#ya authors
The Bronx is Writing: Bronx Writers To Read for Bronx Week
The Bronx is Writing: Bronx Writers To Read for Bronx Week
May 5-May 15 is Bronx Week, the celebration of the culture and heritage of what makes this borough of New York City truly great. It’s always great to celebrate my home borough but instead of highlighting the great institutions that come out of the Bronx, but also wanted to take the time uplift the Bronx writers that are gracing our bookshelves! I’m so proud to say that there are so many great…
Sara Barnard Talk Now Online
Sara Barnard Talk Now Online
Didn’t manage to make the Sara Barnard author talk I conducted? Don’t worry! The full discussion is now online. It was such a pleasure to finally to get to talk to Sara about her YA novels and how much I admire and enjoy reading and I hope after watching this, you’ll start reading her books as well!
Watch Below!
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¡Qué bonita bandera! AKA what heritage(s) do you claim?
Mexican and Israeli, but also Bulgarian and Syrian and who knows what before that.
When was the first time you saw yourself represented?
It’s hard to pinpoint, because of all the little facets of my background. The first time I read about a Mexican with a varied background was in the book Mexican High by Liza Monroy, which was inspired by the international school I attended. I read it in college and didn’t love it, but it’s the first concrete memory I have of kids like me who find it hard what to call themselves or answer ‘where are you from?’ only to get a repeat follow-up with added emphasis on the 'from.’
How do you connect to your heritage through your books (if at all)?
I like to try to write about people that are not just one thing, ethnically or culturally, since so few of the people I grew up with fit into a neat box in that regard. Just like in most regards, we are multi-faceted, and I want my books to reflect that.
What do you hope for the future of Latinx books?
Ubiquitous representation. I want Latinx kids to be able to see themselves in literature as widely as white children do, reflected not in stereotypes but in varied, nuanced, and informed ways.
What is the book that inspired you to write for kids/teens?
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert
What are you writing now?
I’m kind of working on three books right now, all in different stages. The one that is releasing soonest isBrief Chronicle of Another Stupid Heartbreak,which is about a teen girl who writes an online love column until she gets dumped and is struck by writer’s block.
Adi Alsaid was born and raised in Mexico City. He is the author of Let’s Get Lost, Never Always Sometimes, and North of Happy. He really loves the idea of a funny bio, but keeps failing to write one. He now lives and writes in his hometown.
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¡Qué bonita bandera! AKA what heritage(s) do you claim?
I identify as Latinx these days, but it’s actually a complicated answer. I grew up identifying as either Mexican, Chicano, or Latino. I’m a transracial adoptee, so all I knew about my biological parents was that my dad immigrated from Mexico and then left soon after I was born. I did one of those DNA tests in my late 20s and discovered that I was mostly Salvadoreño and Guatemalan, but I felt strange identifying with that heritage since it had not been part of my upbringing. Latinx feels right to me, both as a political statement and to describe who I am. I am brown and proud!
When was the first time you saw yourself represented?
The not-so-great answer: Speedy Gonzales. My twin brother and I loved him. The actually-great answer: The House on Mango Streetby Sandra Cisneros, which I read for my freshman year English class. I was 14 years old, and it changed my life forever.
How do you connect to your heritage through your books (if at all)?
I wrote a transracial Latinx adoptee into Anger is a Gift to explore the complicated issues of heritage, race, and identity. She’s not the protagonist, but plays a huge part in the life of my main character. My second novel (currently untitled) is a Latinx-inspired/influenced magical realism/horror story that takes place in a desert society and deals with migration. It is a much more intense exploration of my heritage, especially since I literally would not exist if my father had not immigrated from Mexico to California.
What do you hope for the future of Latinx books?
I want so many different types of stories! I want those of us in the Latinx community to explore all the issues we face; I want us to be able to celebrate our culture and share it with others, but with us at the helm. Ultimately, I want Latinx people telling Latinx stories.
What is the book that inspired you to write for kids/teens?
There are quite a few, but The House on Mango Streetis always going to be my first answer. That book showed me that stories could be about people like me, could be set in places that looked like where I lived and could be about things that affected my life. I am also massively inspired by Octavia Butler,Ursula K. LeGuin, and the Animorphs series (DON’T JUDGE, THOSE BOOKS ARE GREAT AND MESSED UP).
What are you writing now?
My YA debut, Anger Is a Gift, comes out May 22, 2018; I’m currently hard at work at a magical-realism-meets-horror standalone set in a desert. You can read an excerpt here:click!
MARK OSHIRO is the Hugo-nominated writer of the online Mark Does Stuff universe (Mark Reads and Mark Watches), where he analyzes book and TV series. He was the nonfiction editor of Queers Destroy Science Fiction! and the co-editor of Speculative Fiction 2015, and is the President of the Con or Bust Board of Directors. When not writing/recording reviews or editing, Oshiro engages in social activism online and offline. Anger is a Gift is his debut YA contemporary fiction novel.
Thank you, YA authors
(Not really related to books, but) I want to seriously thank the vocal YA authors in my life like Marie Lu, Victoria Aveyard, Leigh Bardugo, Sabaa Tahir, Tahereh Mafi, and I’m certain their are others. Because of these authors, not only in the badass characters and stories they write about standing up for what’s right, but in real life on their own platforms, they constantly stand up for minorities and justice.
It’s because of authors like these that I’ve become much more politically active and will stand up tall, not on the sidelines for my friends and fellow people.
There is a lot of hate and injustice in the world, and these authors are not afraid to use their platforms to stand up for the right things and encourage their fans to.
If any of them somehow read this, I want you to know: it’s working. We’re marching with you. We’re listening to you. Thank you for helping us find our voices.
This is so true, especially in the toxic political climate the whole world seems to have been pulled down to.
We read these books, and we learn so much more than just “waiting for a man.”
We learn how to treat others; how to stand for what we believe, and how to have courage, even in the face of uncertainty and fear.
So, I salute you, YA authors, for doing what you do, and being so much more than just writers.
