I’ve read Valerie Boyd’s wonderful biography of Hurston Wrapped in Rainbows a few times. I’ve reread Hurston’s novels, stories, plays, essays, and autobiography. What sort of research did you do before and while writing these books? Is the research process one you enjoy? If Zora could do all that, I started to feel like “Who cares if people think I’m weird? I have to figure out what I want to do!” Zora modeled the Black woman as a fearless intellectual force committed to recording the life of her community. This was a huge leap for me personally, one I continue to take, and I have my godmother, Alice Walker, and of course Zora herself to thank. Those writings forced me to think about what I thought about myself and how I would choose to articulate my self-respect irrespective of what voices were coming at me daily. The Zora anthology though started to chip away at it. Like many of us, as a result, I internalized truck-loads of self-doubt. I was bookish and a theater kid and people were always telling me that I spoke too loudly, or that they loved the way I dressed, or that I looked weird, that I was really smart one day, and a complete idiot the next. I was a sophomore in high school when my godmother gave me the collection of Zora’s work, I Love Myself When I Am Laughing…and Then Again When I am Looking Mean and Impressive, edited by Alice Walker. For me, in so many ways, that’s been an intellectual joy to explore and something I’m deeply grateful I’ve had the opportunity to do.ĭo you remember when you first discovered the work of Zora Neale Hurston? What did it mean to you then, and has that changed over the course of working on these books? As much as these books are about Zora, they’re also about an early 20th century Black community. Clearly, I jumped aboard! I was always deeply compelled by Zora’s writing and her hometown, Eatonville, Florida, the first all-Black incorporated town in the US. Because Tanya has a background in anthropology, in part, Zora was already in her mind as a specific kind of iconoclastic embodiment. She also wanted to create that genius Black girl heroine for all kids. She wanted to create a spunky, mystery-solving Black heroine for her own daughter who she was pregnant with at the time. In this NYT piece, Tanya discusses some of her motivations, which are personal and political. Not too long after that, Tanya invited me over to her house for lasagna and told me her idea about a middle grade series starring Zora. But she mentioned that she liked the young people characters. Tanya Simon, my friend and Zora and Me co-creator, read my first post-MFA book, and agreed that it didn’t work. I had just finished writing a novel that was horrible. The series was literally born in a universe far away called 2007. In the Zora and Me books, we’ve wanted to discuss some of those hard realities, but in the context of community, hope, and true friendship. Especially now, in the middle of both the pandemic and the efforts to call out and end white supremacy and systemic racism, it’s hard not to confront some of the hard realities we’re surrounded by. That’s true of all of us all the time, of course. I feel a responsibility writing for an audience that consciously recognizes that they are in the midst of a huge, life-altering shift. Can you share a bit about the ZORA & ME trilogy as a whole? Where did the idea for the trilogy come from?įirst, hello and thank you! I deeply appreciate the access to this community and its support! Middle grade novels meet readers, well, in the middle of so many things: growing up, trying out new ideas, figuring out who they are, and deciding what values they stand for. Welcome, Victoria! Thank you so much for stopping by our site to talk to us about your work.
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