All posts filed under: Columns

Ten Questions for Jane Wong

What inspired you to tell this story?  My mother! Everything I write and create comes back to her. My memoir is a love song for working-class, low-income immigrant women… I really wanted to spotlight her life and what I’ve learned from her. Her story is also my story. I also wanted to write a memoir that played with form – echoing migration itself. It’s non-linear and tonally textured… just like in real life, I wanted there to be moments where I’m laughing so hard to stop myself from crying. I also think we need more stories that refuse a singular voice; yes, this book is about me growing up in a take-out restaurant, but it’s also about my relationships with toxic men, what it means to fall in love with poetry, and the ferocious of matrilineal wisdom and clairvoyance. What did you edit out of this book? Writing a memoir is definitely a challenge in terms of what you keep in and what you leave out. I really wanted there to be a balance between …

Ten Questions for Neda Toloui-Semnani

What inspired you to tell this story?  The first time I tried to explain the contours of my family and, frankly, my grief was when I was in third grade. I wrote a little story of my father’s death, illustrated it, and then my teacher helped me bind it. I knew then that I’d write this book. Every few years, I’d tell it, again and again. On holidays and family gatherings, my mother or aunts and uncles, cousins and family friends would exchange stories, and I wanted to be the one to record some of them.  Then, after my mother died when I was 31, it felt like the story I had to tell–a way to grieve her loss but also, a way to honor my parents, my family, and the whole of our community. It was also how I learned to write long-form.     What did you edit out of this book? They Said They Wanted Revolution has had several forms, but it really began as my MFA thesis. Hundreds of pages of research and …

Cleyvis Natera | Mama’s Writing

Mama’s Writing is Raising Mothers’ monthly interview series, curated by Starr Davis. What recent writing accomplishment(s) are you most proud of? Was this accomplishment shared and supported by your children? After toiling to publish my first novel for many years (from first sentence to publication, it was a fifteen year journey), I sold my second novel, The Grand Paloma Resort, as a proposal this past summer! It’s truly incredible and wonderful as I didn’t even know it was possible to sell a book before it was finished. When I told my children I sold my second book, their first suggestion was that I get on TIKTOK. I think that means they’re proud! Tell about a time mom-guilt emerged (or emerges) in the midst of your writing process. I don’t have much mom-guilt when it comes to my writing. I worked a full time job the entire time I was writing my first novel and that largely meant waking up at four and five AM just to get some pages down before my family woke up and …

How Celestial Holmes’ Foremothers Helped Her Pen ‘Looking for Hope’

Tell me about yourself as a writer. Who are you? That’s a rough first question. As a writer, I identify as a Black woman. Everything that happens for me is filtered through that lens. I am so in love with Black people. I think we are so dope, and so, everything I write is to serve our community. I write from a place of love. Even though we have flaws, I want to show those things, but not in a way that dishonors who we are as a people.  I want to let that stand for a second. Your debut novel, Looking for Hope, took 14 years to publish. What prompted you to take the leap? Self-doubt and imposter syndrome had me locked up for a very long time. I felt like, who wants to read my work? Who’s gonna care? So, there were two mentors who believed in my work and told me I was a good writer, Tina McElroy Ansa and Suzette D. Harrison. They thought the story was good, my writing was …

Nefertiti Austin | Mama’s Writing

Mama’s Writing is Raising Mothers’ monthly interview series, curated by Starr Davis. What recent writing accomplishment(s) are you most proud of? I am proud of the pieces I’ve written about neurodiversity. I debated whether to share this aspect of my parenting journey, as it directly relates to my daughter. I felt it was important to share the joys and challenges of raising a neurologically diverse Black girl. Mental health is an issue that is gaining more attention. We’ve been slow to openly discuss personal issues worried about being labeled or being further discriminated against in education and at work. The more we share about mental health, the more we can support our neurodiverse children. Was this accomplishment shared and supported by your children? My daughter is young and doesn’t know the content of my work. She knows that I like to help others and think she’d be okay with what I write about. Tell about a time mom-guilt emerged (or emerges) in the midst of your writing process.  I am hyper aware of putting their business …