follow the leader

Ari's got some awesome posts up, including an interview with Japanese Canadian author Hiromi Goto at Color Online.  I especially loved this response, which made me want to read ALL her work:

I'm a woman of colour writing out of North America. I'm an immigrant living on colonized land. This awareness effects, absolutely, how I write, because I'm not writing out of a historical vacuum. In literary historical terms, the writings of women of colour and indigenous women has not been widely published in North America for so very long. I'm talking about air time. It's been dominated by white male writers, and when I look at the winners of major literary prizes, it still veers toward them. This tells me something about long-term systemic racism and sexism. I believe that it's still vital and necessary, for the good of all, that diverse and politicized women of colour and indigenous women writers continue to roar, take up space, and challenge the normative. That readers need, and are hungry for, diverse stories. Sometimes our bodies and minds are starving for other stories, but we do not know it, because we are full-up on Wonderbread.

Don't forget that Ari's running a series—Elated over Eleven—to introduce you to debut MG/YA authors of 2011.  Today's author is Danette Vigilante, author of The Trouble with a Half Moon.  Previous interviews include Sarah Jamila Stevenson and Christopher Grant.

Nnedi Okorafor's got an update on her blog about her forthcoming YA novel, Akata Witch. And her adult novel, Who Fears Death, is making a lot of "best of" lists, so consider giving it as a gift for the holidays…