Women Writers of Color - Tayari Jones

Full Name - Tayari Jones
Date of Birth - 1970
Location - Jersey City, NJ
Website/Blog - Tayari Jones
Genre -Fiction
Most recently published work - Silver Sparrow
How frequently to you update your site? - 3 times a week
Is your site designed for interaction? -Yes

Can you tell us a little about Silver Sparrow?

Silver Sparrow is the story of two sisters- Dana and Chaurisse. Dana has known all her life that their father is a bigamist and that her existence is his biggest secret. Chaurisse, on the other hand, is under the impression that she lives a normal life. I just had to tell the story from the point of view of both the sisters because both are victims and both are heroes. It's a coming of age story, a study of personal history and mythology, and it's an exploration of the family, love, and betrayal.

I love your opening paragraph. It's lyrical, telling and one of the best of the year. How many drafts did you go through before you got it just right?

I really can't say. I worked on this novel for five years-- it went through so many drafts and even so many titles. I don't keep count. If I had to guess, I would estimate about twenty times. But I love to write. Each new draft was an adventure. I am happiest when I am working on a story. I always want it to go on forever.

That first line, My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist. I remember that for a long time, it was on page two or three. At some point, decided to stop being coy and just come out with it, right on the first line.

Much of the stories beauty and strength lies in your three dimensional characters and their relationships. Which character came to you first, James Witherspoon or his wives and daughters? And how does Raleigh fit into this two family dynamic?

When I write a novel, I imagne a world. The characters don't really show up one by one. Instead, they tend to come to me as sort of ghostly figures and their features become more clearly as a write-- like a polaroid developing.

I firmly belive that James could not keep such a complicated web of secrets straight without a lot of help; I knew he had to have an enabler and this was Raliegh. Then, I had to ask myself why would one man dedicate his entire life to assisting another man in a lie. The answer, of course is love.

That's pretty much the motivation for all the characters. They do what they do because of love, love of their kids, love of each other.

Laverne, the first wife, is a hairdresser. One night she gets an infamous female client. I loved this surprise, the true tragedy weaved into the story line perfectly. When did you decide to incorporate it into your novel?

I won't go into too much detail because I don't want to be a spoiler. But this woman has been a symbol of black female rage, for as long as I could remember. I did a little research and found out tha tit was more than just a humorous annecdote. And even before I decided to make her into a character, she was sort of swimming under the boat for the whole story. Whenever men behave badly, people allude to her. I wanted to imagine her as a real flesh and blood woman, and you can't get much realer than when you're getting your hair done.

The publishing industry has changed a lot since your first novel was published in 2003. It's even harder for authors to make a semi living. One of the saddest things as a reader is to read a great novel by an author and never hear from them again.

Yes, it is a sad thing. It's even sadder when you discover that your favorite long-lost writer is still working, but she can't get her book published. I have read many lovely manuscripts by proven writers, yet they are unable to publish. It's sobering. I don't take anything for granted.

What can fans do to make sure the latest book they're reading by an author they love won't be the last?

Well, I guess the obvious answer is to buy books by your favorite author. But also, it matter where you buy them from. With Silver Sparrow, the independent bookstores have been so supportive. They are struggling because they can't give the 30% that the bog chains do, but I still shop indie whenever I can because these are the bookstores that support real literature, not just what they think they can make a quick buck with.

I hate to think of us all at the mercy of the big box stores.At the same time, many people, particularly working class people and people of color, do not have an independent nearby. So people have to get their books however they can. But when ordering on line, go to indiebound Support non-corporate reading

And support your favorite author by sending her a note, or posting a review on goodreads or other websites. You may not be able to directly affect her bottom line, but you can give her encouragement that could get her over the hump. Letters from readers strengthen my spirit every time.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with Color Online?

I know that there are many readers of this blog that are beginning writers. After talking about all the gloom and doom of the publishing industry, I would also like to say that people should not give up if writing is what they want to do. It's a hard business, but a beautiful life

Tayari, thank you so much for your time and writing one of my favorite novels of the year. I wish you much well deserved success and recognition for Silver Sparrow.

Read the first chapter

Full Tour Schedule - This is one autographed 1st edition you'll want to have in your collection.

Women Writers of Color: Wendy Wan-Long Shang

Full name: Wendy Wan-Long Shang

Hometown: Fairfax, Virginia

Current location: Falls Church, Virginia

Website/Blog: wendyshang.com; I also belong to a blog of middle-grade writers called fromthemixedupfiles.com

Genre: middle-grade fiction

WiP or most recently published work: The Great Wall of Lucy Wu

Writing credits: The Great Wall of Lucy Wu, plus some legal publications. I have an article in The 4:00 Book Hook, a monthly e-newsletter on children's books, coming out next month.

How frequently do you update your site? monthly

Is your site designed for reader interaction? no

Post of note, something in particular you want readers to check out:

On the Mixed-Up Files, we really pride ourselves on covering everything related to middle-grade books. I was very proud to showcase a children's book club for teachers at my son's school. Here is the link.

Top 5 books that turned you into a writer?

Blubber, by Judy Blume: This was the first book I ever read that had a contemporary, Chinese-American character. This book taught me the importance of having characters that children can relate to.

Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri: Her prose is so delicate yet powerful. I have to say that the first time I read her work, I felt as though I was reading in a whole new way.

Take the Cannoli, by Sarah Vowell: Her work makes me laugh and think in equal measure. I would love to have that effect on a reader.

Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster: For me, Juster didn't color outside the lines. He invented new colors, and molded the lines into new dimensions. Rarely a day goes by without some quote from that book popping into my head.

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Kongisburg: Everything about this book is a marvel to me: the structure, the voice, the style. I love that in the midst of an incredible story, the author never lost sight of the hearts of the children.

100 words or less: How would you describe your work?

My work is about the modern Chinese-American experience, frequently with a humorous touch. In my book, Lucy Wu thinks she is about to have the best year of her life: she is about to rule the school as a sixth-grader and get her own room. When her dad announces that he's invited a long-lost aunt from China to stay in Lucy's room, however, she thinks that year is ruined. Lucy discovers that, just like the Chinese saying that things that look to be bad often turn out well, and vice-versa, her year may yet be wonderful.

100 words or less: Please share your thoughts on children and reading.

I believe that writing for children is a form of service. When you give a child a chance to see himself or herself reflected back in a book, whether it is by appearance or circumstance, you are telling that child, you are valued, you are not alone. When you give children the chance to see the world from a different point of view, you are also doing something valuable – you are allowing them to expand their perspective, their knowledge, their imagination and their heart.

Women Writers of Color: Isabel Wilkerson

Full Name: Isabel Wilkerson

Birthplace: Washington D.C.

Website: IsabelWilkerson

Genre: Narrative Nonfiction

Most Recently Published Work: The Warmth of Other Suns


How frequently do you update your site? The website is updated about once a month. I'm hoping to update more often. Facebook is updated several times a week.


Is your site designed for interaction? The site is not currently designed for interaction. That is a top priority in the coming months. Please check back soon.

Can you tell us a little about The Warmth of Other Suns?

The Warmth of Other Suns is a work of narrative nonfiction about one of the biggest underreported stories of the 20th Century: the Great Migration of six million African-Americans from the South to the North and West throughout much of the century. This migration was a defection from a caste system that controlled the lives of everyone in the South until it was finally dismantled after the civil rights era. This migration changed the country North and South and reshaped American culture as we know it.

In "The Warmth of Other Suns," the story of this migration is told through three people who set out for New York, Chicago and Los Angeles along the three main migration streams out of the South. They each left under different circumstances, for different reasons, from different states, during different decades and their lives unfolded in different ways in the New World.

I don't read a lot of nonfiction but I loved The Warmth of Other Suns. When I finally picked it up I couldn't put it down.

How often do you hear similar sentiments from other fans?

Thank you for the kind words about the book being hard to put down. I hear that all the time, and it warms my heart to know that all the work that went into making the stories come alive was worth the effort. Another thing that people say is that they sometimes have to put it down and contemplate what they have just read because parts of the book -- or rather, parts of fairly recent American history -- are so difficult and at times, wrenching.

They also note the funny and ironic parts of the book that come through because each of the protagonists, despite the hardships they faced were keen observers of human behavior and had a great sense of humor. Others have said they were sad as they neared the last pages because they had grown to love the three characters and did not want the story to end

What's the key to writing engaging nonfiction?

I think the key to writing engaging nonfiction is, first, to have a passion for the subject because you will need it to get through all the hard work this entails. Second, finding fully realized protagonists who are dedicated to the truth of their experience, through whom to tell the story, because in nonfiction, you can't make it up!

Finally, telling the story as a narrative -- meaning a character-driven unfolding of things with a beginning, middle and end, rather than a dry recitation of facts based on categories or subject headings. This helps draw the reader in and stay with the story to see how everything turns out

African Americans mass exodus out of the South during Jim Crow changed the landscape of America, yet your debut is the first to focus solely on this movement. Why do you think that's so?

There are other books, most of them scholarly or focused on the economics or politics or social implications of the Migration, but few that allow us to hear the voices of the people who lived it or of that explore why and how they made the journey and the sacrifices and costs of doing so.
One reason the story hadn't been told is that the people themselves didn't talk about it, even with their children and grandchildren -- it was so painful, and many had put it in the past.

Another reason is that it went on for so long that it was hard to grasp. Reporters who might have been there at the beginning of it weren't around at the end of it to put it in perspective.
Also, from the early stages of the Migration, those who wrote about it focused on the immediate effects of it -- the overcrowding, the emergence of ghettos as the people were restricted and hemmed in, the health issues -- while not paying much attention to the people themselves and what had propelled them to make this leap of faith. So their lives went underrecognized for decades, until now.

When telling customers about the Warmth of Other Suns, I'll mention the interview you did with NBA legend Bill Russell. They understand that Russell would've never won 11 championship rings, integrated the Boston Celtics or even played in the NBA if his parents didn't migrate out of the south.

After referencing Russell's story, I can almost see when it clicks and customers truly understand the significance of this migration.

When did it click for you?

It clicked for me when I was exposed, in fairly rapid succession before embarking on the book, to two depictions of immigrant life in America: (1) Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club" and (2) the Barry Levinson film "Avalon." I identified with the struggle between immigrant mothers in "The Joy Luck Club" who had left the Old Country and sacrificed everything so that their daughters could grow up free but also with the daughters negotiating life in a New World. I wondered why there weren't more works exploring that same human response to the Great Migration within our own country.

When I saw the film "Avalon" (a classic immigrant story of a man who builds a life from nothing in the New World of Baltimore but whose children grow up not understanding all that he endured), I thought to myself that if you changed the point of origin from eastern Europe to the American South, it would describe the people I was surrounded by growing up in Washington, D.C. I knew that there had to be great stories of what people who had journeyed from the South had gone through. And there were.

A book that's about everything from families, life choices to possibility, is guaranteed to be an emotional read. Even more so when it addresses the history of race relations in America. I couldn't help but get angry when African Americans faced so much injustice in the South and the North. Or sadden to see Irish, Italian, Polish, and Russian immigrants, pitted against African Americans.

While writing did you embrace the inevitable emotions?

Whenever I would first come across some absurdity of the Jim Crow caste system (like black and white people being forbidden to play checkers together) or the unbelievable acts of brutality, I had the same feelings of shock and sadness as anyone would have. But I was on a mission to tell this story and to get it out to the public, so I had to immerse myself in it to try to understand it and to make it come alive for the reader. I channeled the natural human reaction to the things I was discovering into the energy needed to tell the story. It propelled me to give it my all because of what the people had endured. And the desire to tell the story with depth and intregrity gave me the distance and perspective I needed to complete the task.

Can you tells us where the title for the book came from?

The title comes from a passage I discovered in the footnotes of the current annotated version of the autobiography of Richard Wright. He had written the passage in haste because the second half of his original manuscript had been rejected, and he had to quickly come up with a new ending if it were to get published. The circumstances forced him to distill hundreds of pages into a few paragraphs. He emerged with clear, sharp language that is sheer poetry and that expresses the fears, hopes and longing of anyone who has ever had to embark on a life-altering journey with no guarantees as to what might happen. The book had been without a name or title until that point. When I discovered that passage, I finally had both.

The Warmth of Other Suns was very well received and garnered many top honors. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Non Fiction

It was a Publishers Weekly 10 top book of 2010, a New York Times 10 Best Book of the year. It's is a wonderful and much needed addition to our American history shelves.

Women Writers of Color: Candy Gourlay

Full name: Candy Gourlay

Birth date: April 19, 1962

Hometown: Born Davao City, Philippines - though I'd call Cubao, Metro Manila [Philippines] my real hometown

Current location: London

Website/Blog: http://tallstory.net

Genre: I'm not sure - is there such a thing as culture clash as a genre (though the clash is very gentle)?

WiP or most recently published work: Tall Story


Writing credits:

I was a journalist in the first 20 years of my working life. Now I am attempting a career in writing fiction for children. I have written for Cbeebies the BBC baby radio channel, and contributed to anthologies. Tall Story is my debut novel.



How frequently do you update your site?

I blog on candygourlay.blogspot.com and I update my website tallstory.net whenever I have any new reviews and I try to create materials that teachers and librarians can use to supplement any work they do with Tall Story. Increasingly though, in terms of an internet presence, I find that all roads seem to lead to my Tall Story Facebook page!

Is your site designed for reader interaction?

Yes! Readers can interact with me via my guestbook and there are lots of things for teachers and librarians to download. My Tall Story Facebook page is great for sharing images, links and videos. Or for readers to drop by to say hello or to tell me they've read my book.

Post of note, something in particular you want readers to check out:

My most recent notable post is a reflection on the 1986 People Power Revolution in the Philippines, in the light of recent events in the Middle East.

Top 5 books you’re looking forward to in 2011?

I am desperate to read the third book of Kathleen Duey's The Resurrection of Magic but I don't think it's coming out in 2011.

My friend L.A. Weatherly's new Angel trilogy

Angel's Fury by Bryony Pearce

Muncle Trogg by Janet Foxley

Fiona Dunbar's new Kitty Slade series

Gillian Philip's Firebrand

Top 5 books that turned you into a writer?

Pop Stories for Groovy Kids by Nick Joaquin

My first taste of contemporary, well written stories for children, by a Filipino with a Filipino setting - it has a Bernardo Carpio story that made me realize that I too could use the Filipino giant in my writing.

(Oh btw - I had no idea when I read Pop Stories that I would someday be working for its publisher, Eggie Apostol!)

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I read this so many times as a young person - I wanted to be Jo, the writer in the brood. But now when I read it as an adult I wonder how I managed to plow through it ... the language is so archaic!

The Prince and the Pauper by Samuel Clemens

I just love the dual perspective, the bringing together of two stories. And when I re-read it, it's still resonates!

Spider-Man by Stan Lee

Not a book - but I loved the soap opera of Peter Parker's life, the uncertain hero. Still a Spidey fan to this day!

Beverly Gray Mysteries by Clair Blank

A 1930s serial I found in my grandmother's library. Beverley is desperate to get published, becomes a reporter, gets rejected, meets and marries an Englishman before finally having her book accepted. Little did I know it would be the story of my life.

(I was tempted to include Mills & Boon but I don't want to disillusion my readers.)

I will include that last part in the interview. =P

I found out that one of my writing idols - Malorie Blackman - was also an avid Mills & Boon reader. I told her my favourite author was Charlotte Lamb - who wrote these amnesia love stories (love amnesia!) - she said Charlotte Lamb was her fave too! And then one day she was lecturing and mentioned this to the class [of writers] - one of the students was the daughter of Charlotte Lamb!

100 words or less: How would you describe your work?

I find it hard to describe my work – my characters are usually transplants from other cultures in a journey to discover their own uniqueness as well as the universality of experience. I like taking myths from my native Philippines and bending them to unusual effect. I am surprised by the underlying sadness that seems to come out in my writing because I am a relentlessly jolly person. I think this must come from being geographically separate from my family in the Philippines. The jolly does come out though – there is always a streak of funny in my writing.

100 words or less: Please share your thoughts on children and reading.

I once heard the Newbery winning author Richard Peck say: "If a child doesn't find himself in the pages of a book, he will go looking for himself in all the wrong places." I thought of how as a child I didn't see myself in the pages of the books that I loved - the characters were all fair skinned and lived in snowy places. It made it hard for me to believe that I could become what I dreamed to be - an author. So when I write, I always try to remember that I am holding up a mirror to a young person somewhere - and my dearest wish is that they like what they see or at the least see the infinite possibility that waits ahead.

Thank you so much for having me.

THANK YOU, CANDY!!!

WWOC: Victoria Bond & Tanya Simon

Full name: Victoria Bond

Birth date: September 11, 1979

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Website/blog: zoraandme.com

Genre: YA/Historical Fiction

WiP or most recently published work: Zora and Me

Writing credits: Zora and Me (2010)

How frequently do you update your site?

As often as we have news, but just this minute I think I have to start
an events page, as we have quite a few appearances coming up over the
next few months.

Is your site designed for reader interaction?

Yes. We have a few interactive elements on the site inspired by
Zora’s childhood, like instructions for making a corn husk doll, which
Zora herself did as a child, and planting an herb garden. The point
of these elements is to try to have our readers recreate little pieces
of Zora’s childhood in the 21st century.

Did you originally set out to write Zora and Me as a mystery? If not,
what did it start out as?

Yes, it absolutely started as a mystery. When Tanya pitched the idea
to me, and I’m not sure who said it first, we immediately came to the
dynamic and narrative construction of the Holmes stories as a model
and a guide. Doyle, of course, uses Watson as the narrator for
Holmes’ adventures. In that way, Holmes is a character in Watson’s
stories, which is just fascinating given the status of Holmes as a
larger than life character.

It's not often that we see books written about phenomenal writers (or
really any important figure in history) solely when they are children.
Why did you decide to write only about Zora Neale Hurston's childhood?

Tanya can speak more to the origin of her idea, but on my end, after
Tanya pitched to me, I was fascinated and excited by not only writing
about Zora but the community she grew up in. In my writing life I
never doubted I would work on historical subjects. The thing I never
imagined is that I would have the opportunity to write about a place
as unique and special as Eatonville. The first incorporated all black
town in the nation Eatonville is a context where race in America could
be discussed in a way that I frankly think is new to children’s
literature.

Top 5 reads you’re looking forward to reading in 2011?

All classics. For some writing I’m trying to wrap my head around,
though not autobiographical in nature like Zora and Me, I can’t wait
to rip into all of the novels by the Bronte sisters.

100 words or less how would you describe your work?

As a portrait of a young black girl as artist couched in a passing
mystery that’s really about friendship.

100 words or less on children and reading:

I grew up with my grandparents who were both readers. My grandmother
read romance novels exclusively whereas my grandfather was a collector
of reference materials ranging from dictionaries to almanacs to sports
encyclopedias. Both of them took great joy in books, and I followed
their example. For one, I wanted to know what they were up to, to
connect with them on equal footing in a way, so I became interested in
what books captivated them. Second, I wanted to carve out my own
reading niche and have my own interests, be my own person. What I
realize now is how much books in the lives of children allow them not
only to connect to others, but to cue into themselves.


Full name: T. R. Simon

Birth date: October 31, 1966

Location: Washington, DC

Website/blog: zoraandme.com

Genre: YA/Historical Fiction

WiP or most recently published work: Zora and Me

Writing credits: Zora and Me

How frequently do you update your site?

Vicky is the web maven-- thank God! I’m terrible at figuring things
out on the computer.

Did you originally set out to write Zora and Me as a mystery? If not,
what did it start out as?

Yes, the idea always revolved around the mystery of a murder in quiet,
little Eatonville. In my mind’s eye I saw Zora sleuthing and
detecting, setting the stage for her later life as an anthropologist—a
cultural excavator.

It's not often that we see books written about phenomenal writers (or
really any important figure in history) solely when they are children.
Why did you decide to write only about Zora Neale Hurston's childhood?

I wanted there to be a book for young children in which a young black
girl was in love with the natural world. As a child I spent a great
deal of time outdoors, here in the States and in third world
countries. So the idea of nature, of pushing the boundaries of your
backyard—of having a backyard-- was very important to me. Children
need nature. They need that connection to life’s rhythms to ground and
focus them. I really worry about kids being so bound to technology
these days. There is nothing as important for 10 year olds as
building a tree house or chasing frogs. The natural world is the
greatest teacher we have. Zora, in particular, grew up in a completely
unspoiled natural world. She loved the land and growing things on it;
that love carried her through her adulthood and buoyed her in hard
times. I wanted to share that important lesson with kids today.

Top 5 reads you’re looking forward to reading in 2011?

I never plan what I’m going to read. I always wait to see what falls
in my lap, what someone recommends, what I’m given. However, I am
looking forward to M.T. Anderson’s Feed. Octavian Nothing was a
significant work for both Vicky and me.

100 words or less how would you describe your work?

How childhood friendship and love sparked a lifetime of storytelling
for one of the most important women writers in America.

100 words or less on children and reading:

Reading saved my life as child. Everything I believed possible came
from the books I read. For me, the only poverty with the power to
kill is intellectual poverty. As long as there are books; there is
sustenance, there is hope.

Just so y'know, these two ladies won the 2011 John Steptoe New Talent Award. It's a travesty that I still haven't read this book, I love that it's a mystery solved by Zora Neale Hurston! I think she would really be tickled by that fact...They both have excellent taste in books, I've read the first book in the Octavian Nothing series and it was amazing! Clearly these are two authors to watch very closely.

Women Writers of Color: Monice Mitchell Simms

Full name: Monice Mitchell Simms

Birth date: Oct. 23, 1971

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Website/blog: www.addresshouseofcorrections.
wordpress.com

Genre: Historical Fiction/Literature

WiP or most recently published work: “Address: House of Corrections”


Writing credits: Films, “Carmin’s Choice,” and “Rain.”

How frequently do you update your site? Once a week.

Is your site designed for reader interaction? Yes.

Post of note, something in particular you want readers to check out:

Here’s a link to a recent blog post I penned recently. - http://wp.me/pJRT6-k6. I hope it inspires you. (See below)

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela

O.K., first let me offer some perspective.

I didn’t feed five thousand hungry souls with two fish or leap off of a ten-story building ala the cheerleader from Heroes and mend my broken bones. But I did do one better.

I built (am building) an author’s brand from scratch and pulled off a successful book tour for my debut novel, Address: House of Corrections. With no money.

Granted, some folks might not call it a miracle. But now that I’m on the other end of my first ever national book tour, I know fo sho that not only was I guided by the hand of God aka the Universe, but I was also blessed with enough sense to walk face first into the howling, whipping winds.

By putting one foot in front of the other.

Another word for faith? Yes. But for some reason when I start throwing around words like miracle and faith, folks think I’m about to launch into a long-winded diatribe about some unexplainable event that happened to me.

No. For me, and I believe for everyone, faith is an action word. And like footprints in the sand, faith leaves a trail.

In the coming days, stay tuned as I share the steps I took (am taking) to build my author’s brand from the ground up and produce a successful six-city national book tour on a shoestring budget. Hope this helps!

Top 5 reads you’re looking forward to reading in 2011?

I usually don’t specifically read historical or literal fiction, when I’m writing, because I don’t want to be influenced by other writer’s works, but I always bend the rules for ANYTHING by Walter Mosley and I love re-reading Octavia Butler’s work.

100 words or less how would you describe your work?

Poetically pulsating, cinematically captivating, vividly visceral, nostalgically newsworthy and hauntingly honest.

100 words on less, share your thoughts on one of the following topics: Writing life

“I write, because not breathing is not an option.”

~ Monice Mitchell Simms

Since I first opened my eyes to darkness, I’ve been weaving stories.

The blessing, I’m humbled to say, is that this gift to write has never left me.

It has challenged, confused and elated me.

Magically, the stories reveal their form to me and obediently, I scribble them down.

What happens after? I can no more control then the blood flowing through my veins.

All I pray is that someway, somehow my words find a home.

A home where – like all God’s children – they are loved.

How has your background in film and television affected your experience as a novelist?

Tremendously. Because I’ve been working so many years as a screenwriter/filmmaker, I write very visually. I’ve been told by those who have read my novel, that it reads like a screenplay and you can see, smell, taste, hear and feel everything. I take that as a huge compliment.

What fictional character do find you most identify with and why?

From my novel, it would have to be Merry. My grandmother, unfortunately, passed when she was only 60-years-old, and I didn’t get a chance to talk to her about her life as a child and teen. So, I used myself pretty much as the template of who she was and how she would react under certain conditions. As a result, Merry is a combination of my grandmother and myself.

Can we expect a film adaptation of Address: House of Corrections?

Absolutely! And stay tuned for the audio mini series coming to an ipod near you this spring!  

WWOC: Virginia Deberry & Donna Grant

Full name: Virginia DeBerry

Birth date: July 6

Location: (Birth: Wadesboro, NC) Now: Central New Jersey


Full name: Donna Grant

Birth date: October 14

Location: (Birth: Brooklyn, NY) Now: Brooklyn, NY

Website/blog: http://deberryandgrant.com http://twomindsfull.blogspot.com (joint) http://open.salon.com/blog/vdeberry (personal)

Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction


WiP or most recently published work: Uptown

Writing credits: :Uptown (Simon & Schuster 2010), Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made (St. Martin’s Press 1997), Far From the Tree (St. Martin’s Press 2001), Better Than I Know Myself (St. Martin’s Press 2004), Gotta Keep on Tryin’ (Simon & Schuster 2008), What Doesn't Kill You (Simon & Schuster 2009), & Exposures (as Marie Joyce-Warner/Popular Library 1990)



How frequently do you update your site? Not often enough!

Is your site designed for reader interaction? No, unfortunately it isn’t.

Posts of note, something in particular you want readers to check out: Virginia’s Open Letter to Oprah from last November

How does your partnership work? Do you both come up with the initial ideas, does one of you prefer to edit?

We both participate in all phases of writing. We brainstorm ideas, develop characters jointly and we both write and edit. People have often said the writing must be twice as fast since there are two of us. In reality, it probably takes twice as long, but the process of collaborating has been amazing.



Let's say I've just walked into a bookstore and I'm not sure which one of your books I should start with, which one would you recommend I read first and why?

That’s a really difficult question because we love all of our “children” equally. But let’s put it this way, Tryin’ to Sleep in the Bed You Made is the most popular—800,000 copies sold. Far From the Tree & What Doesn’t Kill You are our personal favs, but Better Than I Know Myself should also be on that list. If you read Tryin’ you should read Gotta Keep on Tryin’ and we think there’s an important message in Uptown. And if you want to know how we began—find a copy of Exposures—now available on Kindle & Nook!

What's next for DeBerry & Grant?

We’re not sure. We did 3 books in a little over 3 years and that meant 3 book tours and loads of other promotional events and activities so we’re a bit drained at the moment. We have a few ideas we’re fleshing out, but there won’t be a new novel from us in 2011—maybe by 2012.


Top 5 reads you’re looking forward to reading in 2011?

Since this is a brainstorming time, at the moment we are reading more source material—newspapers, magazines and walking around with our ears open to the stories there are to tell and the characters to tell them with.

100 words or less how would you describe your work?

We call our books, “Life Stories.” We look for the joy, sadness, heartache and triumph—the drama—in all of our lives. We write about the loves, losses, betrayals, and feuds we have all gone through in our families, with our friends, with our children, in our neighborhoods, and how we got over, around and through them. What happens when your loved one has “habits” that put the family in jeopardy? What do you find out about yourself and your friends when you lose your job and your way of life has to change? Those kinds of situations make great jumping off points for stories that we hope keep you turning the pages and wondering what happens next as well as thinking about what you would do in a character’s shoes.

100 words on less please share your thoughts on children and reading

Both of us have early childhood memories that involve reading. Virginia looked forward to weekly Friday afternoon library visits with her family where she was excited to choose her books for the week. Donna remembers sitting on the subway next to her Mom, each of them reading until they reached their stop. Making reading “cool” for children, starts a habit that allows young people to see worlds beyond the one they know. Strong reading skills allow them to excel in any area they choose. If you love to read, share that love with a child—introduce them to books, buy them a book, turn them on and encourage them to explore.


I've only read two of Virginia DeBerry & Donna Grant's books but I'm impressed at how long these two ladies have been published and I've very much enjoyed both of the books by them I have read. I liked Better Than I Know Myself but I really really liked Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made. Now I just need to read Gotta Keep on Tryin' (along with the rest of their books!). Life Stories is a great, accurate description of their work and maybe they will write for kids and teens one day. I know they could help make reading cool ;)

Women Writers of Color: Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Full Name - Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Website/Blog - Facebook, Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Genre: Fiction
Most recently published work - Wench
How frequently do you update your sites - Everyday
Are your sites designed for interaction - Yes

Can you tell us a little about Wench?
Wench is a historical novel centered around a resort in 1850s Ohio that became popular among slaveowners and their enslaved mistresses. I discovered Tawawa House while reading a biography of W.E.B. DuBois in 2004. When I got to the section that discussed the period of DuBois' life when he was a professor at Wilberforce University, it mentioned that Wilberforce was originally a resort hotel that must have been the most unusual hotel in America because it was popular among slaveowners and their enslaved mistresses. I was stunned by this historical footnote. At first, I did not know what I would do with it. I did not know if it would be a scholarly article or a short story. Eventually, when the archive failed to answer my questions, I decided to enter the story through the imaginative world of the novel.

One of the things I loved about Wench was the lyrical and visual language.
When did you find the time to refine it, between the research on the Tawawa house and creating Lizzie, Sweet, Reenie, Mawu?
I worked on Wench while working a full-time job and raising a family. I worked whenever I could--early in the morning or late at night. I started writing before I finished the research. I believe the imaginative story should lead the research, not the other way around. I looked for facts as I needed them.

Lizzie is the main character but the other three women are just as developed. Why Lizzie? And were you ever tempted to make Mawu the main character?
Lizzie is the main character because I was primarily interested in exploring the complex psychological dynamic between a slave and her master. Why didn't these slaves try to escape once they reached Ohio? I knew that Ohio was a hotbed of abolitionist activity. My first question was: Was it possible for a slaveowner to have a psychological hold over a slave strong enough to prevent that slave from escaping? The obvious answer to that question is yes. My second question, however, was more challenging. Was it possible for a slave to feel that she was in love with her master? This is the question I try to answer through the character of Lizzie. Mawu's reaction to her master is more straightforward: she despises him.

When three of the women rallied around the fourth after a loss, I got very choked up (yes I cried). At that moment their connection was very real and their differences meaningless.

Wench was a beautiful debut. Though for any novel especially a debut, readers must first be tempted by the cover. You got two great covers. Who is the artist behind the beautiful paperback edition? Which was released on Jan. 25.

I am not sure the name of the paperback cover artist. I really do love both covers. I have been very fortunate to have two amazing covers. I credit my publisher--Amistad/HarperCollins--for being so sensitive to the needs of this story. I am still grateful to them for agreeing to title the book Wench. I am so fortunate to have a publisher who gets it!!

Unfortunately many times novels by Black authors are considered for Black readers only. Female authors suffer from that same closed minded thinking. Thankfully this did not happen to Wench, it was very well received by a wide audience.

Why do you think that's so?
When I'm writing, I try not to think about audience. Thinking about audience while composing can sink a book. I do believe that our American history is very interconnected. Many readers seem to connect with the book because they feel it illustrates something important about our shared history.

If there anything else you'd like to share with Color Online?
I hope that you'll buy the paperback now rather than later, even if you don't plan to read it just yet. Those early sales numbers really count! And thanks for interviewing me.

Dolen, thank you so much. The author was kind enough to take the time to participate in WWOC while on tour.

If you've already read Wench consider buying a paperback edition for a gift or to donate to your local library.

WWOC: Hiromi Goto

Name: Hiromi Goto.

I was born December 31, 1966 in Japan.

My website: http://hiromigoto.com and my blog is at: http://hiromigoto.com/blog

Genre: I'm rather genre fluid although my writing would fall under speculative. I write for both adult and youth audiences. My writing for youth tend to fall under fantasy, and my adult fiction falls into the mixed waters of slipstream. I also write some poetry and nonfiction.... I like to go to wherever my interests lead me rather than be locked in one specific genre.

WiP: I'm currently at work on Darkness, a companion novel to Half World, which was my latest work of fiction published with Viking USA in 2010.

Writing Credits: I've published three books for adults; Chorus of Mushrooms, The Kappa Child, and Hopeful Monsters. My novels for children/youth are The Water of Possibility, and Half World. My short stories have also be anthologized; some of them can be found in The Faery Reel and The Beastly Bride; Tales of the Animal People, as well as in journals like Ms Magazine and Nature.

How frequently do you update your site? I update my website whenever there's a note-worthy event. I try to blog regularly-- once a week, on various topics that can touch upon the writing life(s), gender, genre, writing strategies, the odd rant about a film, suggested book titles, nature outings, etc! Folks can comment on the blog posts and I try my best to respond.

Post of Note: I blogged about Bad Voice on December 6, 2010. Bad Voice is a debilitating force in almost everyone's life, and it certainly affects me as a writer. I'd love it if folks read that post and dropped me a note on their own experiences with Bad Voice.

Your YA fantasy debut, Half World has no romance in it. Were you anxious at all about how it would be received since it would seem that YA needs a little romance?

Half World, a YA crossover novel, is a fantasy narrative about a teenaged girl who is searching for her mother. Romance doesn't figure in this story, and I question why we think that if there is no romance in a fantasy narrative, that something is missing. Why must it be there in the first place? Now, I understand that there are conventions of a genre, and genre expectations-- but I approach my own writing projects as both a writer and a reader. When I'm reading, I'm hoping for a story to take me to an unexpected place. I don't want to go to the same places over and over again. So, I guess I'm trying to appeal to the readers who like to go off the beaten track. I wasn't anxious that excluding romance in Half World would have a profoundly negative impact upon reception. I consider writing to be a political act as well as a creative one, and it's important to me that content, in even subtle and small ways, disrupt and/or question the normative. Depictions of (mostly heterosexual) romantic love completely colonize popular culture narratives. Isn't there enough already? I don't want any chicken mcnuggets!

How did you come up with the idea of the Half World, the realm of Flesh and the Realm of Spirit? Three very different and creative worlds?

The concept of the Three Realms was developed out of various world mythologies and religious beliefs of our life on earth, and the afterlife. I was also influenced by Bosch's famous triptych, The Garden of Earthly Delights, as well as Frida Kahlo's numerous self-portraits. I was also trying to puzzle out the cyclical nature of suffering in our lives. The broader questions of existance-- why do humans continue to cause suffering? Why can't we stop killing? Something is wrong, here.... What is it? A lot of my stories come out of posing questions.

Top Five Reads for 2011:

Pulse, by Lydia Kwa, Breathing the Page: Reading the Act of Writing by Betsy Warland, Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugresic, Tropic of Orange by Karen Tei Yamashita, Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead.

100 words or less how would you describe your work?

I'd describe my writing as edgy, vivid, feminist, racialized, queer-positive. Half World is fantasy bordering sometimes upon the horrific, but my writing can also be cheeky and humorous. Particularly my novels for adults. If writers were to be compared to animals, to herbivores and carnivores, than I'm an omnivore. I'm a crow of a writer. Or a raccoon....

100 words or less please share your thoughts on being a woman writer of color.

I'm a woman of colour writing out of North America. I'm an immigrant living on colonized land. This awareness effects, absolutely, how I write, because I'm not writing out of a historical vacuum. In literary historical terms, the writings of women of colour and indigenous women has not been widely published in North America for so very long. I'm talking about air time. It's been dominated by white male writers, and when I look at the winners of major literary prizes, it still veers toward them. This tells me something about long-term systemic racism and sexism. I believe that it's still vital and necessary, for the good of all, that diverse and politicized women of colour and indigenous women writers continue to roar, take up space, and challenge the normative. That readers need, and are hungry for, diverse stories. Sometimes our bodies and minds are starving for other stories, but we do not know it, because we are full-up on Wonderbread.

Thank you so much for the interview Hiromi! I for one, am tired of Wonderbread and mcNuggets as well. I really admire the fact that Half World focuses on a mother-daughter relationship instead of a romance. I also love that it's helping to fill in the huge gap of fantasy about people of color.

Women Writers of Color: Paula Yoo

Full name: Paula Yoo

Birth date: April 10

Current location: Los Angeles, CA

Website/Blog: http://paulayoo.com

Genre: YA novels & children's picture books

WiP or most recently published work: Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story (Lee & Low '09)

Writing credits: Good Enough (YA Novel, HarperCollins '08) & Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story (Lee & Low '05)

How frequently do you update your site? I try to update on a regular basis.

Is your site designed for reader interaction? Yes. I have a blog and comments section. I also host the annual NaPiBoWriWee (National Picture Book Writing Week) every May that attracts hundreds of participants worldwide!

100 words or less: How would you describe your work? My children's books are narrative non-fiction biographies for older children. Good Enough is a funny and poignant contemporary YA novel about a young girl who thinks of herself as a "violin geek."

100 words or less: Please share your thoughts on children and reading. I started reading books at a very young age. I was in the first grade when I fell in love with E.B. White's Charlotte's Web. That book inspired me to become a writer. Although I love surfing on the Internet, watching TV, and playing video games, there's nothing more transcendent and life-changing than finding a quiet spot to sit back and read a book. Reading transports you to other worlds in a way modern technology can't. I encourage children and their parents to read books on a regular basis.

Women Writers of Color: Mitali Perkins

Full name: Mitali Perkins

Hometown: Kolkata, India

Current location: Boston, Ma, USA

Website/Blog: http://mitaliperkins.com, http://mitaliblog.com

Genre: YA/MG

WiP or most recently published work: Bamboo People

Writing credits: See: <http://www.mitaliblog.com/p/my-books.html>

How frequently do you update your site? 3x a week or so.

Is your site designed for reader interaction? Yes, I like to raise questions and generate discussion.

Post of note, something in particular you want readers to check out: <http://www.mitaliblog.com/2010/09/reprise-should-we-bowdlerize-classic.html>

How would you describe your work? I seek to tell stories about children on the margins, whether they be poor or minorities growing up in the mainstream culture.

Please share your thoughts on one of the following topics: children, reading, and activism. Stories are a powerful way to inspire children to a life of activism. I distinctly remember the moment when I grasped the beauty of sacrificial giving. I was nine years old and befriending Sara Crewe in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Little Princess.

It was the middle of the story, and my heroine was trudging through a snowstorm, hungry and wet, when she actually found a four-penny piece. As she entered a baker’s shop, though, Sara passed “a little figure more forlorn than herself … with big, hollow, hungry eyes.” Sara bought four buns and the kind baker added two more. One by one, Sara placed five buns in the other girl’s lap, keeping only one for herself.

I remember being astounded by the gesture because at that point in the story my heart was aching over Sara’s suffering. And now my literary friend had given away the food I had so wanted her to relish! But somehow I knew it was the right thing to do.

From that point on, in my travels across the globe, as I encountered children begging on the streets, I would remember that scene in The Little Princess and be stirred to respond. I pray and hope that my books can have a similar effect on readers.

Women Writers of Color : Danielle Evans

Full Name : Danielle Evans

Date of Birth : 11/8/83

Location: DC

Website/Blog: Danielle Evans

Genre: Fiction

Most Recently Published Work : Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self

How frequently do you update your site?

Weekly

Is Your site designed for interaction?

There is a comment feature, and sometimes, such as with the MFA program posts, I will specifically solicit comments and discussion.

Can you tell us a little about Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self?

It's a collection of eight short stories. The stories aren't explicitly linked, and so there are distinct protagonists and plots. The book has, of course, many of the obsessions of most contemporary realist fiction: relationships with family, friends, and lovers, and how they define, create, and constrain character.

There's also a recurring focus on sex and sexuality and how women, particularly young women, navigate that terrain with an awareness of both their own agency and the ways in which their options are limited, and a focus on different ways that people experience race and racism in a contemporary context, and perhaps a recurring question of what it means to "grow up," in a world where adult lives don't look any one particular way.

Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self is mouthful but I loved this collection, and happily always say the full title. Where does it come from?

The title comes from The Bridge Poem by Kate Rushin. I'd read the poem when I was in college, and it meant a lot to me as a young writer. There's a wonderful stanza where the speaker describes her life as a series of endless translations. I think of writing often as an act of translation-- translating a character's experience into the reader's experience, and I also think the idea of translation is central to a number of my protagonists, who have to move between distinct worlds, and do a lot of behavioral and linguistic codeswitching.

The particular line I chose as the title I like because it has layers of meaning. In the poem itself, it’s directed by the speaker to someone else, and the implication is that the someone else is one of the people who has been using the speaker to define him or herself, or expecting the speaker to explain herself all the time. So, there’s an element of the title that’s confrontational, saying something to the effect of try to understand my experience before you drown in your own, which seems fitting in a collection that is somewhat concerned with characters who don’t often get heard when they tell their own stories in their own words.

Removed from the poem itself, the title also speaks to many of the book's characters, who have often gotten themselves into their own messes, or are at a moment where they need to make a choice about who they’re going to be.

This collection works great for teens as well. Have you ever considered writing a YA novel?

I don't so much think of audience when I write, so I don't know that I would ever set out to write a YA novel, because I don't know that I could write at all with a particular kind of reader in mind, or that I could change my writing to tailor it to a particular audience. One of the things that was important to me in writing the two stories with teen protagonists was to demonstrate how smart the teen characters are, and how aware they are of the choices available to them.

Even where the characters end up in over their heads, or dealing with consequences beyond what they'd anticipated, there's always an internal logic in place, which seemed to mesh with my sense of teenagers as often very smart people in a very confusing world that often refuses to treat them as intelligent. So, although my novel is a bit more structurally complicated than the short story collection, I don't think there's anything about it, or for that matter about most adult books, that would keep teen readers from being able to follow it.There's also a lot of YA literature that adults enjoy, and a lot of YA literature tackling complicated, difficult issues, so I guess part of why I don't think I'd set out to write a YA novel is that I don't know what that categorical distinction would entail and I'm not particularly interested in creating a binary there.

I believe good fiction can easily reflect societies issues without overshadowing the story and you've done just that. Issues of class, gender and race are raised, though the stories are all so well layered they are simply a part of the whole.

As a Black female writer do you find yourself answering more questions about the race and gender in your work (like this one) as opposed to strength and quality of your writing?

Yes. There are a lot of readers and reviewers and interviewers who really understand the book, and understand that it's about both race and a lot of individual people's personal experiences, and I'm always happy to have that conversation because that is part of the book's focus-- what does it mean to try to be your own person when you're marked in these ways that make you vulnerable in certain contexts, both literally vulnerable and psychologically vulnerable to other people's assumptions and expectations? But I find that in some cases race is the only thing that people want to talk about, and it can be frustrating, because I don't have the kind of concrete answers people want there-- if I did, I would have written a non-fiction treatise, not a book of fiction about people with messy lives.

I think it's funny sometimes because I get asked a lot of questions that are sociological in nature, and I'm not a sociologist, I'm not necessarily equipped with any particular data. I think there's also a tendency for some racial issues to become "trendy," so, for example, I get a lot of questions about how biracial Americans are doing, and there's been a focus on that aspect of the book, even though only one of the eight stories features a biracial character, and in addition to not being a sociologist, I'm not even biracial-- my mother is. It's not just that I don't have the answers people are looking for, it's also that, as a person who has studied African-American literature, and now teaches it, I find it frustrating how often books that are really smart and beautiful on the sentence level, or really tightly plotted and structured, get reduced to pure history or sociology, because they are some students' only exposure to African-American life or history.

It's not that those historical or sociological elements aren't important, but it takes something away from the author as an author, as a person with an imagination and an aesthetic vision, to treat African-American literature as if it's just reporting. (It also, of course, takes something away from actual reporters and historians and sociologists and anthropologists to act like any person with brownish skin is a qualified source of broad data on a social-group. )

So, one the one hand, I think yes, I wrote a book with a focus on characters of color, and those things are part of the fiction insofar as they are part of the characters' lives, but I also thought about sentences, and structure, and the ways in which these characters think and desire and speak and fall in love, and sometimes race is expectantly or unexpectedly central to that, and sometimes it's not.

Having said all of that, I find infinitely more frustrating than the conversations that focus only on the racial elements of the book, the conversations that sort of dismiss the idea of race. I mean, we shouldn't have to say, "This book is about black characters, but that shouldn't make it irrelevant or threatening to white readers, because it's not really about race," and it seems we're not quite past that yet, which in some ways underscores the difficulty the characters in the book are encountering. They are people, and they are people of color, and those aren't two separate issues or conversations.

In my review, I said your transitions to move the stories along were clinic good. Hopefully your students are paying attention. I know I am. If you can, please tell us a little about your upcoming novel, The Empire Has No Clothes.

Thank you. The Empire Has No Clothes is a novel about a woman who takes a job at a charter school and is tasked with creating a progressive history textbook, which becomes increasingly difficult, especially when she realizes that her family is involved in a controversial fictional historical event, and has to choose between her political loyalties and her family loyalties. There is also a troublesome younger sister, a senate campaign, some old family secrets, and a lot of sex and drugs.

I say this because otherwise it sounds like I'm writing some combination of history book, political policy paper, and literary novel, and apparently no one reads any of those things any more. But structurally, the novel is a mix of these different forms and voices, so it's been fun to play with things like fake history book excerpts, or transcriptions of imaginary political commercials, along with the greater variation of voices that the novel form offers.



I want to thank Lydia Hirt from Riverhead Books (Penguin) for passing along the questions to Danielle Evans and making this great Women Writers of Color feature possible.

Women Writers of Color: Cynthia Leitich Smith

Full name: Cynthia Leitich Smith

Location: Austin, Texas

Website/blog: http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/

http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/

http://cynleitichsmith.livejournal.com/

Genre: variety

WiP or most recently published work:

Eternal (Candlewick, 2009, Feb. 2010)(YA Gothic fantasy)

Holler Loudly, illustrated by Barry Gott (Dutton, Nov. 11, 2010)(tall tale picture book)

Blessed (Candlewick, Jan. 25, 2011)

Jingle Dancer, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu (Morrow/HarperCollins, 2000)

Rain Is Not My Indian Name (HarperCollins, 2001)

Indian Shoes (HarperCollins, 2002)

Santa Knows, co-authored by Greg Leitich Smith, illustrated by Steve Bjorkman (Dutton, 2006)

Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007, 2008)

Eternal (Candlewick, 2009, 2010)

Plus several short stories, most recently:

"A Real Live Blond Cherokee and His Equally Annoyed Soul Mate," from Moccasin Thunder: American Indian Stories for Today, edited by Lori M. Carlson (HarperCollins, 2005)

"The Wrath of Dawn," from Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd, edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci (Little, Brown, 2009)

"Haunted Love," from Immortal: Love Stories with Bite, edited by P.C. Cast (BenBella, 2009)

"Cat Calls," from Sideshow: Ten Original Tales of Freaks, Illusionists and Other Matters Odd and Magical, edited by Deborah Noyes (Candlewick, 2009)

How frequently do you update your site?

My main author site at http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/ is updated monthly.

My blog is updated most days, typically Monday through Friday.

Is your site designed for reader interaction?

I offer an email link at the main site and the option to comment at Cynsations at LiveJournal. In both cases, I do reply.

Here at Color Online, we tend to get frustrated at the lack of diversity in children's literature. When it comes to the number of books published by Native Americans in children's literature, the numbers are depressingly low. Why do you think that is? Is more encouragement needed to see writing as a career path or does publishing need to open up? A bit of both?

If you're drawing on the CCBC statistics: http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/pcstats.asp, the number of Native authors and illustrators publishing is even lower than it looks.

You see, the distinguished Abenaki children's-YA author Joseph Bruchac frequently publishes multiple titles in a year. That's great news in terms of raising the number of quality books, but the upshot is that in a year where, say, five books are listed, it's possible that two are more are both by Joe. So, we're talking painfully small numbers of Native voices overall.

"Why?" is a big question. It goes to larger issues in the Native Nations and mainstream society. It takes money to support oneself while writing, and it takes connections that may not be available to a writer living on a reservation or, for that matter, any community that's outside of the upper middle class or higher in terms of socio-economic resources.

For a long time-and still sometimes today-depictions of Native characters in youth literature have been inaccurate, drawing on stereotypes. That signals to writers in the community that this isn't necessarily a field that will welcome their voices.

Furthermore, Native folks are underrepresented to non-existent, not only among children's-YA book creators, but also in every category-agents, editors, art directors, marketing pros, distributors, booksellers, teachers, librarians, and everyone in between.

We're short on champions, which makes are friends-people like you who care and are willing to make some noise-all the more important.

As far as publishers are concerned, it's largely about numbers. If my Native fiction made the NYT bestseller list and so did Joe's and Tim Tingle's, then publishers would be looking hard for Native voices.

(Granted, Sherman Alexie and Louise Erdrich have enjoyed commercial success with their children's work-and well deserved, too-but they came in as adult-market bestsellers, which gave them a quasi-celebrity status. Furthermore, the indie bookstores that built their generation of authors of color for adults don't have the numbers or resources that they used to).

As far as Native writers are concerned, yes, they should be encouraged, but also they need to know that they're not in it alone, that they're welcomed by readers who can't wait to dive into their stories.

For more information on Native American Themes in MG/YA go here

What's harder for you to write; picture books, middle grade fiction or young adult fiction? Is there a genre you prefer? If so, why?

They're totally different beasties.

To me, a picture book is like a puzzle. I can pick it up and put it down and riddle it out. A novel is more like an all-encompassing, brain melt.

At the moment, I'm enjoying writing funny picture books and Gothic fantasy for teenagers.

I'm pleased that my Gothics feature diverse casts and protagonists of color and that they've been so enthusiastically embraced by YA readers. It tells me that some of the pending diversity issues and challenges are more about us grown-ups. It makes me hopeful for the future.

Top 5 reads you're looking forward to reading in 2010?

Because I often read ARCs, I'm onto 2011 books now. But my favorites of 2010 include:

The Agency: A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee

The Agency: The Body in the Tower by Y.S. Lee

Alien Invasion and Other Inconveniences by Brian Yansky

Truth with a Capital T by Bethany Hegedus

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

100 words or less how would you describe your work?

I write funny stories, daily-life stories, heart-felt stories, and larger-than-life stories, often set in the mid-to-southwest. I write stories of family and community and feathers and fangs. Of the working class and royalty, heroes and villains, big mouths and furred folks-all of whom are stretching to grasp whatever it is they need and want most.

100 words on less please share your thoughts on : Women of color writers

I would encourage women of color writers to define themselves and shrug off the expectations of the market. If you want to write stories inspired by your community or the child in you, go for it. If you want to strap on wings and lead YA lit up to heaven, then feel free to do that too. Write every-kids and make people a little uncomfortable, but never forget to honor the hero in you.


Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today Cynthia! I wholeheartedly recommend Eternal and Tantalize. And I've heard nothing but rave reviews over Jingle Dancer, including one from a member of our staff). And I agree with The Agency series by Y.S. Lee being top reads of 2010! Cynthia's blog, Cynsations is one of the best resouces for anyone interested in literature, whether reading it or writing it or working in the publishing industry. Furthermore, Cynthia is one of the few Native American authors writing for children and for that, the world of children's literature has been immensely enriched. Can't wait to see what she comes up with next!