#author qa

At the Mountain’s Base features powerful artwork by comics/graphics artist Weshoyot Alvitre (Tongva) in her picture book debut. Written by Traci Sorell (Cherokee), the story centers on a family waiting for their relative to return from war. Penguin’s new imprint Kokila Books connected these creators and here they share how this process worked for them.

Sorell: I had some initial trepidation about how this concise poem would be illustrated. After publisher Namrata Tripathi acquired the manuscript, she emailed me and asked if I knew your work. I didn’t and wondered how working in the comics world would translate to crafting a picture book.

What did you first think when she contacted you?

Alvitre:  I was excited and surprised at the short length. Its circular pattern of imagery was just so powerful. I was both intimidated by the minimalism and eager to see what I could do with it. I also wanted to know more about you to see if I could pull from your tribe’s traditions for the art.

Sorell: You definitely pulled from Cherokee traditions. I purposefully left room for any illustrator to choose whatever tribe they wanted for the family.

What was it about weaving that spoke to your creative process?

Alvitre: I loved the concept of weaving you included as I do a lot of fiber arts and crafts. I’ve taught myself spinning on hand spindles and spinning wheels. My tribe is known for their fine basketry, but we don’t really have weavings with wool or yarns. So I learned specifics of Cherokee finger weaving and it ended up being a visual theme throughout the entire book.

Sorell: What a gorgeous theme it is! I love the yarn defining each panel. Those few double page spreads have so much impact. I delight in lifting the dust jacket and showing everyone the case cover. Your artwork throughout the entire book takes the poem to another level. Tears flow. I didn’t anticipate it would produce that type of reaction, but I’ve seen it repeatedly when I’ve shared the advance copies. Powerful!

Did you feel that emotion as you worked?

Alvitre: I always take the work I do very personal and try to get inside the characters’ heads. While making this book, I found out more about the service of my late grandfather, a decorated Marine and war veteran. Also, I was in the process of losing my grandma—an active knitter who mailed knitting patterns and instructions to a younger me. I still cherish that.

I also thought about ceremony and how prayers and songs are included, to protect people but also to mourn for them. I watched a vignette on Cherokee women reclaiming their traditional ways through language, crafts, and sewing. They were singing gospel songs and discussing the loss of language in the community but hearing its preservation at these gatherings. Reclaiming our languages, traditions, crafts and actively using them can be very emotional.

Sorell: Truth. Something else I want to know—how would you describe your debut experience?

Alvitre: Better than I could have possibly imagined! Working with such strong women, your writing, Namrata’s vision for Kokila and Jasmin’s gentle eye, I felt part of a family. I learned so much about the process of putting a children’s book together. I smile about being intimidated to enter this market, but I am eager to illustrate more. There’s so much freedom, and it’s fulfilling to read it to my children.

Sorell: Wado for sharing. I can’t wait for us to share this book with the world!

Weshoyot Alvitre is a comic book artist and illustrator. She’s most recently worked as art director for the video game When Rivers Were Trails and illustrator on the graphic novel Redrawing History with the Library Company of Philadelphia. Her books have received numerous awards and recognition, including the Eisner Award for Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream and Prism Award for Hummingbird Boys in Moonshot Volume 2. She currently resides in Southern California with her husband and two children.

BothIsle of Blood and Stone and its standalone companion, Song of the Abyss, are about mapmakers and explorers. Why did you decide to write about these topics?

It really came down to writing what interests me. I’ve always loved adventure stories and historical fiction. The Count of Monte Cristo,Jane Eyre, and Anne of Green Gables were favorites growing up. Additionally, I’ve always loved old maps, the beautiful ones with the sea serpents and sailing ships painted onto them. And growing up, I was obsessed with the Indiana Jones movies. With this duology, I wanted to create characters inspired by Dr. Jones, young men and women who were smart and funny and who used their intellect to solve the mysteries that were at the heart of these stories.

Did any particular place inspire the maps in your book?

Most definitely. The map at the front of Isle of Blood and Stone depicts the fictional island kingdom of St. John del Mar. But if you were to google the island “Guam,” where I was raised, you would see that they are a near perfect match. Why not? I needed an island and I thought it would be fun to use the one I know best.

How do you choose your character names?

ForIsle of Blood and Stone, I was looking for old-fashioned names that were Spanish in origin. I started with ‘Mercedes,’ which I first came across in Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo. Then I followed up with Elias, Jaime, and Ulises. Some names had a more personal connection. Reyna is the hero in Song of the Abyss. Reyna also happens to be my favorite cousin’s name. The village of Esperanca is named after my grandmother. And the Sea of Magdalen…well, Maggie was my mother’s name.

If you weren’t a writer, what would you be doing?

I have a library degree so I would most likely head over to the nearest public library if they’d have me. But part of the reason I became a writer is because there are so many things that fascinate me and, as a writer, I get to explore them all within the pages of a book. I would like to try my hand at being a spy, a time traveler, an arborist, an architect, a medieval military engineer, a 20^th century physician. So many things!

What does being a diverse author mean to you?

I am part African American, part Pacific Islander, born on the Northern Mariana island of Saipan and raised on the neighboring U.S. Territory of Guam. I didn’t know a single Guamanian children’s author as a child. No island version of Laurie Halse Anderson or Jennifer Donnelly where I could say, “When I grow, I want to be just like her.” I hope that my story helps change that. That an island kid, thousands of miles from the New York publishing houses, will see that writing stories for a living is a possibility for them, if that is their dream.

Can you recommend any recent diverse lit titles?

I really enjoyed Sleepless by Sarah Vaughn. You rarely see people of color as the main characters in medieval fantasy lit, and this graphic novel, about a king’s daughter protected by a member of the elite Sleepless Order, is just so well done and lovely to look at.

Makiia Lucier grew up on the Pacific Island of Guam and holds degrees in journalism and library studies from the University of Oregon and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She is the author of A Death-Struck Year, Isle of Blood and Stone, and Song of the Abyss.

What inspired you to write The Thing About Bees?

I wrote the book because I have a ridiculous fear of bees. When my sons were born I didn’t want to pass that fear to them, so I set out to discover all I could about the little buzzers. 

What did you find out?

I learned three things about bees. First I learned that every living creature has a special part to play in the world, and that includes grownups and kids. Second, when I learn more about a scary thing, the thing feels less scary to me. Third, I researched which bees and wasps are kind and which are kinda mean, and made it into a chart for the book. 

What do you hope to be the takeaway to your book? 

I hope kids will understand that it’s brave to understand the things that scare us. This can be scary objects like bees, but it can also be people who are different from us. The book is all about love. Love is magic. Love is super power. Love conquers fear. It’s so important that I even wrote it in big letters on the back cover of the book! 

What do you think about fatherhood?
 

It scares me! (ha, ha!) There’s so much responsibility. I have to show my two sons how to be brave when I’m not always brave myself. 

What does it mean to you to be a Black father?

I’m fortunate to have a father my whole life who loves me a great deal. He was in the military and for years would be gone six months at a time, so I had a limited role model and relied on the media to see what it was like to be a Black father. This is why it is so important to see our true experience reflected in books, tv, and movies. 

You credited in the Copyright page that the art was inspired by Kehinde Wiley and Norman Rockwell. In what ways?
 

Kehinde Wiley is most famous for painting the official portrait of President Obama. He’s known to use Old Masters paintings as reference and then replace the figures with contemporary Black people. The first time I saw his work I was so moved I cried! I was in college and I saw this figure of a king who looked like my high school best friend. I never thought a Black man can be a king! By simply showing people in different roles it changed how I saw myself and my community. It’s so powerful! 

Norman Rockwell was an inspiration for the way he showed how small town America can be so beautiful. So I followed his approach—by taking a series of posed photos of myself and my family—and showed my hometown of Nashville. But like Kehinde, I want to show a small town America with a loving Black family, and with dad spending time with his sons. There are many families like ours. 

This is your third book, after your illustration debut in Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table and your author/illustrator debut in A Moose Boosh: A Few Choice Words About Food. How are they different? 

I came from an advertising background and was still finding my style when I illustrated Farmer Will Allen. The style is more traditional in what I thought children’s book illustration would look. For A Moose Boosh, I wanted to break away from tradition, so I created “vandalized art” by adding white doddleling over photos I took. It was a closer reflection of who I am. For The Thing About Bees, I started with a traditional painterly style and then add on cartoon images to give it a twist. The opening pollination chart is meant to be like a Pixar short before the movie. Something to set the mood! 

Why do you think communities of color are often left out of discussions on environmental issues? 

People often think city kids have very little to do with preserving our environment. But when bad things happen to our environment it always hurts the poor people first! People of color need to be aware and take action even if they often are not given a voice in these issues. We need to take action. Learn about issues. Save the bees! 

Finally, what do you want readers to know about your work?

I think it’s important to remember this: You can’t be what you can’t see. I want to make books that represent the images of people that I always wanted to be, but could never find representations of people that looked like me. 

Learn more about The Thing About Bees: A Love Letter through the fantastic book trailer here.

Shabazz Larkin made his picture book illustrator debut with Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table and his author/illustrator with A Moose Boosh: A Few Choice Words About Food. Both were named Notable Children’s books by the American Library Association and published by READERS to EATERS. He is a multi-disciplinary artist and an advertising creative director. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife and two sons. More about Shabazz at shabazzlarkin.com. Follow him @shabazzlarkin.

There are two Black queer girls from two different Black cultures in this book falling in love.  What was it like writing a Caribbean and Black American protagonist?

As a first generation Caribbean-American author, I got to connect with the spectrum and multitudes of Blackness that shaped me through writing this book. Audre and Mabel represent aspects of who I am as a Black women who was raised in multiple Black cultures. My mother is Trinidadian and my father is from St. Croix, and I was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I loved writing these girls, because they represented parts of me and the Black diaspora in a way that was eclectic, vibrant and healing.

In writing Audre and Mabel, I wanted to show them falling in love with a Black girl, that was a reflection of them, but also unique and magical in a way all her own. Their love is one that I longed to read as a young person. One that centered weird Black girls in a romantic love.  

You traveled to Trinidad and Tobago to interview folks who are LGBTQIA on these islands. How did that research affect the story?

I wanted to depict with love, curiosity and expansiveness the experience of being queer in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). There are a lot of assumptions in the mainstream about the backwardness of attitudes towards LGBTQIA folks in the Caribbean region, and this isn’t the only truth. There is also the notion that folks in the U.S. are inherently more progressive and this is not the case. I learned from activists in T&T, that colonialism and religious evangelism from the west has fostered a lot of the homophobic sentiments that persist in the region.  

I traveled to T&T to interview artists, students, activists, government employees, queer party organizers, etc to get their perspective on queer life in T&T. It was a true gift to hear Trinibagoans talk about their queerness and speak to the ways that they live out loud despite bigotry and ignorance about who they are. There were stories of people being exiled from family, as well as others who were embraced and accepted for their queerness. On a personal note, I traveled there with my wife, and was grateful for how we were embraced by my Trinidadian relatives in ways that was affirming and healing.   

Ancestral spirituality, astrology and natural healing are all themes in this book. Why were these themes important for you to include in this book?

With Audre and Mabel, I wanted them to explore relationships with the divine and the sacred that helped them navigate the world and challenges they were up against. As a young person, I loved anything that was mystical and otherworldly, things that seemed connected to intuition and spirit. I wanted these Black girls to be spiritual seekers in a way that empowered and blossomed them. They have to deal with some heavy and difficult realities that required spiritual skill sets that were ancestral, organic and cosmic. I have always loved astrology and love the ways that it has helped me see other realities within myself. The character of Queenie, Audre’s grandmother, represents how Black people can be spiritual in a way that is shaped out of intuition and deep listening. 

Who are the authors who inspired you in writing this book?

As an 11 year-old, I found a book called The Friends, written by Rosa Guy and it was the first book that centered a Black Caribbean girl as the protagonist, and I felt I could relate to. I had always been an avid reader but reading Black women authors in my teen years is what made me want to write and process who I was on the page. I read a lot of Maya Angelou, Octavia Butler and Jamaica Kincaid. I am deeply influenced by poeticism and lyricism from writers like Ntozake Shange and Nikki Giovanni. I fell in love with Alice Walker and the way she wrote Black women’s interiors in a way that was beautiful, sensual, and complex. Toni Morrison, who has just passed and is a literary goddess AND genius, taught me how to be unapologetically experimental and otherworldly. She showed how you could write Black life, while making it accessible in its mundane and honesty of who we are. I have discovered, Alexis DeVeaux and Sharon Bridgforth, in my later years who are mentors of mine and have helped me feel affirmed in writing Black queer stories.

The relationship between Whitney Houston and her best friend Robyn Crawford is a major theme in this book. What inspired that theme?

In this book Whitney Houston represents invisible queerness within Black memory as well as the greater culture. A couple months into writing the book, her legacy unlocked a dimension of the book that was needed for me to understand the erasure of queerness within Black life and memory.

When I was growing up in the 1980s I idolized Whitney Houston. She was beautiful, elegant and had a voice and presence that was bewitching. She was one of the Black celebrity icons that took the grit and gospel of Black life, and made it into an expansive and tender world for the mainstream. I didn’t learn until 2006 when I was in my twenties living in New York City about Whitney and her long-time best friend, Robyn and how central a figure she was to Houston’s life and career. Learning about this bond that was deep and most likely romantic, made Whitney make more sense to me. I loved re-imagining them in ways for this book that wasn’t tinged with stigma and controversy, but instead love and sweetness.

Junauda Petrus is a writer, pleasure activist, filmmaker and performance artist, born on Dakota land of Black-Caribbean descent. Her work centers around wildness, queerness, Black-diasporic-futurism, ancestral healing, sweetness, shimmer and liberation. She lives in Minneapolis with her wife and family. You can visit her at www.junauda.com.

What inspired you to write Count Me In?

In 2013 Dr. Singh, a practicing doctor and professor from Columbia University was attacked by a group of young men in upper Manhattan. It was unfortunately not the first such news story I was reading. The story stayed with me. It could have been me, or someone from my family.

In the following years, the prevalence of hate crimes had risen – and I was alarmed at the escalation in bullying in schools. I felt compelled to write a story that would address this, and help readers process the events going on around us.

At the time I also saw people coming out and speaking against hate and supporting each other. These positive voices gave me hope.

Count Me In is therefore an uplifting story, told through the alternating voices of two middle-schoolers, in which a community rallies to reject racism.

You’ve written both picture books and middle grade – how is the writing process different for each?

With picture books I have help from a partner, the illustrator. We bring the characters and the story to life together. In my latest picture book, The Home Builders, I didn’t even name The Home Builders, till the babies are born. I didn’t need to. The illustrator, Simona Mulazzani did it for me.

With middle grade books, it’s my words alone that have to go forth and make the characters breathe and the story feel real.

Count Me In features a heartwarming intergenerational friendship. Is that something you particularly wanted to include and why?

I wanted to highlight the difference in perspectives within immigrant families.  Papa is the immigrant and his generation’s thoughts and actions are different from Karina, who is born in America. Generations have so much to give each other. Their stories, their experiences and their viewpoints. When I visit schools and interact with children, I grow as a person.

What do you hope readers will take away from reading Count Me In?

This book is an open letter to America and the values and ideals it embodies. I remember watching President Obama speak at the DNC in 2004 when he said that “in no other country on earth is my story even possible.” His story, he said, was possible in a “tolerant” and “generous” America.

I hope readers realize that each one of us can make a difference to make sure that this country continues to live up to its ideals.

Tell us a little about how the wonderfully diverse cover came to be!

The cover is magnificent and the work of the talented Eleni Kalorkoti (www.elenikalorkoti.com). Without giving away the story, it looks a whole lot like a project that Karina and Chris undertake.

All those beautiful faces reflect the diversity of my community, my city, and of America.

Karina and Chris show us how a few voices can make a difference. What are the things that give you hope about this generation?

 Having both Chris and Karina’s voices tell the story was so important to me because it was yet another way to show different perspectives. The younger generation in most cities and towns in America has only known a diverse student body. They have grown up eating different foods, they have been exposed to different music, and cultures through social media. When I see not only their acceptance of their diverse reality, but their excitement at its richness, it makes me happy. When I see the courage of young people like Malala and others it is inspiring.

Varsha Bajaj(varshabajaj.com) also wrote the picture books The Home BuildersandThis Is Our Baby, Born Today (a Bank Street Best Book). She grew up in Mumbai, India, and when she came to the United States to obtain her master’s degree, her adjustment to the country was aided by her awareness of the culture through books. In addition to her previous picture books, she wrote the middle-grade novel Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood, which was shortlisted for the Cybils Award and included on the Spirit of Texas Reading Program. She lives in Houston, Texas.

In your new book, THE VOICE IN MY HEAD , your main character is having conversations with God. And God sounds like…Dave Chapelle?

The short answer here is… kinda! God is patterned after Dave Chapelle’s sarcastic wit. In fact, when my main character, Indigo explains to her family what “God” sounds like, she says, “Well…he sounds a bit like Dave Chapelle.”

I can explain! One of the themes in THE VOICE IN MY HEAD is opening up our minds to a new concept of God. For so long we’ve all imagined this white faced God with a long beard, sitting on a throne, holding a scepter, doling out blessings and punishments. How droll! I think as we evolve as a race of beings, we have to have our perceptions about God and spirituality evolve too. I wanted to create the kind of God I’d want to talk to. And I’ve always admired Dave Chapelle. Not just for being funny, but for being wise and intelligent and inspiring. It’s like that song by Joan Osborne, What if God Was One of Us? I love those lyrics. I wanted to create a “God” like us. So yeah…in this book “God’s” gonna make you laugh, not cower in fear. But more importantly “God’s” gonna open up your mind and help you realize that perhaps you’re the power you seek.

It’s 100 years from now. How do you want to be remembered as a writer?

This question is everything! One I think all authors should seriously ask themselves before they write another word. I want to be remembered as a person who stopped complaining about how people of color were being represented in film and TV and in literature and who decided to do something about it. I want to be remembered as an author who worked hard to normalize the black experience. In 100 years, there will no longer be a go to narrative for black stories. I want to be remembered as an author who contributed to the new movement.

What’s your author pet peeve? Like…what really drives you crazy about the publishing world right now?

Comparison! I think platforms like Goodreads have given people a voice to say things like… “It wasn’t as good as (insert an entirely different book by an entirely different author with an entirely different life experience).” Look…don’t do that! If a book doesn’t resonate with you, don’t waste your time reading it! But for the love of everything good and pure, don’t read a book and then find an online platform to state… “Well…it wasn’t as good as this other book I read!” There are authors who create these lush, literary masterpieces and I read their works and I cry and I’m transformed and I see the world differently. There are other authors who create a laugh out loud, wild experience and I love it. Another author might create a sexy, fun love story. I can’t compare the lush, literary work that changed my life to the sexy rom com that made me not wanna be single. It’s not fair to authors. We have to stop comparing and allow authors to feel good about exactly where they are in their journey as a writer.

What’s your all time favorite book. Like…ever.

WHAT DREAMS MAY COME by Richard Matheson. This book wasn’t just spun from the author’s imagination. I mean…many parts were. But he compiled a ton of research on near death experiences and really took his time to compose such a beautiful story. I found so much truth in it. It truly changed my life and gave me a lot of peace about life on the other side. Glad I’m talking about it now because it’s one of those books you really should read more than once. I’d love to read it again someday. The movie that’s based on the book is interesting and I certainly enjoyed that too. But the book is truly a work of art.

Your first book TIFFANY SLY LIVES HERE NOW was about family. THE VOICE IN MY HEAD is about family too. What gives with all the family?

I’m all about breaking down stereotypes and normalizing the black experience. We don’t always have to be what you think we should be. We are princesses, queens, lovers, haters, doctors, lawyers, teachers. We are laughing ‘til our eyes water with tears, we are hanging out with friends. We are anything and everything you can imagine. In order for me to help people to truly understand that the black experience is just like any experience, I decided family is a great place to start. Families are the building blocks of who we are and who we become.

What makes you sad? What makes you happy?

I’m still living with anxiety…that makes me sad. It’s a tough road to travel. It’s heartbreaking at times. One of the things I miss is reading for enjoyment. My anxiety makes it nearly impossible to read. I also find it tough to focus on TV, so I don’t watch much of that. I had a blast writing TIFFANY SLY LIVES HERE NOW because it helped me to share a bit about the experience of living with anxiety. What makes me happy? Seeing the people I love succeed. Whatever success is to them. There is nothing better than celebrating a friend. Seeing their dreams come true.

What’s next?

More books! It was actually just announced that Inkyard Press acquired rights to my THIRD young adult novel Roman and Jewel. It’s a “witty, modern and unforgettable take on the classic star-crossed lovers story with a divers cast of characters.” I can’t wait to share it with the world. I feel like I came to Earth specifically to write this book! Ha. Can you tell I’m excited about it?!

Dana L. Davis is an actress who lives and works in LA. She has starred in Heroes,Prom Night,Franklin & Bash, and 10 Things I Hate About You. Dana is the founder of the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Culture for Kids LA, which provides inner-city children with free tickets and transportation to attend performing-arts shows around LA County. She currently stars in the following animated series: Star vs. the Forces of Evil,Craig of the Creek, and She-Ra.