fangirl
I love my friends. At times, I gush about my friends because they’re brilliant and creative and inspiring. But I am not a “fan” of my friends, and when a librarian comes up to me to express her appreciation for my books, I don’t think of her as a “fangirl.” To me, fans are not in their right mind—they’re fanatics! Their enthusiasm and excitement overwhelm their ability to think critically, and THAT can be a real problem when your job is to objectively evaluate and acquire books. It’s also a problem when “fangirling” intersects with gender—as in, male authors are treated differently than female authors in a field (like librarianship) that is dominated by women. Add race to that mix and we’ve got a serious problem—for women of color, at least. Compared to a Black man who can rap and recite love poetry, there’s not much I can do for a room full of White women (besides pointing out all the disparities that negatively impact the kids in my community). I tried to raise this point and others during my dialogue with Debbie Reese at the 2016 ACL Institute in San Francisco last week (you can watch the video here), and then we went out to dinner and continued the conversation with Kwame Alexander, his friend and guitarist Randy, and Laura Atkins. The one-day conference was amazing—I’ve really lucked out lately, because the last library conference I attended (LACUNY) was also excellent. ACL President and Institute Chair Meredith Steiner introduced me as a “force of nature,” and I definitely hoped to “trouble the water” but I also felt very welcome and safe—and grateful for the opportunity to share my point of view. California is so different from New York and the more time I spend out west, the more I feel at home there. Having my friends nodding in the front row helps, of course, but I met so many amazing librarians who were open-minded, and earnest, and honest about the challenges they face in meeting the needs of their diverse patrons. It was especially gratifying to connect with at least two librarians who serve teens in detention, and the female librarian (an admirer but not a fangirl) pressed Kwame Alexander about the urgent need for a paperback edition of The Crossover since hardcover books aren’t allowed in detention centers. Talking onstage with Debbie Reese was wonderful because we’re often in dialogue but rarely get to sit face to face. My breakout sessions were well attended and I ran out of tissues because participants really opened their hearts as we wrote about loved ones who are far away. Several participants already had great ideas for collaborative, community-based writing projects so hopefully we’ll see some books emerge over time. On Wednesday I got to catch up with my crew of radical creatives at the beautiful Yerba Buena Gardens; it was sunny (I got a sunburn!) but also breezy and cool, and so we ordered tea and chai and a range of tasty treats at Samovar. I think the last time I saw these folks was in October but we just picked up where we’d left off and shared the various projects we’re working on…and schemed a bit about the future. The next day I was treated like a queen by Library Coordinator Becca Todd and the staff and students at Thousand Oaks and Le Conte schools in Berkeley. The kids were quieter than NYC students but just as engaged, and afterward they were clamoring for my books. My talk at ACL was about the marginalization of self-published authors, so it meant a lot to arrive at the two Berkeley schools and see so many of my Rosetta Press titles already in the library. I brought 50 books to the institute and Luan of Laurel Book Store sold all but 6! I don’t know if that will persuade her to stock Rosetta Press titles in the store, but there are lots of self-published authors in the Bay Area and they seem to be included in most book events. On the east coast, that’s true of events run by Black folks, but indie authors are still excluded from most “mainstream” literary events. Hopefully one day soon that will change…
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