't sell," or "there is no market for this." It is something I'd heard over and over from both agents and editors about Shine."

Read more...

I also link to a few different articles and posts. Here are some quotes . . .

From The Wall Street Journal:

"There will always be the lucky new author whose first novel ignites a hot auction. But more often today, many debut novels that would have won lucrative advances five years ago today are getting $15,000 or less, says Adam Chromy, a New York literary agent. Mr. Chromy was recently disappointed with the immediate response from editors for a debut novel he thought was exceptionally good.

Meanwhile, small independent publishers are becoming more popular options for new writers. Leslie Daniels, a literary agent for the past 20 years, was thrilled to sell Creston Lea's recently published debut short-story collection, "Wild Punch," to Turtle Point Press.

But the author received only a $1,000 advance, typical of the advances paid by small independents. "I can't make a living as a writer, but it feels great to have these stories out in the world," says Mr. Lea. The author, who lives in Vermont, builds electric guitars and writes on the side. Jonathan Rabinowitz, publisher of Turtle Point Press, says "Wild Punch" has sold about 1,500 copies, including 150 e-books. He described the performance as 'encouraging.'

"The smaller advance has a ripple effect. Ms. Daniels, who earns a 15% commission, used to make $11,250 on a big publisher advance of $75,000 or so. Her cut on Mr. Lea's $1,000: $150."

From an interview with author Karen McQuestion, who had two agents, almost sold novels several times, but ultimately never got published by traditional, mainstream publishers, then self-pubbed half a dozen of her books, signed with Amazon Encore, and optioned one of her books to film. The entire interview is up on J.A. Konrath's blog:

"Sometimes I still can’t believe the turn my writing life has taken. A year ago I was a failed novelist with years of work on my hard drive, and now I have readers and an income. Life is good."

Statement Worth Reading

2010-10-03T16:56:00.000-04:00

Here is a link to the Carl Brandon Society's official statement on the Elizabeth Moon controversy. I particularly like these two paragraphs:

"Regarding “tolerance”: “Tolerance” is often considered one of our primary duties as citizens. “Tolerance” does not mean agreement, consensus, likeness, or even understanding. It does not mean assimilation. It does not require friendship, nor even dialogue. It is simple. It means refraining from expressing negativity towards things that are different from or alien to you. Tolerance is part of our social contract: you tolerate me, and I tolerate you; we both refrain from attacking one another; we live and let live. On the other hand, tolerance doesn’t deserve reward, either. As a social responsibility, it doesn’t change, lessen, or end; you never cease to be responsible for tolerating others.

Regarding “teachable moments”: It is not the responsibility of members of marginalized groups to educate others about their group’s reality, history, or oppression. In situations like the current one, where someone has made bigoted statements against members of a particular group, members of that group have the right to be outraged and hurt without being forced into a false “teaching” position . . . "

Ellen, Using her Platform to Say Something

2010-10-01T12:53:00.000-04:00

Caught this on Facebook today. I love that people are stepping up and speaking out, especially those with large platforms. If you haven't seen Ellen's statement, watch it now:

Back In A Groove

2010-09-29T10:01:00.000-04:00

I finally feel like I'm getting back into a sort of rhythm again. The summer really threw off where I was going and what I had planned. It was like I was on a clear path for the first half of the year, and then everything just got knocked off the tracks. I'm trying to pull myself back on and adjusting the course as necessary, but still not sure where I'm going to end up.

I know that's all a bit convoluted, but that's because it's like that in my head - all muddled, with only a few sure things to lead the way.

In the meantime, a friend forwarded me this link to an interesting post by Amal El-Mohtar, which was in response to this post by author Elizabeth Moon. Just to sum up, Moon is to be honoured at Wiscon next year as an esteemed Guest of Honour. The issue at hand is that Wiscon is the "world's leading feminist science-fiction/fantasy convention." Moon's post, however, is very problematic, to put it mildly. The Wiscon conference committee released a statement that they did not intend to rescind Ms. Moon's Guest of Honour-ship, but that they hoped the conference would be a place for further dialogue on the issues.

I won't give additional credence to Moon's post by reproducing it here in any of its parts, but here's a bit from El-Mohtar's response:

"I can't help but wonder, if Moon had said that 'many Black people possess all the virtues of civilised persons,' there would have been any 'controversy' at all. Or, to forestall the 'race and religion are different!' arguments, if she had said 'many Jews possess all the virtues of civilised persons.' Basically, if she had expressed bigotry that can't masquerade as a political leaning or a concern for national security, would there be any soul-searching over what to do? Would the committee co-chairs still be 'committed to making WisCon a place where all may participate and be heard'?

For me, it's a tough call with regard to the conference because the other Guest of Honour next year is Nisi Shawl, whom I deeply respect and admire. At the same time, Wiscon is a feminist, progressive conference. It is one of the only spaces of its kind where people of like mind can gather and move dialogue forward. It is one of the few places where discussions around power and privilege are part of the programming and actually take place, front and center, in all their honesty, ugliness, mess and, at times, enlightenment.

Do read the posts if you get a chance. The comments after El-Mohtar's post are lengthy, but worth the read, too.

Balance

2010-09-21T00:00:00.000-04:00

This is a crappy cell phone image, but if you look closely at my cup of tea from this morning, you'll notice a natural yin-yang . . .

To Be Or Not To Be . . . Political, That Is

2010-09-19T19:15:00.000-04:00

Fellow Deb, Sarah Ockler, put up this beautiful review of SHINE on the YA blog, The Contemps. It brought tears to my eyes because Sarah contextualized SHINE within the recent controversy surrounding the "Ground Zero Mosque" and Quran burning hoopla. And this resonated, especially, because I've been noticing, clearly stated on some agent sites, that those particular agents prefer not to work with authors who have "political" blogs, or who write "politically polarizing" posts on their blogs.

But here's the thing. For some people, being "political" is not a choice. Stating that racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, etc., exist - to some folks - is simply stating a reality, while others have the luxury (privilege) to choose not to address it, engage with it, or even acknowledge it. I'm not really sure what a polarizing political post is - maybe a call to action? But I do think it's good for agents to state their preferences, just as I think it's good for writers to continue stating their views. Because, really, there are no apolitical views. The political runs through our day-to-day lives, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. Choosing not to write political posts IS a political act. Choosing not to see "colour" or race IS a political act. Choosing not to engage in discourse around power and privilege is exercizing that very privilege, and it is most definitely a political act.

Tarts!

2010-08-29T00:44:00.001-04:00

Since they don't sell butter tarts here in the US, the only thing a Canadian can do when in urgent need of buttery goodness is to make them herself. Which I did! (See pic below for proof). And they SO hit the spot. For those of you who don't know about them, butter tarts are sort of like pecan pie without the pecans. And they are delicious with a cup of tea . . . YUM.

Faith in Revisions

2010-08-26T11:59:00.001-04:00

There is a great article in Poets & Writers, called Revision as Renovation, by Benjamin Percy. It's definitely worth a read. He draws parallels between revising and home renovation. And, while I knew the article was about the importance of revision, I couldn't help but focus on these paragraphs:

"I had sold my novel, The Wilding. My edi-
tor at Graywolf Press, Fiona McCrae, told me how excited
she was about the manuscript, but wondered if I might be
amenable to some changes. Of course, I said. What did
she have in mind? 'How about let’s start with the point of
view?' she said. 'Might we shift it from ﬁrst to third? And
in doing so, with the freedom afforded to the characters,
perhaps we could add ﬁve interlocking plotlines all com-
ing to a head at once?' The book had good bones, in other
words, but it needed some renovation."

and then this:

"It took me a year to rewrite The Wilding, to change from first to third person, to free up those characters and braid together their stories. And when I handed it in to Fiona in March 2009, she said . . . 'Fantastic. Exactly what we wanted. Now, would you mind cutting several of these sub-plots? And maybe we could add another in a female perspective? And while we're at it, how about let's rethink the ending?' And, and, and."

All I could think was, "Wow! An editor acquired a book that needed ALL that revision? She waited a year for revisions, and then asked for more?" I was left shaking my head in wonder. As a writer, all I could think was how amazing, validating, affirming it is to know someone has that kind of faith in your work; that much love for just the idea of what you're writing! That's the kind of excitement and enthusiasm you want for your writing!

I'm grateful to articles like these because most authors don't know what it's like for other authors. We are an isolated bunch, but reading others' experiences gives us great insight into our own, and to the industry in which we are investing so much time, energy and heart, with no promise of any kind of return, save for our love of the craft.

Links for This Week

2010-08-19T12:52:00.000-04:00

Love this Sandip Roy piece on Alternet about Eat, Pray, Love:

Now, I don’t want to deny Gilbert her “journey.” She is herself honest, edifying and moving. I don’t want to deny her Italian carbs, her Indian Om’s or her Bali Hai beach romance. We all need that sabbatical from the rut of our lives.

But as her character complained that she had “no passion, no spark, no faith” and needed to go away for one year, I couldn’t help wondering where do people in Indonesia and India go away to when they lose their passion, spark and faith? I don’t think they come to Manhattan. Usually third-worlders come to America to find education, jobs and to save enough money to send for their families to join them, not work out their kinks.

On the other end of the film spectrum, here's an interesting tidbit--megastar Bollywood actor, Amir Khan, who starred in and co-produced the Oscar-nominated Lagaan some years back, has produced a political film about farmer suicides in India. It's a satire that cuts very close to the truth:

Khan knows that he's taking a risk by producing such an explicitly political film in a country where reasonable expectations say it'll find a niche audience, at best. But he's come to believe it's his job to make movies with a message.
"I don't know who else will do it," he says. "When I come across material which excites me — which not only is engaging and entertaining, but also has something to say, or hopefully sensitizes people or makes you think — I'd like to be a part of that."

And in publishing industry news, Barnes & Noble is for sale:

I know exactly when B&N lost me as a customer. Some years ago, to compete with Amazon, B&N began offering free same-day delivery in Manhattan if you placed your order over the Internet by 11 a.m. I did so several times -- and not once did the books arrive when promised. Everything I have ordered from Amazon has arrived on time or earlier. Then came Amazon's game-changing Kindle, and instant delivery. Nothing I've read about B&N's belated rival Nook has tempted me to try it.

What Happens If

2010-08-15T22:54:00.000-04:00

The South Asia Solidarity Initiative has put forward a response to this TIME Magazine article titled, "What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan." With the strong emotional response an image like that of Aisha on the cover of TIME elicits, it's especially important to read other takes on the issue. Sometimes we get so overwhelmed by strong emotional responses (and the image of Aisha certainly draws justified rage and sheer devastation), that we don't take the time to see the full picture.

Certainly read TIME's post, if you feel so inclined. But then go and read the response to it -- here is an excerpt:

The August 9, 2010 issue of TIME magazine featured a striking cover photograph of an 18-year-old Afghan woman, Aisha, who was disfigured by the Taliban last year. The cover title read, “What happens if we leave Afghanistan.” While Aisha’s story and the stories of many other women like her may depict some part of the reality of women’s lives under the Taliban, TIME’s conclusion that continuing the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan is necessary, is highly misleading and troubling. [. . .]

For the last decade, the occupying forces of the U.S. and its NATO allies have nourished warlords and supported a corrupt government, leading many to join the Taliban and increasing their influence across Afghanistan. Increased civilian deaths, a fundamentalist resurgence, and deadly bombing raids have led to a devastated country and a Taliban stronger than ever before. TIME’s claim to “illuminate what is actually happening on the ground” falsely equates the last decade of occupation with progress. The occupation has not and will not bring democracy to Afghanistan, nor will it bring liberation to Afghan women. Instead, it has exacerbated deep-seated corruption in the government, the widespread abuse of women’s rights and human rights by fundamentalists, including Karzai’s allies, and stymied critical infrastructure development in the country. The question should not be “what happens if we leave Afghanistan,” the question should be “what happened when we invaded Afghanistan” and “what happens if we stay in Afghanistan.”

Racism and Misogyny are often used against one another, to justify the existence of one over the other. In this case, "protecting the women" seems to be the guise under which US racism and imperialism justify their presence. The truth is that both racism and misogyny go hand in hand. Where there is one, the other always lurks nearby.

Read the rest of SASI's response here.

Importance of YA

2010-08-14T11:49:00.000-04:00

I love this audio interview with S.E. Hinton (thanks to Mitali Perkins for the link!), author of The Outsiders, and Patrick Henry Bass, senior editor of Essence magazine. Ms. Hinton was one of the authors who made me want to write YA lit, by the way, when I was thirteen. I especially love the part in this audio where they talk about the fact that Hinton was one of the first to address class, i.e. she was writing about the tension between the "greasers" and the "socs" when most authors of her time were writing about prom kings and queens -- and how that hasn't changed all that much today . . .

On Security

2010-08-13T11:56:00.000-04:00

Olugbemisola tweeted the TED site today for a revisit of Adichie's "single story" video. While there, I also ended up watching Eve Ensler's talk on security. It's very interesting and not super long. Check it out . . .

Feminist Sci-Fi; Links

2010-08-06T12:13:00.000-04:00

The Rejectionist is having feminist sci-fi week on her blog and my guest post is up. Swing by there and add your thoughts.

Also, because of Le R's femscifi week, I have discovered author Clare Bell. I was intrigued by her comment on one of the comment threads. Although I have never been a "talking animals" fan per se, since my romance novels feature shapeshifters I went to her website to poke around. I stayed up way later than I intended, reading Ms. Bell's publishing history (it is in ten parts) which, while being heart-wrenchingly devastating, was also incredibly inspiring. *If you have any interest in publishing, sci-fi/fantasy lit, the writer's journey . . . go read Ms. Bell's path to publication*. As an author, all I could say when I finished was a stunned, "Wow." Lucky for readers, Ms. Bell is still getting her work out there and fighting for the fans who adore her characters. Do check out her website and read the first chapter in the series.

And, if you haven't checked out Ari's amazing letter to Borders, why the $%^& not??? You are hope and inspiration, Ari.

Have a great weekend, all!

Last Dance

2010-08-05T22:23:00.001-04:00

There were only one woman and one person of colour left on SYTYCD tonight (out of four - not bad in itself, but if you watched the whole thing, you know there were all kinds of issues this season). And with Jose gone, and Adechike voted off, I don't know if I'll watch the rest. Okay, I probably will. I do love the all-stars from previous seasons--Twitch, Ade, Comfort, Dominick . . . . Still, Adechike (who hails from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, by the way) had a rough road from the beginning with the judges - and he is an awesome dancer. He will, without doubt, go on to have an amazing career, maybe even with the Ailey company, which is what first inspired him to dance. He will be sorely missed, at least by me.

But last night, the performance that got me all choked up was Kent and Neil's piece, choreographed by Travis Wall. What they said on the show was that the story was about two "friends", but hello--am I the only one seeing a lovers' break-up here? Those two seem way closer than a couple of buddies. Either way, it was an incredible routine . . .

Neil Kent Travis @ Yahoo! Video

On Terminology

2010-08-02T13:30:00.001-04:00

I've seen the word "Caucasian" used to describe white people often enough that I feel compelled to do a post on it.

First off, here is the term as defined by dictionary.reference.com:

"Anthropology. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of one of the traditional racial divisions of humankind, marked by fair to dark skin, straight to tightly curled hair, and light to very dark eyes, and originally inhabiting Europe, parts of North Africa, western Asia, and India: no longer in technical use."

The above definition, and this one on wiki which corroborates it, would mean that I would, technically, be considered Caucasian. As would Morrocans, Algerians, Iranians, Iraqis, Pakistanis, Indians, and many other peoples of colour. It's obvious to me that most of the references I've seen to "Caucasian" are not intended to include myself, or any other people of colour. My guess is that in these instances, the writer actually means to say "white folks". This seems to be a very North American usage of the term. If you read the above-linked wiki entry, and any other info on the topic, really, you'll get a sense for why the term "Caucasian" is problematic, and how it has been rooted in racist and racially-motivated designations (that have nothing to do with reality).

The term irks me, in particular, because I am always reminded of the United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind case whenever I see/hear it. As anyone who has ever taken an Asian Studies class probably knows, this was the case of Bhagat Singh Thind, a Punjabi Sikh man, who argued with the US courts that, because he was technically Caucasian and Aryan, he was entitled to become a naturalized citizen of the US, according to the 1790 statute governing naturalization.*

As you might imagine, this threw the courts in a tizzy and all kinds of new findings were brought about, and stuff was re-worded to make it abundantly clear that when the word "Caucasian" was used in the 1790 statute, the writers WERE NOT referring to brown people. According to wiki, "The Court found that the authors of the 1790 statute probably ascribed to 'the Adamite theory of creation' and understood 'white people' in its popular, and not scientific, sense."

After the Thind decision, not only was he not allowed to become a naturalized citizen, all Indian-Americans who had become citizens before that point had their status retroactively revoked. They were stripped of their land, rights, and citizenship. More than half of the Indian-Americans, who had settled on US soil as land-owning citizens, at that point left the US.

So, the term is a loaded one, and dotted with racial/racist history. I know many folks use the term "Caucasian" to mean white people, particularly here in the US. I don't know if it's supposed to be more polite than saying "white" or if it somehow sounds more like a technical (therefore, more valid?) term, akin to "African-American" or "Asian-American" (but then why not "European-American"?), but it is one that I, personally, cringe at every single time I read it or hear it.

*The complexities of why he should choose to argue this at all is for another post.

Fangirl Crush

2010-07-30T10:48:00.001-04:00

I love Sheila Chandra. Her story is inspiring, her voice is magic, and she has this total earth-mother-goddess vibe. She has no classical training in music and, as a child, she practiced singing so that her voice would be ready when the opportunity came. This is from the bio on her website:

"Born in South London to a South Indian immigrant family, Sheila Chandra discovered her voice at the age of twelve and whilst at Theatre Arts school. From this moment her chosen path was to be a singer. Lacking any real contacts or access to the music business, she nevertheless honed her vocal skills as a labour of love, spending up to two hours a night throwing her voice into the tall, draughty and uncarpeted stairwell of the family home: 'I didn’t know how to manufacture an opportunity, but I was determined that when a chance came my way I would be ready.'"

Don't you just love that? She is an artist's artist - constantly scrapping everything and starting from scratch, transforming herself and her art, and stitching new styles together as she goes along. *Very* inspiring.

I just came across this early video of her beatboxing, in the ancient, Indian style . . .

Summer Radio Silence

2010-07-29T19:41:00.000-04:00

I can't believe how quickly this summer has blown by. August is around the corner and I feel like I've been doing a zillion-and-one things, but it seems I have nothing to show for it.

I've been keeping an eye on what's going on with Arizona's immigration bill, also known as SB1070; I'm waiting for romance number two to release (next month), and revising romance number three; I've written a few short pieces, both fiction and non-fiction, which should be out and about soon; been keeping up with Hell's Kitchen and SYTYCD (both Fox shows, which I am loathe to acknowledge. Sadly, though not surprisingly, the latter has been on a downward spiral); planning school visits and conferences I'm scheduled for in the fall; and I've been run ragged by the kids.

In between all that, I'm trying to enjoy the summer. The pool is a huge blessing (uh, that we *pay* for) and a refreshing jumpstart on those soupy humid days in the ninety-degree-and-above regions. So I've been trying to get as much solitude by the water as possible before Labour Day sneaks up, and re-reading as much Marion Zimmer Bradley novels as I can.

Also saw an interesting film, featuring time travel, called Happy Accidents. I streamed it through Netflix and was pleasantly surprised. I love Marisa Tomei (since My Cousin Vinny, which I also loved) and the film's premise piqued my interest. It lagged at points, but I was ultimately glad I watched it. I'll probably go back and watch it again, just to see what I might have missed the first time around. If you get a chance to see it, let me know what you think.

Hahaha!!

2010-07-20T18:44:00.000-04:00

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

My friend, Maria, posted this on her Facebook wall and I just had to share. What would the caption underneath this image be?

Harlem Book Fair Panel on C-Span

2010-07-19T11:25:00.001-04:00

Definitely check out this video of a panel during the Harlem Book Fair, on C-Span. The panel features Jerry Craft, Cheryl Willis Hudson, Venesse Lloyd-Sgambati, Nick Burd and Zetta Elliott . . .

Couple Things

2010-07-13T22:57:00.001-04:00

First, a hearty and happy blog-a-versary to Ari at Reading in Color!! She's giving away a copy of His Own Where by June Jordan, so go over there and do what needs to be done to get it.

Second, my apologies for being a sh*tty blog host. I am not doing much blogging, but I am getting a ton of research done (LOVE RESEARCH), so it kinda evens out in the end. And fear not, I have been busy and you will soon see evidence of this in the form of links and outpourings and whatnot.

In the meantime, think: women warriors. And air conditioning.

There Goes the Neighborhood

2010-07-02T10:19:00.003-04:00

In case you missed it, this article by Joel Stein in Time magazine, called "My Own Private India", has pissed off many Indian-Americans. Here's an excerpt:

"For a while, we assumed all Indians were geniuses. Then, in the 1980s, the doctors and engineers brought over their merchant cousins, and we were no longer so sure about the genius thing. In the 1990s, the not-as-brilliant merchants brought their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to understand why India is so damn poor.

Eventually, there were enough Indians in Edison to change the culture. At which point my townsfolk started calling the new Edisonians "dot heads." One kid I knew in high school drove down an Indian-dense street yelling for its residents to "go home to India." In retrospect, I question just how good our schools were if "dot heads" was the best racist insult we could come up with for a group of people whose gods have multiple arms and an elephant nose."

Lovely, no? In response to some of the outrage, Mr. Stein had this to say on his Facebook page: "Didn't mean to insult Indians with my column this week. Also stupidly assumed their emails would follow that Gandhi non-violence thing."

Can we squeeze any more stereotypes in there? Way to satire, Mr. Stein! Clearly, Indian-Americans were not the target readership for this essay. Perhaps he thought PoC don't read?

Sandip Roy wrote a great response in the Huffington Post. Here's an excerpt from that:

"Dotbusters, for those who missed the 80s, were street gangs who attacked South Asians in places like Jersey City where many immigrants had moved . . . One of those immigrants, Navroze Mody, died after being bashed with bricks. Another, Kaushal Saran, a doctor, was beaten and left unconscious on a busy street corner. Homes were robbed. Women were harassed. [...]

The problem was the smart ones brought in their less smart cousins ("merchants") and the merchants brought in "their even-less-bright cousins, and we started to understand why India is so damn poor." This is immigration reform in a nutshell. Give us your engineers, but not your cabbies and Dunkin Donut-wallas. Except those cabbies and 7/11 owners and motel proprietors work damn hard for their little piece of the American dream.

I think in a way the Indian community is also so obsessed with its presidential scholars and spelling bee champs, with its Indra Nooyis (Pepsico head) and Dr. Sanjay Guptas, it gives short shrift to the little guys, the ones that run gas stations on baking highways in the middle of nowhere, take classes during the day and work graveyard shift at the 7/11. They are the muscle and sinew of our community. But to Joel Stein, they are just so much litter strewn all over his old hometown. That's his problem -- too many Indians."

Satire is only good when it is funny. Stein's essay may be funny to folks in support of bills like Arizona's SB 1070 (also known as the "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act"), but it's not funny for most Indian-Americans and other immigrants, particularly those who've been on the receiving end of name-calling, harassment, bullying, or violence stemming from views much like the ones expressed in Stein's piece. He may chuckle over his own wit, but there are some who will take essays like this as evidence to bolster an already simmering rage over the "brown hordes flooding" America's borders. Stories are powerful, indeed.

Links & SYTYCD

2010-06-24T22:51:00.001-04:00

Here are Kiera Cass's answers to the self-publishing questions she was asked on Adventures in Children's Publishing. Please note that she just landed a three-book deal with HarperTeen for her second novel (whoa!!).

Check out the latest WAGW post up at Chasing Ray. We're talking about non-fiction we wished we'd read when we were teens.

Also, go read Ari's beautiful review of HIS OWN WHERE, by June Jordan.

I am going deep underground with edits this week, but I will leave you with this awesome video of Lauren Froderman and Dominick Sandoval from SYTYCD. The story is about a woman in an abusive relationship who fights back. Beautifully danced and one of my faves from Wednesday (next to Comfort kicking @$$ in the krumping routine!).

Honouring June Jordan

2010-06-22T08:56:00.001-04:00

In honour of the re-release of HIS OWN WHERE, which I reviewed here, I'm going to put up quotes from the inimitable June Jordan. These are quotes that meant a great deal to me when I first read them. I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Jordan in the early 1990's, when she visited Toronto and did a reading for Sister Vision Press - a feminist press started and run by women of colour for "challenging and provocative" works written by women of colour. I was young and learning and seeing so many things for the first time. Jordan awed me and blew me away. Her passion, her sense of rhythm, and her absolute, radiating love was what drew me in. I'll never forget that reading. The call for action and change that rose through her depths and made it's impact in that room full of women and men, white and PoC, het and LGBTQ was critical for me during my formative years as a writer and activist. You are greatly missed, Ms. Jordan, but your legacy lives on.

"My life seems to be an increasing revelation of the intimate face of universal struggle. You begin with your family and the kids on the block, and next you open your eyes to what you call your people, and that leads you into land reform into Black English into Angola leads you back to your own bed where you lie by yourself, wondering if you deserve to be peaceful, or trusted or desired or left to the freedom of your own unfaltering heart. And the scale shrinks to the size of a skull: your own interior cage. And then if you’re lucky, and I have been lucky, everything comes back to you. And then you know why one of the freedom fighters in the sixties, a young Black woman interviewed shortly after she was beaten up for riding near the front of the interstate bus––you know why she said, ‘We are all so very happy’? It’s because it’s on. All of us and me by myself: we’re on."
-- from the foreword to Civil Wars, 1980, by June Jordan

"Our own shadows disappear as the feet of thousands
by the tens of thousands pound the fallow land
into new dust that
rising like a marvelous pollen will be
fertile
even as the first woman whispering
imagination to the trees around her made
for righteous fruit
from such deliberate defense of life
as no other still
will claim inferior to any other safety
in the world
[. . .]
And who will join this standing up
and the ones who stood without sweet company
will sing and sing
back into the mountains and
if necessary
even under the sea:

we are the ones we have been waiting for."

Go to JuneJordan.com for more info on Ms. Jordan and her work. Also, look for posts this week by Ari of Reading in Color and on The Rejectionist blog featuring quotes and reviews of HIS OWN WHERE.

SYTYCD

2010-06-18T08:00:00.001-04:00

Okay, I'm a huge fan of So You Think You Can Dance. It's one of the few shows on television that has lots of talented PoC on it. I have my favourite choreographers (Sonya!) and it was the first show that did a massive, mainstream Bollywood number (Katee and Joshua ROCKED) that had me out of my seat and jumping around like a fool.

I've had my problems with the way Mia Michaels handles some of her criticism (the two times I've taken exception happen to both be when she was critiquing the performances of black dancers), to be sure. At the same time, I have to admit she is a brilliant choreographer. And Nigel definitely grates on my last nerve with his ancient gender crap.

But I'm so excited about this season because there are so many dancers to love! Alex Wong, Jose Ruiz, Cristina Santana, and Robert Roldan, just to name a few of the ones I'm on the edge of my seat for. Here's one of my favourite pieces from last night, featuring some of my all-time fave SYTYCD dancers:

Another Earnest Plea

2010-06-17T12:07:00.000-04:00

OMG, everyone go read this post. This kid rocks. His post reminds me of Ari's passionate and heartfelt plea.

Options

2010-06-15T16:44:00.001-04:00

Adventures in Children's Publishing is featuring a YA author who self-published her book with success. She now has an agent and is shopping her book to more traditional houses. Go on over there to add your questions for Kiera Cass. Her answers will go up next Tuesday.

Music Videos: Whose Fantasy Is It?

2010-06-14T16:44:00.003-04:00

ETA: I seem to be experiencing #bloggerfail. Some people are not able to view the trailer for some reason, so here's a link to where you can watch it. It's definitely worth watching. If you're feeling squeamish, please keep in mind that these are mass media images. Music videos are the common language of young people, and children as young as nine and ten years old are watching these images, digesting them, and incorporating them into their ideas of who they are and how relationships are constructed.

Okay, EVERYONE WATCH THIS TRAILER. Then get every high school/college/university teacher you know to purchase a copy and screen it for their students. I had to watch the whole thing on Youtube because the price was a bit steep for me, but if your school or organization can purchase it, it's WELL worth it to get young people thinking critically about what they're consuming - and how those images/messages shape their ideas of who they are . . . If you're having trouble seeing it here, go to this link. The video was written and directed by Sut Jhally, Ph.D. Dr. Jhally is a professor of Communication at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Founder and Executive Director of the Media Education Foundation.

Since I'm having trouble embedding the trailer, here is part one (of seven) of the video . . .

More on Race

2010-06-11T00:21:00.001-04:00

There's a thoughtful post on race in children's publishing here. I really am glad these discussions are now taking place on blogs and forums where folks with decision-making power might pay careful attention. I also love that more and more editors are looking for work by authors of colour. It's certainly a step in the right direction.

However, I've heard more than one editor say that, while they've thrown their doors wide to submissions by PoC, the work they're receiving seems to be sub-par, not polished, or in need of more work than they have time for in this highly competitive business.

I have a couple of thoughts on that. PoC have not had the same opportunities and privileges that white folks have had for hundreds of years in many parts of the world. To expect equal results from white writers and writers of colour when there has never been a level playing field in terms of economics, social and political power, representation and privilege, is to set oneself up for disappointment and to perpetuate the dynamics already in place.

When I was a more idealistic version of who I am today, I went to work at a women's shelter. I felt strongly about domestic violence and I was a young feminist and I wanted to help. I had never grown up around domestic violence so I was unprepared for what I'd encounter. And it wasn't pretty. I had to learn a whole lot, FAST. It was eye-opening, it was brutal, and it was excruciatingly painful to see just how deep misogyny and patriarchy run in our world. But it was necessary. It showed me the Truth. And the Truth is one of the most solid tools you can have in navigating through life.

If you are a publishing decision-maker who wants to do the right thing by publishing or selling more titles by authors of colour, brava!! But you have to know that there is work to be done. The way the system is currently set up, writers of colour must bend and distort our work so that it is recognizable and appealing to white editors. Editors are not required to bend their reality or lens so that they can understand and relate to the styles, traditions, and aesthetics of PoC. So our work is always judged through a white lens. And the work is read and judged based on whether it will appeal to a white readership. The default assumption is that only brown folks will want to read work written by brown folks. And that white readership is the goal. This is problematic on so many levels.

If you want to create true, lasting change, you can't go in thinking you can keep doing what you've always done, only now it will be with brown faces. Dr. Phil (sorry) says the definition of insanity is to keep doing what you've always done and hope for different results each time (what can I say - my mom is a devoted watcher). It's not the same. There are very real differences between white writers and writers of colour, heterosexual writers and LGBTQ writers, writers who've grown up with lots of money and those who've grown up with without - differences that have painful histories behind them, and sometimes the results are not pretty.

This is the same discussion feminists were having years ago when men ran and owned all publishing houses, and women's writing was not taken seriously. It was too "emotional", it was too "flowery", women didn't write about "serious" things, and women weren't getting published. Men were viewing women's writing through a very male lens and never had to bend or shift their perspective. It was out of this that feminist presses and women's presses began sprouting and taking root. They showed that women could write and there was a market for that work and that it sold. Eventually, these small presses began dying out because the larger publishers began publishing more work by women. AND because there were now spaces for women to write, to nurture and cultivate their careers, there were grants and financial support for women who wanted to take writing seriously. In other words, there were larger, societal changes *in addition to* well-meaning editors. AND, here's the key, there were more women editors.

The children's/teen publishing biz has a whole LOT of women editors now. And two of them are women of colour. Ha, just kidding. It might be five. But the same needs to happen now. This is a subjective business. Editors and booksellers can like whatever they like. Let's just get more - including those who understand and value different aesthetics and traditions, and those who aren't necessarily looking for a polished, refined, brown version of Twilight or Harry Potter or Gossip Girl. Let's think outside of the publishing box we've all been shoved into. Let's get representation of ALL children and their histories/stories. Even if it means taking a little more time to nurture a new writer or new voice, or reading everything you can in a particular genre by authors from different backgrounds and literary traditions.

These are important and necessary changes. Painful, eye-opening ones, too. They might show some of us just how deep the roots of racism run in this country. But they may also show us something more important: the Truth. And that is invaluable in all of our journeys.

Discussing Hybridity

2010-06-07T11:45:00.000-04:00

Growing up bi-cultural and/or raising bi-cultural/multi-cultural kids. What is lost in the hybridization of cultures; what is gained? This Saturday, June 12th, from 2-4pm, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, I'll be reading from my book and having a discussion on that very topic. If you're interested in joining us, please email me for details.

Have a wonderful week!

Not-Reviews

2010-06-04T10:51:00.002-04:00

Lately, I've had several conversations about reviewing books. How one should review a book, whether one should review a book, and if one does happen to review a book, how balanced should it be, etc.

I do not review books. I offer my thoughts and impressions about books primarily by and about PoC (Debs Blog tour notwithstanding). I do this because it is important to me to shine the spotlight on writing by and about PoC (especially by). I do this because PoC do not get published in the numbers that white writers do, we usually don't get lead title status, we are lucky to be picked up by large chain bookstores, and we struggle to get second, third, and fourth books published far more often than our white contemporaries because we first must prove that people other than those who look like us actually want to read what we write.

For that reason, I tend to look for what I like in books written by PoC. A famous person (I don't remember who) once said, "when new shoots poke through, you must shelter them so they can become strong." Or something to that effect.

Authors of colour generally don't get editors and publishing houses saying (or exhibiting behaviour to the effect of), "that's okay - you grow. I'll shelter you until you are strong." If you look at the histories of some of the white authors we celebrate today, a significant chunk were nurtured until they found their readership and built a following. Here are a couple of quotes from this post, by children's author Maurice Sendak (WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE):

About Where The Wild Things Are, "I knew, I knew, I knew it would cause a lot of trouble. And my editor knew it and all she did was encourage me. 'Go for it, go for it. Don't worry about anything or anybody'."

About his editor, "Her name was Ursula Nordstrom. She made me who I am. She gave me a book every year. She kept me working. I mean, can you imagine mentorship from a publishing house? She intended that I should be an important illustrator. She knew I could be. I had bad habits, I never went to art school, I drew in a clumsy fashion, but she could see beneath that." [Emphasis mine]

As a new author, it's important to be allowed to find your audience, to be able to build a following, to find your style and voice and unique contribution. Most publishing professionals are quick to tell authors of colour that there is no audience or market for our work. And it becomes almost impossible simply to begin that journey.

So, if you come here to read my thoughts on books by authors of colour, you're going to find a whole lot of support for them - those young shoots breaking through the earth and doing their best to survive. That doesn't mean there isn't work to be done, or that the books are without flaws. And I will, without hesitation, call out PoC on homophobia, class and race issues, gender, etc. But it doesn't mean I have to cut them down just as they're (we're) beginning to grow.

Besides, somebody had to love Twilight despite its (numerous) flaws. If you read a book wanting to love it, you find a way to forgive its shortcomings (see aforementioned Twilight reference).

When I see new works (or reprints) by authors of colour, I read them knowing something about the journey of the author on the other end. And I offer whatever kindness and generosity I can. This path, I know, has not been an easy one for any of us.

If you want "critiques" of these works, you'll no doubt find them in abundance elsewhere on the internet. Especially if these works break new ground, are experimental in any way, or simply offer a perspective not often seen. But here, on my blog and in my space, you will find me with my hands around the new shoots, saying, "Grow."

The "White Mind"

2010-06-01T21:50:00.002-04:00

ETA: the link to O'brien's article should work now - sorry about that.

Here's an interesting post on the concept of "White Mind" (as relates to children's writing/publishing) by Anne Sibley O'brien. The article is in the current issue of the Bulletin of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

Here's a quote:

"We belong to a field full of well-meaning people who care about children. If asked, most would surely agree with poet Lucille Clifton (Some of the Days of Everett Anderson) that “the literature of America should reflect the children of America.” I have never met an aficionado of children’s books who I can imagine wanting those books to misrepresent, marginalize or render invisible whole groups of our nation’s children.
So how can it be that in 2010, this is where we find ourselves:
The percentage of published children’s books featuring characters of color is far smaller than - perhaps less than half - the percentage of people of color in the U.S. population, and the majority of these books are still created by white writers and illustrators.
Many of the most popular book series, particularly in fantasy, have no significant characters of color at all.
Cases of “whitewashing” book jackets, of editors requesting that an author erase a character’s ethnicity so that a book “can reach a larger audience,” of booksellers or librarians passing on certain titles because “our community doesn’t respond to those kinds of books,” suggest an assumption that white readers won’t respond to characters of color."

And then this:

"[White Mind is] part of the explanation for how scores of thoughtful white writers could create so many books with no significant characters of color, or how so few manuscripts by and about people of color get accepted. It’s one of the reasons why our children’s book conferences and conventions are overwhelmingly white, and why I might walk out of a bookstore or library with a stack of picture books, not even noticing that not a single one of them starred children of color.
From writing and illustrating to hiring publishing staff, editing and marketing to selling, buying and reviewing, White Mind affects children’s books today. Unless we become aware of and develop strategies to directly challenge these patterns, white norms will continue to prevail." [Emphasis hers.]

The article reminds me just a bit of Peggy McIntosh's brilliant essay, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" but is specific to children's publishing. Worth a read.

Wiscon Pics

2010-05-31T17:40:00.002-04:00

It was amazing. Here are a few pics . . .

Here I am with Guest of Honor, Mary Anne Mohanraj. I first met Maryann over six years ago when we were both panelists at a South Asian women's lit fest. That was before she was a mom - still a powerhouse, but not yet a mom ;).

Haitian SFF writer, Ibi Zoboi, is sandwiched between me and Nora (N.K. Jemison). Apparently, "N" names are very popular among women of color - at least at Wiscon - Neesha, Nora, Nnedi, Nisi, Nalo . . .

Guest of Honor Nnedi Okorafor with Ibi and I after our lunch on day one of the con. I was both delighted and relieved to discover that Nnedi and I share similar (unpopular) views on Avatar, sheltering children from violence, and roles of creation versus destruction in the universe.

Here is my Wiscon roommate, Hiromi Goto, author of the incredible HALF WORLD. She is a brilliant mind, a warm and connected spirit, and a generous, creative soul. She is also a fellow Canadian, fellow child of mushroom farmers, and fellow fierce author of color.

Summer, Summer, Summertime . . .

2010-05-27T14:59:00.000-04:00

Have a wonderful, safe, joy-filled first weekend of this lazy and delectable season!

Progress

2010-05-26T11:46:00.001-04:00

Last night, I met one of my closest friends - who was in from San Francisco for the book expo - for dinner. We sat in the meat-packing district near her hotel and stared in utter dismay at the scene around us. It was a TUESDAY, people. And women were out in full Saturday night gear, with super-short, super-tight miniskirts, clutching the arm of their partner or bff as they hobbled around in shoes like these:

Yes, friends. Stipper-chic seems to be the hottest trend right now on the runways and in the streets. Ah, progress. Obviously, discussions of feminism in today's world are as obsolete as discussions of racism in a post-racial US (/sarcasm).

Sheltering Children

2010-05-25T10:20:00.000-04:00

This Friday, I head off to Wiscon for three panels. One of them is called "Should Children be Sheltered from Violence?" In a previous post, someone asked me what my views were on this subject. I started to respond to her, but soon realized I'd need to write an entire post. So here are a few quick thoughts . . .

I grew up in a home where no one was allowed to talk about sex . We all acted like it didn't actually exist. I couldn't even say the word b-o-y without someone interrogating me for a good month or two afterward. We (my brother and I) couldn't date, and we couldn't be seen in public with anyone of the opposite sex. And yet, no one ever considered sheltering us from the violence we watched on a regular basis on television. My parents let us watch everything - evening news, horror films, all kinds of violent and bloody epic battles on TV.

It got to the point where I started self-censoring the images I consumed because they would flash through my mind constantly, and I was in a perpetual state of anxiety. I was afraid to be alone in any room of the house, even the bathroom. To this day, I have to cover my eyes when the scary music comes on at movies. There have been numerous studies about the long-term effects of violent media images on children. Nancy Carlsson Paige has an entire site devoted to the subject, and makes some interesting points about the relationship between deregulation of the entertainment industry in the '80s, and increased marketing of violent films directly toward children.

I know "protecting children" is the official line of most censorship boards, but to me censoring is NOT the same as protecting. Censoring is about control. It is a blanket prohibition of all things related to the material considered offensive, rather than looking at the context of the material and the possible benefits of exposing young minds to said material. Sheltering/protecting, however, connotes providing guidelines, looking at material with young people and having thoughtful, honest dialogue during and/or afterward. "Sheltering" (I'm sure there's a better term), in my view, is more of a response to caring about the emotional and psychological health of young people - not wanting to control or contain them.

The censorship of books like Judy Blume's, Chris Crutcher's, J.K. Rowling's, Ellen Hopkins', and a whole list of others is more about the fear of the adults doing the censoring - not about what kids can handle. Reading those books never damaged me as a child, and children reading them today are not being subjected to long-term emotional or psychological damage caused by the content within their pages.

Then I think about the MIA video I blogged about earlier and how shaken up I was by it. It depicted brutal violence at its most graphic. I'm glad I saw it because it really is a remarkable statement about the fallacy of using violence to "end" violence, and the whole concept of profiling terrorists, but I couldn't eat for the rest of the day after I watched it. The images made their way into my dreams and I was jittery for days. And I would NEVER watch it again.

I don't think children should be kept away from what is real and what affects them in their daily lives. Things like cursing (there are words a hundred times more painful to hear than some curse words), poverty, racism, sexuality, gender issues, etc. are around us all the time and should be honestly discussed - not hidden, softened, or prettied up. Children aren't dumb and selectively blind. They see things, hear things, are highly sensitive witnesses. They want and deserve the truth. They need to understand and we, as the adults in their lives, are their primary source of information.

At the same time, witnessing acts of extreme violence and brutality can be traumatizing to adults, never mind young people. Within the context of a film or television show (or music video!), the viewer is expected to suspend his/her disbelief. Children do this far more readily than adults. When you suspend your disbelief, you immerse yourself in the narrative. You become part of the emerging story. And if that story is violent and scary, you actually LIVE it. You experience it fully. It's why we're on the edge of our seats and our hearts are in our throats as we read a book or watch a film.

Ultimately, I think we have to know what children are seeing and/or reading (especially since children tend to read "up" from their age/grade level), we have to be prepared to talk about it and answer the tough questions, and we have to be comfortable with the discomfort.

I have a lot more to add on this topic - particularly from the perspective of writers and artists who create work about (or that includes) violence, but I will save it for the panel at Wiscon. If you have thoughts you'd like to add, I'd love to read them.

I will do a post after the conference, too, so hopefully I can cover more of the discussion points then.

TELL US WE'RE HOME by Marina Budhos

2010-05-23T20:46:00.000-04:00

I received a copy of TELL US WE'RE HOME from Atheneum/Simon & Schuster and couldn't wait to crack it open. The story is a twist on the usual teen girl friendship novel - in this tale, the protagonists are Jaya, Maria, and Lola, eighth-grade daughters of maids and nannies in an affluent New Jersey suburb.

This is the paragraph that made my eyes sting:

Lola began to weep. This was it, the steely truth of her life. What she had been fighting ever since they'd come to America. This was a lonely land of firsts, where no one, not even your parents, could help you cross over. And she had no choice but to do it by herself . . . You pushed ahead, in the chilling rain, hoping you didn't die from being first.

That paragraph resonated deeply for me. Maybe because I am one of those "firsts" and know the cutting truth of those words. But also maybe because it is true for so many who've landed on these shores as strangers in a strange land.

Budhos touches on so many issues in this novel of social and personal awakening - the fallacy of the American dream, the myth of meritocracy, entitlement, class-based arrogance/ignorance, and xenophobia, just to start.

The girls' relationship with one another is sweet, but I was most won over by the relationships between the mothers and daughters. All girls are either fatherless, or un-fathered (under-fathered?). The plight of single mothers carrying the full emotional and financial burden of raising their children in a new land that cuts them little to no slack is heart-breaking. Not to mention that these same women must often neglect their own children's needs to tend to the needs and whims of their employers' children (or parents, as the case may be).

Budhos handles these issues with a light, deft touch. And everything is not wrapped up with a pretty bow at the end, either. It is left exactly as Life leaves things - untidy. But TELL US WE'RE HOME is a satisfying read for both teen readers and adults alike. Pick up a copy now here, or at Indiebound. And visit Marina's site for more info about her and her other works.

HIS OWN WHERE, by June Jordan

2010-05-19T11:07:00.003-04:00

The Feminist Press recently sent me a review copy of HIS OWN WHERE by June Jordan. The book was first published in 1971 and was a finalist for the National Book Award. It was the first book written "entirely in Black English." The Feminist Press is reissuing the novel-in-poetry on May 25th and if you don't pick up a copy, you'll be missing out on one of the best YA novels written by one of the master wordsmiths of our time.

HIS OWN WHERE is about Buddy, a young black man in America. It's a tender love story told in language that is stripped down to simple, bold, and beautiful truth:

His mother hungering for order among things themselves, for space she could admire, simply hungering and gone. Where did she go, and Buddy wondering about this last disorder she did not repair. This disordering of life of marriage of her motherhood. Strange lovely woman warm and hungering and gone.

It is a rare and loving depiction of black masculinity - Buddy is sensitive, protective (of love, of vulnerability), nurturing, creative, communicative. He has a loving relationship with is father. Together, they tear down the insides of the home they live in and build it back up so they can breathe...so they can feel free:

Buddy father clean the house down to the linoleum. Remove the moldings. Take away the window drapes and teach him, Buddy, how to calculate essentials how to calculate one table and two chairs, four plates, two mugs. Together they build shelves and stain them. Throw out the cabinets and bureaus opening and closing like a bank. His father teach him hammering and saws and measuring and workshop science. House be like a workshop where men live creating how they live.[...] On duty in the night his father dream and draw the next plan for the next day, working the house into a dream they can manage with their hands.

Jordan paints an unflinching portrait of life in small, cramped homes, parents working day and night for bare essentials, the restriction of movement in the urban landscape, and the desperate need for mobility, growth, expansion. And then, of course, there is teen love and sexual awakening in the midst of it all...

Buddy could never get over this difference between women and their daughters. Like this nurse, this obnoxious, nosy woman who spoke to him like that when they were strangers, she was the mother of his Angela. She was the mother of the girl Buddy felt guilty to be so aware of there right where his father lay, his face asleep, his life dying.

I read this book in one big gulp because I couldn't put it down. Not because of the plot (it's not one of those, "OMG, what happens next?!?!" books), but because of the language. Because of the Truth in its words. Because Jordan left her heart in those pages. And it saddens me that books like these often aren't seen as "lead" titles, or "big sellers" - if they manage to even become published at all.

I wonder what would happen if books like HIS OWN WHERE were published with the enthusiasm of something like the Twilight series. If as much money were thrown behind them and as much buzz were generated. Would we start to see copycats of revolutionary books by black authors? Would there be series after series of books about sensitive, loving, young black men who are gardeners and carpenters, builders and protectors, creators and lovers? Could you imagine . . . ? Books upon books of black and brown people reshaping their landscapes, tearing down and rebuilding the walls holding them in . . . Seriously, could you imagine . . . ?

I would like to get this book as much exposure as possible. If you are a blogger and/or reviewer with a large readership, please email me. I will send you my copy as long as you agree to review/blog about the book and create as much buzz about it as you can in a timely manner (remember, pub date is May 25th...so, within the next month or two).

Everyone else: BUY THIS BOOK.

Time Keeps On Slipping...

2010-05-18T11:35:00.001-04:00

This week is already shot. How does all that time just slip away like that? I'm working on my third book in the romance series - and by "working on," I actually mean "not writing". I did a school visit this morning (*totally* fun - one of the questions I got was, "Can you write a story for my sister?" So. Cute.), will be working on edits this week and next, and there are two conferences next week. I'm only going to one, but one of my closest friends EVER is coming in from San Francisco for BEA, so I will, obviously, need to gallivant around town with her before heading off to Wiscon at the end of the month.

And then we're into June! SHINE comes out in paperback June 15th (yay!), and I'll be in Brooklyn for a reading/discussion to celebrate. Don't know if this will be a public event, or geared for a private audience, but will post more details as soon as I have them.

How are we already half way through the year???

Insides, Outsides; Words, Pictures

2010-05-17T12:48:00.001-04:00

The theme this weekend, and all of last week, even, seemed to be "images". The workshop at GWN was on graphic novels (another fantastic workshop), and then I went down to the Lower East Side with the fam to see InsideOut; OutsideIn, an installation by image artist, Shantell Martin. She's at the Colette Blanchard Gallery on Clinton Street for the rest of this week, so if you get a chance to go, do - it's definitely worth it. Shantell is warm and engaging, and her work is a fascinating reflection of an internal journey on an external landscape. She also draws on just about everything - including people, so be prepared to walk out as a piece of living art ;).

Having been a media studies/film major, I've always been intrigued by the merging of words and images. I was never an avid reader of comics, but I absolutely adored Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and Alison Bechdel's Dykes To Watch Out For. I couldn't imagine those novels written in any other format. If I were a more skilled illustrator, graphic novels are something I would most definitely explore writing. As it is, words are enough for me to grapple with, ha. O_o

May Happenings

2010-05-11T16:56:00.001-04:00

Okay, May is zooming by. Earlier this month, I was at the Hudson Children's Book Festival - which was great fun. I blogged about it here. Since I came back, I got romance novel number two (written under a pen name) on contract and am waiting for the edit letter from my lovely editor for that - should have it any day now. I have a manuscript on sub and am working on romance number three while waiting patiently :). BEA is in a couple weeks, and events at my kids' school are revving up as we start winding down the school year.

At the end of the month, I will be at Wiscon, [deep, movie-announcer voice] the leading feminist sci-fi convention [/deep, movie-announcer voice]. I'll be on three panels - Race Basics; What is Feminist Romance?; and Should Children Be Sheltered from Violence?. That last one I am moderating. So, if you are in or around Madison, WI, please send me an email! I'd love to meet you if my schedule permits.

Collision of Contradictions

2010-05-11T16:00:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Ultrabrown for pointing me to this video of a US soldier, presumably a Punjabi US soldier, dancing to bhangra music in Iraq. What a collision of contradictions - east and west; warmth and violence; the laughter of children amidst rubble; and a young South Asian transplanted in the west, going east to fight the neighbours of his ancestors.

Documentary: DESIGIRLS!

2010-05-09T08:00:00.004-04:00

Was just pointed to this trailer for DESIGIRLS! from Racialicious about the idea of a collective single South Asian community and how that doesn't always work for South Asian LGBTQ folk. There's an article on feministing.com about the doc with links to parts one and two on Youtube. Definitely worth checking out.

The Power of Images and Words

2010-05-08T14:20:00.000-04:00

I woke up this morning to pouring rain and a family running around in stealth mode as they prepared for Mom's Day. H took the kids out and I sat down at the computer for some leisurely surfing with my tea and breakfast.

First video I saw was MIA's Born Free. Holy Wow. I wish I had been more prepared. My gut was churning, and I was trembling for at least an hour afterward. Take that as a warning if you plan to watch the video. It is intense. Violent. MIA flips stereotypes upside down by showing US forces rounding up redheaded young males and taking them into the desert to pick them off one by one in a sort of "redhead genocide". Disturbing, to say the least. And kind of eye-opening, too. I'm sure it will/does challenge many viewers' assumptions and associations with certain images and representations.

I wandered around afterward, searching for ways to get back to that leisurely space I was in pre-MIA-video, and it struck me how privileged I am - to know that my kids are safe. That I can sit at my computer and leisurely surf while eating breakfast. That I know I'll wake up tomorrow and celebrate with my family. What a jolt to be reminded that these are considered privileges and not rights. Basic human rights.

I didn't know what to do with myself because I was a bit of a mess with those images still fresh in my mind. So I started tidying up, a trick I learned from my mother who was always a bit of a mess :). And my eyes lit upon a video the hubs brought home - Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak, by Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze. I popped it in. The images of trees, the silence of Connecticut in the winter, the colour of leaves in the fall, the love between siblings and friends and family, and the connection with animals were soothing. Reminded me of the fragile, but persistent struggle for Life to prevail, even in the harshest of circumstances.

I thought, too, of what a gift words and images can be - what a soothing balm they often have been. Bringing me off ledges and surrounding me in warmth and safety. Sometimes tearing me down and other times building me up.

There were many poignant moments in the video, but here are a few quotes from Sendak's interview in Tell Them Anything You Want:

About Where the Wild Things Are, "I knew, I knew, I knew it would cause a lot of trouble. And my editor knew it and all she did was encourage me. 'Go for it, go for it. Don't worry about anything or anybody'."

About his editor, "Her name was Ursula Nordstrom. She made me who I am. She gave me a book every year. She kept me working. I mean, can you imagine mentorship from a publishing house? She intended that I should be an important illustrator. She knew I could be. I had bad habits, I never went to art school, I drew in a clumsy fashion, but she could see beneath that."

"It's not true that I write books for children because I have this adoration of childhood. No. It's a peculiarity of mine that I do this. What I do is peculiar, but it's all I can do."

"Having children takes talent, like any creative thing you want to do - if you want to be good at it."

"When I was gay, the world was extremely unwelcoming and it was very different. And it was something you hid...I missed out on a lot of fun... When I was young, I was worried that that knowledge, were it to come out, would ruin my career."

"I did some good books, which mostly is an isolationist's form of life--doing books, doing pictures. And it is the only true happiness I've ever, ever enjoyed in my life. It's sublime. To just go into another room and make pictures. It's magic time, where all your weaknesses of character and all blemishes of personality and whatever else torments you fades away...it just doesn't matter. You're doing the one thing you want to do and you do it well and you know you do it well and you're happy."

"I think what I offered was different, but not because I drew better than anybody, or wrote better than anybody, but because I was more honest than anybody."

"And in the discussion of children and the lives of children and fantasies of children and the language of children, I said anything I wanted. Because I don't believe...that there's a demarcation - 'well, you mustn't tell them that and you mustn't tell them that.' You can tell them anything you want. Just tell them if it's true. If it's true, you tell them."