Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 56

expanding positivity

Yesterday was an excellent day. I tendered my letter of resignation at work, received a lovely gift from a student, and spent the afternoon with my beautiful, brilliant women colleagues. I saw some impressive art with another friend at Black Eye Art‘s pop-up gallery and afterward enjoyed a slice of Billy’s key lime pie. On Facebook last week a friend posted a photo that said, “If you focus on positivity, it will expand. And the opposite is true, too.” And I realize that too often I focus on the negative until it obliterates the positive elements of any situation. I focus on the students that work my last nerve rather than celebrating the ones who are working hard. Yesterday I turned in my last set of final grades; it didn’t take as long as expected because several of my students didn’t bother to turn in the exam. But I also had a visit from one of my A students; the week before she came in with a stack of my books, which she’d purchased and wanted me to sign. This week she came bearing gifts—heartfelt words about the impact my teaching had on her and a book about the unicorn tapestries, which I LOVE. Before leaving my office she said, “You know, professor, you may not be reaching all of us but you ARE reaching some of us.” And that does matter, though I often feel demoralized when my students fail and seem not to care. Yesterday as I walked over to the art gallery a young black man leaned in as he passed me and hissed, “Stupid b*%#@!” I didn’t flinch but did stop on the next block to make sure he wasn’t looming over me with a brick. Women deal with male aggression every day—on the street, in the classroom, and sometimes at home. But that encounter didn’t ruin my day or spoil my mood. I choose to focus on abundance, not lack—the positive, not the negative…

Today I woke up early for a school visit and found that Jamie at Black Girl Nerds had posted my new books on her blog. Other people are requesting review copies and I’ve had a few orders from schools. If you want to stop “summer slide” and keep the kids in your life reading over the summer, I hope you’ll give my books a try.

     

Making Our Own Market @ The Brown Bookshelf

For Children’s Book Week (May 12-18) The Brown Bookshelf is featuring different Black authors as they talk about just what the publishing industry needs right now: INNOVATION. I’m honored to be the guest author of today’s Making Our Own Market post. Here’s some of what I had to say:

Like most lovers of literature, I bought into the popular perception that people who self-publish are devoid of talent and lack the commitment it takes to win a legitimate publishing contract. I was certain that my storytelling skills were so extraordinary that eventually I would be recognized by the very best agent who would then introduce me to the most discerning editors. I never imagined I would become an award-winning author and still be left with more than twenty unpublished manuscripts. If publishers were so desperate for multicultural material, why weren’t they knocking down my door? What did I do wrong?

Well, I naively believed that an industry dominated by women would welcome a feminist writer with a commitment to social justice. I wrongly assumed that the people who work in publishing care about children of color as much as I do. I made the mistake of thinking that publishers would be eager to woo African American consumers who have a collective buying power of over one trillion dollars. I met with white female editors who spoke passionately in public about their commitment to diversity but then manufactured reasons to reject my work. As my eyes opened to the ugly reality of racism in children’s publishing, I let go of my illusions and spoke out. I rocked the boat and, no doubt, burned some bridges. I also began to reassess my priorities and search for alternatives.

At this point in my career, self-publishing is probably the only way I can put my books in the hands of the urban kids I serve. I published four chapter books this month and plan to publish four more books in the fall. That will still leave me with fifteen unpublished manuscripts, but at least eight more books will exist that reflect the realities—and fantasies—of kids and teens of color. The publishing industry has barred me from entry and the bias against self-published authors ensures that my books won’t compete for any major awards; they won’t be reviewed in any of the major outlets and bookstores probably won’t stock any of my titles. But some child somewhere may open one of my books and find a mesmerizing mirror that makes him or her want to read more.

no equity, no justice

I haven’t said much publicly about the #weneeddiversebooks campaign but I took a moment last week to write a piece for The Huffington Post and it just went up this afternoon. Here’s a taste:

The recent #weneeddiversebooks social media campaign has raised awareness of the need for greater diversity in children’s literature, and I am happy to see this important issue garner the attention it deserves. Activism around diversity isn’t new, of course, but repeated calls for change over the past few decades have largely fallen on deaf ears. Those of us who have been advocating for greater diversity and equity in children’s publishing are watching to see what will happen next. Will the overwhelmingly white publishing industry simply add a few more authors of color and call it a day? Will those who are new to the struggle be satisfied with superficial rather than structural change?

Missing from the diversity conversation is any mention of equity–equal opportunities for all. Right now the vast majority of children’s books are written by white authors. If more of those white authors start to write about people of color (and/or LGBT people, people with disabilities, people from different socio-economic classes), that will increase diversity; more books for young readers will begin to reflect the range of different people in our society. But such a move would do nothing to ensure equity within the industry. Equity insists that everyone has an equal opportunity to participate and right now less than 5% of the books published annually in the US are written by African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans.

I’ve been discussing the barriers faced by writers of color and my colleagues had several ideas, including a collective of indie authors. I think the big review outlets—Kirkus, School Library Journal, Horn Book—ought to devote a column to indie authors so that they can shine a spotlight on the very best self-published books instead of using blanket policies to shut out those truly talented writers who have already been turned away by publishers. But if members of the children’s literature community refuse to change and instead opt to wait on the publishers themselves to do better, nothing will ever change…

smarter than a 5th grader

1981 was a big year for me. My parents were finalizing their divorce and my mother, sister, and I left our spacious home to settle in a much smaller townhouse in a new community. I entered the 5th grade at a school where I was not recognized as a TK (teacher’s kid), and despite the fact that I had already skipped a grade, I was not put in the gifted program. I remember a lot of things about that year including the novels we read in Ms. Wistow’s class. I can trace my fascination with all things medieval to our unit on the Middle Ages and the weeks we spent reading The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli. We also read E. Nesbit’s The Phoenix and the Carpet and I remember looking forward to the afternoons when my teacher would wheel the TV/VCR cart into our classroom so we could watch the BBC adaptation of Nesbit’s fantasy novel. My memories of the 5th grade are vivid, in part, because my first encounters with racism happened at that school on the outskirts of Toronto. For the first time in my life I understood what it meant to be an outsider; no matter how hard I tried to impress those around me, I couldn’t reclaim my status as “gifted and talented.” I look back at my childhood and see that the 5th grade was when I first realized I would have to fight for recognition of my abilities because no matter what I may have accomplished, to some I would always be invisible and insignificant.

 

More than three decades have passed and the painful lessons I learned the year I turned 9 are still guiding me as I prepare to release four “new” chapter books for young readers. I’ve decided to self-publish these titles because after 10+ years of rejection it seems unlikely that they will ever be acquired by an editor—regardless of the momentum generated by the recent social media campaign #weneeddiversebooks. I have more than twenty unpublished manuscripts; I’m not getting any younger and neither are the kids I serve, so I have decided to take matters into my own hands.

When I first started writing for kids in 2000, I drew inspiration from the books I had read and loved as a child. Though I have since revisited and reassessed Nesbit’s 1904 novel, I never lost my interest in that magical, mythical bird. I wrote The Phoenix on Barkley Street so that children of color could have an amazing adventure without leaving home. Room in My Heart addresses the anxiety children often experience when their divorced parents start to date someone new—another 5th grade experience I won’t forget. The Boy in the Bubble is a tale of friendship between two extraordinary children that was inspired by The Little Prince; I wrote it in the weeks following 9/11 when dreaming up stories for children served as a way to process the traumatic events that had devastated my adopted home of NYC. In 2009 I went to see Coraline and then came home and wrote Max Loves Muñecas!, a story that challenges gender stereotypes by having boys learn how to make dolls.

 

For years I submitted these stories to editors and over time the children I was teaching—the kids for whom I was writing—grew into young adults. The demand for these kinds of stories hasn’t diminished, however, and so now I am applying the wisdom I didn’t have in the 5th grade: never cast pearls before swine. You can’t make people want you, and sharing your gifts with those who can’t recognize their worth is a waste of time and talent. If you enjoyed reading Bird or any of my novels, I hope you’ll consider sharing these four new books with the young readers (age 7-10) in your life. You can learn more on the Rosetta Press blog.

Come to Harlem!

indulgent

I haven’t left the house or spoken a word today and it feels GREAT! I thought I would spend the day writing and strategizing but instead I ordered in, watched Pride & Prejudice on TV, and napped. I really needed this day of silence—the semester’s winding down but it’s not over yet. On Friday night a colleague and I hosted a screening of Fruitvale Station and then the next morning I caught a 9am train to Baltimore for the African American Children’s Book Fair at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. It was a fabulous event—as soon as I walked in I was greeted with smiles and hugs. We’re like a family, really, and as Kelly Starling Lyons pointed out, Black authors and illustrators don’t have many opportunities to gather like this. Wade Hudson wisely insisted that we take a group photo at the end of the day and I *think* I can name everyone in this picture:

Left to right, starting in the back: Bryan Collier, E.B. Lewis, Shadra Strickland, Chuku Lee, R. Gregory Christie, Javaka Steptoe, Wade Hudson, London Ladd, Calvin Alexander Ramsey; front row: Pat Cummings, me, Kelly Starling Lyons, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Renee Watson, Cheryl Willis Hudson, and Tara Doaty.

This morning I thought about the three or four attendees who listened to me describe my books at length and then asked, “Are you the author?” Some authors did have relatives or friends helping them out, so maybe I shouldn’t be offended by that question. It was wonderful to see so many parents urging their children to take a closer look at the books on display. And I was glad to have something to offer the tweens and teens who so often can’t find anything in their age range. After the fair ended I went to dinner with Greg Christie and Javaka Steptoe. They say timing is everything and talking with those two award-winning illustrators was just what I needed yesterday. I’m thinking of incorporating Rosetta Press or making it an LLC. Greg, who has run Gas-Art for years and now runs a bookstore/art school in Georgia, had plenty of advice on starting a business and overcoming fear and doubt. Javaka had some great ideas of ways to get affordable books into the hands of urban kids, and both artists agreed to collaborate on future books with me. I couldn’t sleep on the train ride home because my head was spinning—so many possibilities! I’m still afraid and I still have doubts but what do I really have to lose? I’ve been trying to focus on abundance lately—instead of sulking about how few manuscripts I’ve been able to sell in the past decade, I see now that I have a wealth of material to publish on my own. I heard from 3 editors last week but even if they acquired two manuscripts each, I’d still have plenty of material to work with, never mind the stories that are still in my head and not yet on the page. I have talented friends who are willing to take risks and support me as we try to find “a third way.” So tomorrow I will finish grading my students’ essays, I’ll have my last advising session for the semester, and then I’ll go to the bank and find out what it takes to open a business account. If I take small steps, I think I can have the press up and running by the fall. Small steps, big leap…either way, I’ve got to have faith!

See you Saturday!

two down, two to go…

  

Book Fair in Baltimore

On May 10 you will find me at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum for their second annual African American Children’s Book Fair. If you’re in the area, please stop by and bring the kids in your life to meet two dozen outstanding authors, illustrators, and storytellers that are scheduled to appear:

R. Gregory Christie
Corine Hyman
Crystal Marable


Bryan Collier
Dr. Mubina H. Kirmani
Dr. Tiffany Owens


Pat Cummings
Steven Sellers Lapham
Calvin Ramsey


Tara Doaty
London Ladd
LaMarr Darnell Shield


Zetta Elliot
Chuku Lee
Javaka Steptoe


Jan Spivey Gilchrist
Lori Nelson Lee
Shadra Strickland


Wade Hudson
EB Lewis
Renee Watson


Cheryl Willis Hudson
Kelly Starling Lyons
Charlotte Riley Webb

I hoped to have my five new books available for sale, but it’s crunch time and that’s looking less and less likely. Fingers crossed I’ll at least have copies of Max Loves Munecas to share with younger readers in Baltimore. All 5 books should be ready by June 1, which is the date of the Children’s Book Festival at the Studio Museum of Harlem.

final stretch

Spring break is almost over! I’m trying not to panic but there’s grading to be done and my screenplay still isn’t finished. This morning I picked out fonts for my new books and I posted an online ad for a book designer; I’ve got bids from several women, which is nice since almost all the bids for illustration came from men. I need a new website and my illustrators aren’t done, though I saw a cover illustration today that I absolutely love (left, by Mauricio Jose Flores Sandoval). I’m in panic mode and so I finally closed the laptop and went outside. The leaves are opening on the trees and my favorite lemon magnolias will be in bloom in the botanic garden before too long. I’m tempted to watch a Jane Austen film this afternoon but instead I’m going to force myself to work on the screenplay. The one thing I did accomplish last week was a guest post for The Brown Bookshelf. It will be published as part of a series in May but for now I thought I’d share my objectives for this new self-publishing venture:

To generate culturally relevant stories that center children who have been marginalized, misrepresented, and/or rendered invisible in children’s literature.
To produce affordable, high-quality books so that families—regardless of income—can build home libraries that will enhance their children’s academic success.
To produce a steady supply of compelling, diverse stories that will nourish the imagination and excite even reluctant readers.

I’m giving an informal talk tomorrow night about self-publishing; I thought I’d have finished books to share but they’ll have to settle for some finished illustrations instead.