Kweli 2018

Kweli was magical once again! It’s so rare for IPOC kid lit creators to have a space in which we make up the majority. And when we’re gathered together, the energy is amazing. The day started with laughter as Angela Johnson talked about her misadventures during school visits, then there were hugs as I reconnected with out-of-town friends and met some new authors. Our panel on chapter books and early middle grade novels was expertly moderated and reflected multiple perspectives, as did our afternoon panel on querying agents. I always feel the need to talk about my self-publishing experience and I really hope future conferences will bring more indie authors to the table. I met so many self-published authors, many of whom had their books with them; yet they only came up to me after I’d shared my perspective. Yet there was no panel on self-publishing and that’s really the only or best option for a lot of writers these days. I did feel at times that we were doing attendees a disservice by focusing on NY Times bestselling authors and not situating their individual success within the larger context of an industry that has longstanding and ongoing bias against so many IPOC, disabled, and LGBTQ creators. It’s not enough to tell aspiring authors to keep trying; we need to talk about structural problems and how they can be corrected. I really appreciated Emma Otheguy‘s remarks about the “culture of prestige” and how we tend to focus on starred reviews and award-winning books to the exclusion of the vast majority of books that don’t receive equal attention. I urged attendees to define success for themselves and remember for whom you write because otherwise you can end up feeling very demoralized very quickly–especially in the company of other kid lit creators.

This week I’m having lunch with one author friend but the rest of my outings will involve young writers. Today I’ll lead a teen writing workshop at the Kensington Branch of the BPL; on Saturday I’ll do the same at the Carroll Gardens Branch. Tomorrow I have three writing workshops in the morning followed by a free community dinner at the Corona Branch of the QPL. Last week I was elated to learn that Andrea Ruggirello included me in her list of women IPOC YA authors to watch out for. You can read the complete list over at Shondaland.com. Indie authors aren’t generally included in lists like this, so I appreciate her willingness to research overlooked authors. But you can’t make any list if you DON’T GET YOUR BOOK DONE, so this week will also be about finishing the revisions for The Return…