Q&A with Carin Berger

  

 

 

 

 

Carin Berger is the author and illustrator of the new children's picture book Sofia's Journey: A Migration Story. Her many other books include In the Night Garden. She lives in New York City and the Hudson Valley.  

 

Q: What inspired you to create Sofia’s Journey, and how did you create your character Sofia?

 

A: I have a deep connection to the immigrant experience, as both of my maternal grandparents, to whom I was especially close, separately fled Nazi Germany. Their stories of uprooting and immigration, of fear, bravery, hope, and renewal were a vivid thread in my childhood and were foundational to my sense of self.

 

Also, as immigration has become such a charged issue, I feel it is important to remember that each and every family here in the United States have their own story of immigrating and having to start again. Right now, within our country, there is a lot of upheaval, where children experience being uprooted and the uncertainty that that brings.

 

This book is purposely not located and is open-ended, leaving room for anyone with a connection to change or dislocation to relate to it.

 

After much research, I chose Sofia’s name, which comes from the ancient Greek word for wisdom. The spelling that I chose seemed fitting, as it appears in many European, Romance, Scandinavian, and Slavic cultures. It is also fairly common in Mexico, and Central and South America. There is even a version in the Middle East.

 

Q: How did you create the illustrations for this book?

 

A: The illustrations in Sofia’s Journey are a combination of collage, drawing and pochoir, which is a form of stenciling. I use a lot of ephemera in my work, and I am drawn to it because each piece carries a history and story. I love that.

 

Q: The Horn Book review of the book says, “Berger adeptly uses cloud formations to convey Sofia’s experience of displacement, crafting a sky that indicates fear, hope, patience, and, at last, safety.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I deeply appreciated the Horn Book’s description. Creating the clouds was surprisingly challenging, and I did many many many iterations before finally solving how to illustrate them.

 

The primary difficulty came from trying to convey various moods and to allow for pareidolia, while simultaneously keeping the dove and other images within the clouds both present yet not obvious.

 

I also worked carefully to create a color palette that helped to convey the arc of Sofia’s Journey and the mood of the story, from ominous to hopeful.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: I hope that readers can relate to the longing for home and belonging that many of us experience. I would love it if Sofia’s Journey helps to create space for conversations about upheaval and courage, and about how the core of who we are remains with us despite change. If it fosters empathy and kindness and openness to others, that would make me very happy.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am working on a book, Stop Spot, that was inspired by a David Hockney painting. It is the painting of a swimming pool where you see a giant splash, but not what has caused it. There was so much story packed into that one image, and it was a leaping off point.

 

The book follows a puppy’s rambunctious romp through a garden and house with a child chasing behind. But mostly what the reader sees is the wreckage left with a peak at a tail or a trailing leash or the child’s hand reaching to catch the runaway pup. There is very little text but a lot of visual storytelling.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I am so excited about Sofia’s Journey, and I hope that it eases transitions for children everywhere.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Carin Berger. 

Q&A with Radiya Hafiza

  

Photo by Naomisha Phillips

 

 

 

Radiya Hafiza is the author of the new young adult novel The Silver Kingdom. Her other books include the middle grade novel Aya and the Star Chaser. She lives near London. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Silver Kingdom, and how did you create your characters Zayd and Layla?

 

A: I have always wanted to write an epic love story but I hadn’t found the right framing for the story until a few years ago. I was talking to my parents one day about their experience of surviving the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 and found myself wanting to commemorate this part of my family history somehow.

 

The idea of The Silver Kingdom and its countries emerging after colonisation, grappling with the damage that had been wrought upon them, began to form soon after this conversation and I found myself mapping out the world from there. I wanted to explore the lasting effects of colonialism on the region while creating a powerful love story.

 

Zayd and Layla had always lived in my head for a long time so it wasn’t too hard to flesh them out. I knew they were both loyal and fierce in their own ways, and would go to the ends of the earth for the one they loved – but that it would come with a cost.

 

Layla is almost a reluctant hero at first, full of self-doubt that her mother has inflicted on her. When she meets Zayd, who is more self-assured and knows his role in his family, in his kingdom, she finally finds someone who she can be herself around again and ignites that fire in her that has been missing for some time.

 

As much as this is a postcolonial fantasy book, this is ultimately a love story between two young people who could destroy their kingdoms with their choices.

 

Q: How did you create the world in which the story is set?

 

A: I drew on maps from the region of South Asia, and loosely based my world on the borders of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.

 

It’s not an accurate recreation due to the plot of the story and the movement I needed to create, but I drew on the history of a country that used to be one until it was cut up by the colonisers and what life, the economy, the society looked like after independence had been gained.

 

I also looked to the Mughal period for inspiration around the court, as well as my own love of reading fantasy and romantasy novels to create a world that speaks of a certain period in South Asian history, while also bearing the familiar hallmarks of a modern fantasy romance novel.

 

Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I always set out with a plan and an idea of how I imagine my stories to unfold but once I start writing the characters take me on their own journey and my plans go out of the window. I follow their lead a lot of the time.

 

I usually have a rough idea of how the story may end but it’s through the drafting process that everything changes but ultimately gets solidified. If you saw the first iteration of the book to the final published one, they are two completely different novels!

 

Q: You’ve written for different age groups--do you have a preference?

 

A: I have really enjoyed writing middle grade and I am so proud of my first books, but my heart has always been in YA. This genre has always been one of my absolute favourites to read and write in.

 

It has been so much fun making the switch to YA and getting to work with a larger word count, tackle more mature themes, and explore characters and their relationships in a different way to middle grade.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am currently working on the sequel to The Silver Kingdom, which is almost done! It has been a much larger and more complex book to the first one, but it’s also been so much fun to work on. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Mara Williams

  

Photo by Kevin Neilson

 

 

Mara Williams is the author of the new novel The Other Side of Starting Over. Her other books include The Truth Is in the Detours. She lives in California. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Other Side of Starting Over, and how did you create your character Bea?

 

A: The first line of the book came to me fully formed: “He was all my love stories.” It haunted me for a while as the characters, plot, and themes began to crystallize.

 

From that line emerged the story of a woman whose entire world has been turned upside down. She’s lost her husband, her livelihood, and her home and must start over—but not from scratch. She has baggage, responsibilities, and—most importantly—her dear children who need her to carry on into an uncharted future.

 

In many ways, this book is an exploration of motherhood during crisis, and Bea enabled me to explore how a mother pushed to the brink could pull her children—and herself—out of disaster.

 

While she is beat down by life, she’s not beaten. I wanted her to be resilient, smart, and capable, which helped create the tension between her current state and her character.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between your characters Bea and Simon?

 

A: Combative. In many ways, their dynamic is a battle between two Type As. They are both stubborn and particular—and because of their backgrounds and competing priorities, don’t give each other the benefit of the doubt.

 

However, while working together, they realize that they have different approaches, but similar goals. As their distrust turns into begrudging respect, they let their walls down enough to truly see each other.

 

Q: The novel is set in California’s Sierra Mountains—how important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: Setting is critical, and often my favorite thing to brainstorm while planning a new project. I want my books to transport the reader and immerse them in the story. I want the setting to do a lot of work in reinforcing the theme, aesthetics, and plot.

 

Beatrice, the young widow, moves home after her husband passes away. The plot required that she feel isolated and alone, and that the move would be a source of resentment for her rebelling teens. So I chose a setting that would feel remote, stagnant, and act as a pressure cooker for the family.

 

I set the book in the Sierra foothills of California because it’s a region that I love; it’s beautiful, charming, but might feel stifling for a family accustomed to the bustle of a bigger city. I spent a lot of time there as a child, so it was a setting that invoked a tremendous amount of nostalgia for me, which was also a critical theme of the story.

 

Q: Did you know how the book would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I rarely know how a book will end before I begin writing because I don’t develop a full outline in advance. I will brainstorm the concept to have a sense of where the story is going, but as the characters develop, they often have different ideas that take the story down a surprising path. That intuitive voice is a trusted partner in my process.

 

However, early in drafting, I want to have a sense of the major conflict and implosion in the third act. Since the conflict drives the action, I want to ensure there’s enough of it to power a full book, so that’s the only plot point that is clear to me at the outset.

 

With The Other Side of Starting Over, the climax of the third act was so intense that I couldn’t stop writing until I resolved it. Leaving my characters in such a state caused me great angst, so I had to push through. I drafted the final act in an epic writing sprint and let momentum carry me toward a conclusion.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: My fourth book comes out in summer 2027. All Roads Lead to Us is a second-chance, dual timeline romance about a passionate women’s rights activist who lands a dream job with a wealthy matriarch to give away her fortune, only to realize the woman’s grandson is the man she ghosted in Rome a decade ago. It’s messy, romantic, and dramatic and a perfect summer read.

 

Coming In from the Cold is scheduled for winter 2027 and is about a couple on the brink of divorce who must fake it for the holidays while stuck in a cabin with their entire extended family. It will be a cozy and chaotic holiday book.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: When I begin any book, I start with a question I want to answer. The question I was trying to answer in writing The Other Side of Starting Over was whether someone can move on—whole—after severe heartbreak and betrayal.

 

And I think the answer is “yes, but…” Starting over doesn’t erase our histories. We aren’t able to begin again with a blank slate. We bring our pain with us and build our new stories over our scars, and that actually makes the recovery even more meaningful and beautiful.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Stacey Gordon

  

 

 

Stacey Gordon is the author of the new novel The Pearl Farmers. She lives in Alameda, California. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Pearl Farmers?

 

A: I started my career as a journalist covering the gem and jewelry trade, and my biggest “beat” was covering the cultured pearl industry. I got to report on emerging trends and visit farms and companies across Asia and the U.S.—and I accumulated a lot of knowledge about pearls and the business that I never got to use once I moved on from that industry.

 

So, my initial idea for the book came with the thought: what if I found a way to put all that “useless knowledge” to use in a novel?

 

One of the fascinating aspects of the gem and jewelry business is that it’s still, to this day, a very family-oriented industry. Many companies and jewelry stores are run by multigenerational families, and each generation of those family businesses is grappling with how to adapt and survive as the world changes around them.

 

I wanted to explore the complex history of a family from the different points of view of the siblings who grew up in it. My idea was to show how each family member holds onto a distinct version of the family’s story, interpreting their relationships and past events differently even when they were living through the same moments together.

 

I decided the rural pearl farm and family business settings would make a perfect backdrop for that story.

 

Q: How did you create the Lockshire family, and how would you describe their family dynamics?

 

A: The Lockshires are an entirely fictional family, but I pieced them together with inspiration from my own genealogy and family dynamics, as well as small details of other families I’ve known.

 

James and Kate, the parents, were drawn partly from people I knew in the gem and jewelry industry—ambitious pioneer types who defied convention and harnessed nature itself—but also from a creative and raucous family I knew growing up, who ran multiple businesses and were also artists.

 

The sisters themselves play a little on the birth-order stereotypes: type-A and uber-responsible oldest sister Helen, misfit middle sister Anna, and eccentric wild-child Penn, the youngest.

 

The dynamics among them were my favorite parts to write in the story. The way they gossip with each other about the sister who’s not in the room; how they bicker but also crack each other up; the various ways they manifest guilt and grief; and how they can’t help being drawn back to each other when it really matters.

 

Q: The novel is set in Tennessee—how important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: There was an actual American pearl farm in central Tennessee; it’s actually still there, though it’s more of a museum now than a working pearl farm. The area’s importance to the Japanese pearl industry (Tennessee River mother-of-pearl has long been used to create the shell beads used in saltwater pearl culture in Japan) is a fascinating part of the story, in real life and in my novel. So, I decided to set the book there.

 

I’m personally not from Tennessee, but I did grow up in a small town in rural Appalachia, and the Lockshires’ fictional hometown became a vital character in the novel. The sisters’ stories play out based on their relationship with the town: Helen resents it, Anna embraces it, and Penn avoids it for as long as she can.

 

At the heart of the story is how the world begins to encroach on the town and the struggle between tradition and progress—which reflects the sisters’ own journey as they decide on the future of their family and business.

 

Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: I actually spent a little time exploring the real town and area in central Tennessee, including visiting the actual American pearl farm there.

 

One of the things I learned there was how involved people in the town once were in the farm’s activities—a woman told me how she’d worked at the farm as a teenager—which inspired background for the story and helped enrich the relationship between the Lockshire family and the townspeople.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am publishing a detective mystery set in Silicon Valley, the first in a series, early next year. I’m also writing a contemporary fiction novel about a group of GenX friends who met working at an arthouse movie theater and have remained intermingled in each other’s lives in  complicated ways, and I’ve just finished drafting my first romance!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: There’s a family secret that emerges in The Pearl Farmers—nothing scandalous, but its revelation changes everything about how the sisters see their family and its legacy.

 

I’ve uncovered a number of secrets in my own family in recent years, which motivated me to write about how learning the truth about the past can change so much about how we understand the way our families evolve.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Nov. 4

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Nov. 4, 1916: Walter Cronkite born.

Q&A with Anne Broyles

  

Photo by Amy Ijams

 

Anne Broyles is the author of the new young adult novel Words Spoken True, which is based on the story of a teenage Cherokee girl, Jane Bushyhead, who was part of the Trail of Tears. Broyles's other books include I'm Gonna Paint. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Words Spoken True, and how did you first learn about Jane Bushyhead?

 

A: I grew up proud of my Cherokee heritage and thought it was very cool to have my blue Cherokee Nation citizen card. When I began to write books for children and young adults I wanted to share the story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears with contemporary readers.

 

Sometime in the early 1990s I traveled to our tribal headquarters in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, to search for a real-life young person who survived the 1838 forced march. An encouraging librarian at Oklahoma’s Northeastern State University’s Special Collections brought me piles of books and files. I sat at a long table and spent hours leafing through pages in search of my protagonist.

 

When I discovered Jane Bushyhead’s March 1838 letter to a White school friend I knew she was the right lens into my story. Jane was almost 14 years old, extremely articulate and conscious of the events that were leading to the Indian Removal.

 

She wrote things like “If we Cherokees are to be driven to the west by the cruel hand of oppression to seek a new home in the west” and “It is thus all our rights are invaded.” I could feel her pain at being separated from her friend and the dread that she might be forced to leave her homeland. Jane was real to me right from the start.

 

Q: What did you see as the right balance between history and fiction as you wrote the novel?

 

A: It's important to share important historical information without giving "info dumps" that take away from the fictional narrative. I tried to see everything from Jane Bushyhead's point of view, to know only what she knew, overheard or discovered.

 

Because her father, Rev. Jesse Bushyhead, was a well-known tribal leader and Baptist preacher, I had numerous primary and secondary sources that informed me about his experience before, during and after the Trail of Tears. All I had of Jane was the one letter and the fact of her death six years after reaching the end of the Trail.

 

With her great-great-grandson's permission and support I created a fictional representation of who Jane might have been. In my back matter I am clear about who and what is historical fact and what is imagined.

 

Historical fiction can be tricky because even with diligent research there are bound to be mistakes. Primary and secondary sources often don't agree and the author must choose what version of history makes the most sense.

 

Even when there is an immense amount of material available about an historical person or event, the author must use their imagination to portray that person or event in details that make sense and feel real to contemporary readers. That's always a challenge.

 

I relied on numerous readers who are knowledgeable about the Cherokee Trail of Tears and took their comments seriously as I revised. I strived to find the right balance of history and fiction. And it is always my desire that readers of historical fiction will be inspired to search out more of the real history of whatever era they have discovered in novel form.

 

Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: In Words Spoken True Jane Bushyhead wants to be a teacher and is devastated when she has to leave school and return home.

 

While incarcerated in a prison camp with thousands of other Cherokees she begins to teach younger children about Cherokee history and culture through storytelling, but when she begins the 900-mile walk across the country in one of the coldest winters of that century no one has time or energy for anything but survival.

 

By keeping a diary Jane sees herself as the keeper of stories about the people on the Trail with her, both those who survive and those who die. When she jumps into a river to save a drowning child she loses the diary.

 

Here's some of the dialogue between Jane and her father after the loss of her diary:

 

“I’d written down everything,” I gasped through wobbling lips. “Months of my life, my poems, everything.”

 

Papa gathered me close. His scratchy coat smelled of campfire, sweat, and damp wool. I felt the big bearishness of him and leaned into his solid strength. 

 

“The worst is, I lost everyone’s stories,” I told him. 

 

Papa’s voice vibrated against my cheek. “Stories aren’t beasts to be captured, Jane. The words in your diary came from your strong heart and reside there still.” 

 

“My words are important.” 

 

“Without question.” Papa’s strong hands tightened around my back. “As articulate as you are, I’m sure those were important words, words spoken true,” he said. “But your words aren’t lost.”

 

The title signifies the moment when Jane feels her father's validation of her words and understands that what she has learned from writing and speaking her truth matters in the present moment and also the future.

 

Q: What impact did it have on you to write this book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?

 

A: Even though I grew up hearing about our tribe's forced removal from the homelands of the southeastern United States, the extensive research I did for Words Spoken True taught me much I hadn't known about the Trail of Tears. I am even more in awe of the strength of our Cherokee ancestors and also angrier about the way the U.S. government mistreated all indigenous people throughout history.

 

I hope readers will appreciate the courage and resilience it took for the Cherokee people to endure and survive the Trail of Tears. The descendants of those ancestors live and thrive today both in northeastern Oklahoma where our tribal headquarters are and around the world.

 

Most North American indigenous nations endured hardships and forced removal and yet are today strong and relevant in contemporary society and culture.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am co-writing a humorous younger middle grade series. It has been great fun to work with a colleague. Neither of us had co-authored before but we found a method that worked for us. Before we started writing we worked hard to know our characters and setting, then took turns writing scenes. Next, we each edited the other's work in track changes and the original writer could accept or reject changes.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I have been a huge fan of historical novels ever since I started reading. 

 

I still have two of my elementary school Scholastic Book Fair favorites, A Lantern in her Hand by Beth Streeter Aldrich (first published in 1928) and Gertrude Finney's The Plums Hang High (first published in 1955). So it was exciting to sign a contract with Scholastic that included "Scholastic Book Fair" and "Scholastic Book Club" provisions.

 

(I doubt these books would be marketed toward elementary students now since they feature adult protagonists, both women pioneers in the 19th century.)

 

I chose to write an historical novel from the point of view of a protagonist more likely to be the age of my readers. Jane Bushyhead was only 14 when she walked the Trail of Tears, but teens in those days often shouldered adult responsibilities more than today's teens do.

 

I gave Jane some things in common with readers 12 and up (attachment to a best friend, experiencing first love, resenting parental authority) so they could relate to her even though her life experience on the Trail of Tears was very different from that of most teens today.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Anne Broyles. 

Q&A with Kathleen Furin

  

 

Kathleen Furin is the author of the new story collection The Loneliness of Glass. She is also an editor and consultant, and she is based primarily in Philadelphia. 

 

Q: Over how long a period did you work on the stories in your new collection?

 

A: Almost 20 years! Some of these stories are quite old so it is exciting to see them finally being published.

 

Q: The author Jonathan Vatner said of the collection, “The Loneliness of Glass casts an incandescent gaze on women on the fringes of American society, struggling with disappointing husbands, execrable jobs, messy desires, and the specter and lure of death.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: It is an apt description, and I really appreciate Jonathan’s perspective and willingness to engage with my work.

 

One of the things I try to explore in my writing is the idea of desire and how so many women are taught to deny our own desires, or pretend to not even have desires, at least in the world that I was raised in.

 

It is fascinating to explore how so many women so often try to pretend like we don’t want things that we really, really want. I think this is a function of a patriarchal system which teaches us that our value lies in service to others rather than in taking care of and developing our whole selves.

 

Generally, in the dominant culture in which many of us live, neither women’s ambitions or desires are respected, and women who are ambitious or open about their desires are often disrespected and treated with disdain. Therefore we end up lying to each other about what we want, and often we even lie to ourselves.

 

Would things be easier if we just owned up to what we truly wanted? Maybe. I’m not sure, but there is a kind of honesty in that which might make us much less stressed.

 

Desires can be messy in and of themselves, and our natural responses to the ways our desires are demonized make those messy things even messier.

 

I also think we are taught to desire things that are socially acceptable or useful, and so this whole issue is not just around pretending to not have desires, or suppressing our desires. Some women pretend to want things we actually don’t want.

 

My story “Sanctuary” is probably a good example of that. The protagonist in that story thinks she wants sex, but does she really? She was just socialized into thinking that she is supposed to want sex, that wanting sex makes her a certain type of woman, a type of woman she thinks she should be but is not really who she is.

 

I love complicated women who want messy, unexpected things, and I think this shows up in my work.

 

Q: How did you decide on the order in which the stories would appear in the book?

 

A: I did take some time with this; I know my work can be heavy and intense. I knew I wanted to end with “The Loneliness of Glass,” and because “Animal Control” had been recognized as a “Coolest American Story” I thought I should start with that. Everything else just kind of fell into place.

 

My editor suggested moving “The Cookie Jar” because it is just so weird, and she thought people needed a few stories before that one to get used to my voice and style. I agreed with her!

 

Q: How was the book’s title--as you noted, it's also the title of one of the stories--chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: I am terrible at coming up with titles. I work as an editor and book coach and people often want help with titles. I do have some strategies I was taught in terms of thinking about titles that I share with writers, but this is not one of my strengths.

 

This title is a line taken from one of the stories, which at the time I wrote it was my favorite story. I liked the story because it was just so weird and magical, but also because of the process of writing it — it literally just flowed through me.

 

I wrote that story during a fellowship at the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing and I can tell you how I came up with the idea, but I can’t really explain how that story just sort of fell out of me, fully formed.

 

One of the characters in the story is an alligator who swam north after her daughter died because she wanted to die, too. She could not live with her grief and she thought for sure that she would freeze to death almost immediately, but somehow she manages to survive.

 

I am really fascinated with characters who want to die, and ideas around what it means to live versus what it means to survive. We live in a society in which the dominant culture tends to be hyper-focused on violence and death in some ways and yet does not really honor or accept death as a natural, inevitable outcome in other ways.

 

The alligator in the story hides herself from people because she knows that no one will kill her — they will “save” her, put in an exhibit somewhere for people to come to stare at, under fluorescent lights on a harsh tile floor…. For that character living like that would be torture, and she would rather just be dead, but she doesn’t trust anyone to grant her a death, dignified or not.

 

When I was writing from her POV she described being in that type of enclosure and ended her description of that kind of life with a line about “the loneliness of glass and tile.” And that line just stayed with me. I think it speaks to a kind of sanitized disconnection that would be hell for many people, or creatures of any type.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am having the best time right now writing a psychological thriller/mystery novel! It’s set in Havana, and it focuses on students from a dance school in the USA who travel to Cuba for a salsa retreat. When one of the students disappears, everyone becomes a suspect.

 

It’s unlike anything I have ever written before. Every single character is unreliable — I am at the point in the writing process where I want to spend every free minute I have working on that book!

 

Q:  Anything else we should know?

 

A: I feel hopeful that readers will see my work as an invitation into spaces of discomfort in which we can explore issues that really matter in ways that elevate growth and grace. I love characters who are getting it wrong, like mine are, because they may offer an impetus for us to try harder to get it right.

 

I think my hope is for my work to be a reflection of collective racism and what society is like at this time. It is so easy for those of us who are white people to be casually racist, to not think about race, to not do real work around it.

 

I think stories which don’t show white fragility and saviorism and cooptation are not honest reflections of who and where we are. It’s like an all-white sitcom which suddenly adds a Black character with no discussion of racial realities.

 

It’s just sanitized BS and I think we can do better and be better in terms of showing up honestly, and I hope my work is an invitation for more conversation around these issues, which are really important to me. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb