Grace Lin's Blog, page 31

fortune cookie friday

"The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth."
- Chinese Proverb

on the way to the grocery store

I was driving along when I saw a rainbow and a half:

I don't remember seeing that many rainbows when I was younger, but recently I've been averaging a rainbow sighting about once a year. It's so neat and makes me very happy.


I had to stop to take photos, I wish Rain Dragon had been with me:



but you can never complain about seeing a rainbow!

The World Agrees

I'm so, so honored to be a part of the WeNeedDiverse panel at this year's BookCon! Yes, BookCon realized (after the WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign went viral) that diverse books and their authors are a vital part of book culture and made changes. The campaign organizers were invited to give a panel and they very graciously asked me to be a part of it.

It's a bittersweet victory for diverse books.  As I mentioned earlier, we've been having this conversation for years. The Ugly Vegetables was first published in 1999 and, while there have been some strides, I realize there's been very little ground covered in these last 15 years. But, maybe, with the WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign unleashing the power of social media, we can have this conversation again with some more substantial changes. We have to try, at least!

But we also need everyone to partake in the discussion and act. My worry is that this issue becomes an "Us" vs "Them" issue--each person confused on who the "us" and the "them" are. Authors vs Booksellers? Readers vs. Publishers? People of Color vs Caucasians?

Well, it's none of the above. We ALL need diverse books. And I hope we can all work together to so that everyone can have them.

How? I have some ideas and thoughts that I'll start sharing here...and maybe we can figure things out at the panel! If you can, please come to the panel discussion and help pack the house. Let's prove to BookCon that we care beyond our keyboard and that a group of diverse authors can get a standing-room-only crowd, too!

on my desk monday

On my desk is the March/April edition of the Horn Book:

 
Let's zoom out:
Does anything look familiar?  Yes! The cover is a photo of my actual desk! I'm on the cover of the Horn Book! (or at least my stuff is, ha ha)
I've been putting off posting about this because I was hoping to set up the "New Studio" section on my website at the same time, but, unfortunately, updating my website has dropped on the priority list. But I hope to get there someday...

fortune cookie friday

"Criticism must be used lightly. A gentle wind kindles, while a strong wind kills the fire."
- Chinese Proverb

Belated Hong Kong post: Pocket Pacy in Hong Kong and around the world!

Remember those pocket pacys I made before Hong Kong?

Well, I brought them for the students of the Hong Kong International School. Apparently, Pocket Pacy is quite a celebrity there. The lower elementary school  made some Pocket Pacys out of paper and students took the paper ones on vacation:



to places like Cambodia:
Hokkaido, Japan:
And the Madives:
this boy laminated his pocket pacy bookmark and took it underwater!
And if that wasn't enough, the upper elementary school showed off their artistry and creativity but drawing where they would take pocket pacy:


The landscape around Great Wall  never looked so green:


I admit, I have a soft spot for drawings inspired by Where the Mountain Meets the Moon! I think Pacy would love to visit Minli on her way to Fruitless Mountain:



But she's also like Germany, I'm sure:


And Wisconsin (which is exotic when you live in Hong Kong!):

And there's always the moon:

Or she could go visit Taiwan again! The dumpling restaurant is right there:


I think Pocket Pacy enjoyed going to all these places, even if only in her dreams! But I can't wait to see where these new ones go:


Thanks so much, HKIS students!!!

starry

So, last weekend I was in the Twin Cities to see  the Starry River of the Sky play by Stages Theater. They've put on a number of plays based on award winning novels, as their "wall of fame" showcases:


including Where the Mountain Meets the Moon:
Which, if you remember, I was too busy to see. 
However, I did make it to the Starry River of the Sky performance! And, I am so, so glad that I did. 


I was very interested on how the story would translate on stage. Even as a book, Starry River of the Sky is trickier than Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. It asks more from the reader. The themes are deeper and the characters are more subtle. But even though  Starry River of the Sky is a little bit more challenging, my hope is that readers find it that much more rewarding. 
And, the play is that. While the Where the Mountain Meets the Moon play was fun and joyous,  the Starry River of the Sky play was simply beautiful.  You can tell from the first look at the set:

Jeannine Coulombe was able to compress my dense book into a gorgeous, touching and truly moving 90 minute play. I think I like this adaptation even better than the Where the Mountain Meets the Moon adaptation she did earlier--and I didn't think that was possible!
And the acting was amazing. The main character, Rendi, is a hard part to play. At first he's unlikeable, but you slowly learn he's so prickly because he's so wounded inside. And as he heals, he emerges as the hero.  Andrew Moy played him perfectly with the blend of vulnerability and anger with a realistic transformation into compassion.  Peiyi, played by Julia Patterson, was ideally endearing and sweet-- exactly how I pictured her. Mr. Shan (Maxwell Thao), Madame Chang (Naomi Ko), Master Chao (Yen Thao)...everyone brought the characters to life in just the right way.  I was  so incredibly impressed!
Peiyi (Julia Patterson), the toad and Rendi (Andrew Moy)-- after the show! me and Mr. Shan! (Maxwell Thao)
Meilan (Danielle Wong, who had played Minli in Where the Mountain Meets the Moon!), me and Tiwu (Isabelle Wong)
I've had some bittersweet moments about Starry River of the Sky which has sometimes made me doubt my direction. But when I was watching the story being performed, I almost forgot that I wrote it...and when the play was finished I was so proud that I had.  By putting on this production, Stages Theatre has given me such a lovely gift.



And, I think it'll give you one too. Go see it!
Thank you, Stages Theatre!

WeNeedDiverseBooks winners!

Thanks so much for everyone who participated in my WeNeedDiverseBooks giveaway! Apologies for not being that organized on my end, I received a lot of entries on twitter, instagram, FB, etc and it was rather a trial by fire as I haven't mastered all additional social media outlets! I learned a lot, though...including that I am kind of a luddite.

But without further ado! Here are the winners (chosen at random by Rain Dragon!)

Selenia, you have won The Great Green Heist!
(though you will have to wait until I get it in from my local indie, it's on order)

Stephanie DeFrance, you have won the paperback copy of Starry River of the Sky!

And Kari M. you have won the etsy print:
Please contact me via gracelin.manager@gmail.com with your mailing address and I'll get these out to you ASAP!
Thanks again for your support!

on my desk monday

On my desk are some mementos from my weekend in MN, where I saw Starry River of the Sky!

Along with the program and some tickets, there's a special porcelain rabbit bowl signed by all the cast members of the show...which I will tell more of in my next post. All I will say now is that it was truly beautiful and if you are anywhere near the Twin Cities, make the effort to go see it. It will be more than worth it. Really.

We Need Diverse Books and We Also Need People to Read Them

I'm off to MN to see the Starry River of the Sky production (very excited!), so I'm not sure how active I'll be able to be for part 2 and 3 of the WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign. I'm going to try, of course, but in the meantime I'd like to share a bittersweet message that was passed on from Lucia Saperstein from the Open Book Foundation, who organized a visit for me in Washington last October.  She had given some preparation suggestions to a friend of hers about another school visit I was doing and received this (which I've edited a bit, for identification reasons):

I really appreciated your suggestions for the Grace Lin visit to our elementary school and adoptive families group.  The presentations were fabulous in every way (I attended 4 while she was in town). I wanted to share with you one lasting impact that I had not anticipated -- opening the eyes of our school librarian.  She is a white woman, probably mid 40s, from a rural area near here.  When I started talking to her about preparing for the visit, it became clear that she had not read anything by Grace Lin and didn't know anything about her, even though "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" was one of the state books last year.  

I sensed push back from her on my interest in the Asian elements of Grace Lin's work.  But little by little, she read, and she read to classes, and later she told me that Asian children who had never spoken during library time were excitedly sharing and speaking and asking questions... I struggled during the lead up to Grace Lin's visit because I was trying to help the librarian who at first had no enthusiasm (the public library assigned Grace Lin to the school).  In the end, I think the librarian realized how much all the children loved her work...  

I was also very happy that my daughter's teacher embraced Grace Lin.  She even showed up at a night presentation at the public library and told me that, as an African-American, she was deeply moved by Grace Lin's talk about embracing her race and culture.

This is why we don't just need diverse books, but we need people to realize that these diverse books are books for everyone. The above is just one of the many examples I can give of the misguided dismissal of my books. The librarian who was surprised how well my "ethnic" book went over with all the students. The father who was surprised that his son loved "your Oriental dragon book" so much that he (the son) insisted on giving it to all his friends for birthday gifts. I could go on and on...

And this is not to brag about my book, this is to say that it's easy to sell both kids and diverse books too short. I'm extremely honored to speak at schools with diverse populations, but I know my old elementary school with its homogeneous population found sharing my books just as fun, rewarding and eye-opening. I am thrilled when an Asian-American girl loves and connects with my books, but I know an Iranian anthropologist, a Jewish 4th grade boy, and a half-Indian teenager  that love some of my books just as much.

Diverse books are for everyone...a good story is a good story, multicultural or not.