Hello!
In honor of LGBT Week, here are a few links of interest:
o LGBT Week is hosted by
Rae on her blog
In the Forest. For the next ten days she will be reviewing books and tempt us with giveaways.
o Author and LGBT rights advocate
Malindo Lo wrote a series of posts on
Avoinding LGBT Stereotypes in YA Fictions. Whether you're a writer or not, you will be interested in what she has to say. She is thorough.
Malinda's novel,
ASH, came out last September, and is described as "Cinderella with a twist". Click
here to read the review from Lambda Literary.
o If you're looking for great LGBT YA recommendations, please visit Librarian
Daisy Porter's website. What I like the most is how she breaks down the titles in every way imaginable (by author, by ethnicity of characters, genre, etc...)
Have read a great LGBT YA lately? Feel free to share it with us! :)
Rukhsana Khan (pronounced ruk-SA-na kon) is a Canadian award-winning writer and storyteller. She visits over eighty schools a year in the United States and in Canada, and as stated on her website, her presentations "go from light-hearted fun for primary children to serious issues like teen suicide, loss and abandonment and child refugees." She is the author of Silly Chicken(Viking Juvenile, 2005), Big Red Lollipop (Viking Juvenile, 2010) and Wanting Mor (Groundwood Books, 2009), a story about an orphaned teenage girl abandoned in a marketplace in Kabul, Afghanistan. In September 2008, Rukhsana Khan gave a speech at the
International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) World Congress in Denmark, in which she explores the theme of integration, the reasons behind the need for cultural diversity, the challenges awaiting authors writing outside their culture and those eager to represent theirs... The speech is titled:
FREEDOM OF SPEECH VERSUS CULTURAL SENSITIVITY
Balancing the Right to Create Freely vs. the Need of People to be Respected
Here is an extract:
"Imagine how dull the world would be if we all looked the same, ate the same food
and dressed the same way! I believe that just as biodiversity allows species to take advantage of evolutionary
niches, diversity of cultures explores all the societal permutations possible and helps
mankind to progress. Societies are in a constant state of flux. Members move between communities
and with this comes the cross pollination of ideas. Over time cultural norms must change
and adapt as a result of this. All this cultural exchange is very healthy. It prevents stagnation. It challenges a
culture’s status quo and allows for the vetting of long held assumptions. Ultimately only
the best and fittest concepts will survive to further contribute toward the progress of
mankind."The entire speech is available on Rukhsana's website. I found it utterly honest and thought provoking. I hope you read it, too.
Disclosure: This was first posted on the blog Multiculturalism Rocks!
*This interview was originally published at Multiculturalism Rocks.
Today I’m proud and excited to interview author and publisher M. LaVora Perry. LaVora, thank you for joining us today!
I recently reviewed your book PEACEBUILDERS, in which you share some aspects of the Japanese culture such as food and language. Have you spent time in Asia and abroad in general?
MLP: Thanks so much for interviewing me, Nathalie!
To answer your question, I want to travel to Japan and all over the world. But, no, I haven’t been to Japan yet. I became more familiar with Japanese culture than I might have otherwise when I started practicing Buddhism. The form of Buddhism I practice, Nichiren, began in Japan. The people who brought this teaching to the U.S. and spread it worldwide were Japanese. Many of the practitioners I met when I started my practice were Japanese. So it was only natural that I became familiar with things Japanese. For PEACEBUILDERS, I researched traditional dishes, like oden, a winter stew, to make the book authentically reflect Japanese culture.
I am curious to know how you made the transition from Taneesha’s books to PEACEBUILDERS…
Long before I wrote Taneesha Never Disparaging, or its predecessor, Taneesha’s Treasures of the Heart, I knew I’d write PEACEBUILDERS. This may sound weird, but I actually dreamed of writing this book in 1976 when I was 14 years-old—years before I’d ever heard of Daisaku Ikeda or knew anything about Buddhism.
In recent years, I pitched the idea of PEACEBUILDERS to publishers, including Buddhist publishers. I pitched it to agents, too. But, I think because Daisaku Ikeda is not as well known in the U.S. as he is in Asia, agents told me they saw no market for it. It could also be that my pitched letter sucked.
Even so, I might have found a publisher for it anyway. But I made the mistake many writers make–I submitted the manuscript before it was in top shape. So every publisher I submitted to rejected it.
By the time I’d gone through the critique and revision processes to the degree the story needed to be fit for publication, I realized that even if a publisher picked it up, due to Daisaku Ikeda’s advanced age, I could not guarantee that the book would be published in time for him to be able to know children around the world were being inspired by his story and that of his beloved teacher, Josei Toda.
I heard the clock of age loudly bonging—my age (48) and Daisaku Ikeda’s age (82). So I decided to publish PEACEBUILDERS through my company, Forest Hill Publishing, LLC. I also decided to release it on the date that Josei Toda passed the task of building world peace to Daisaku Ikeda and all young people in 1958—March 16, which Soka Gakka International (SGI) Nichiren Buddhists celebrate as “World Peace Day.”
Do you intend PEACEBUILDERS to become a series, or is it a stand-alone book?
I’m working on companion books to PEACEBUILDERS.
LaVora, we read in your biography that you have been practicing Buddhism since 1987. If I may ask, how did you embark on that spiritual journey?
In 1986, I was living New York. A year earlier, I’d moved there from my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio to become an actress after I was kicked ou
Today I’m proud and excited to interview author and publisher M. LaVora Perry. LaVora, thank you for joining us today!
I recently reviewed your book PEACEBUILDERS, in which you share some aspects of the Japanese culture such as food and language. Have you spent time in Asia and abroad in general?
MLP: Thanks so much for interviewing me, Nathalie! I feel deeply honored to be a guest author on Multiculturalism Rocks!
To answer your question, I want to travel to Japan and all over the world. But, no, I haven’t been to Japan yet. I became more familiar with Japanese culture than I might have otherwise when I started practicing Buddhism. The form of Buddhism I practice, Nichiren, began in Japan. The people who brought this teaching to the U.S. and spread it worldwide were Japanese. Many of the practitioners I met when I started my practice were Japanese. So it was only natural that I became familiar with things Japanese. For PEACEBUILDERS, I researched traditional dishes, like oden, a winter stew, to make the book authentically reflect Japanese culture.
I am curious to know how you made the transition from Taneesha’s books to PEACEBUILDERS…
Long before I wrote Taneesha Never Disparaging, or its predecessor, Taneesha’s Treasures of the Heart, I knew I’d write PEACEBUILDERS. This may sound weird, but I actually dreamed of writing this book in 1976 when I was 14 years-old—years before I’d ever heard of Daisaku Ikeda or knew anything about Buddhism.
In recent years, I pitched the idea of PEACEBUILDERS to publishers, including Buddhist publishers. I pitched it to agents, too. But, I think because Daisaku Ikeda is not as well known in the U.S. as he is in Asia, agents told me they saw no market for it. It could also be that my pitched letter sucked.
Even so, I might have found a publisher for it anyway. But I made the mistake many writers make–I submitted the manuscript before it was in top shape. So every publisher I submitted to rejected it.
By the time I’d gone through the critique and revision processes to the degree the story needed to be fit for publication, I realized that even if a publisher picked it up, due to Daisaku Ikeda’s advanced age, I could not guarantee that the book would be published in time for him to be able to know children around the world were being inspired by his story and that of his beloved teacher, Josei Toda.
I heard the clock of age loudly bonging—my age (48) and Daisaku Ikeda’s age (82). So I decided to publish PEACEBUILDERS through my company, Forest Hill Publishing, LLC. I also decided to release it on the date that Josei Toda passed the task of building world peace to Daisaku Ikeda and all young people in 1958—March 16, which Soka Gakka International (SGI) Nichiren Buddhists celebrate as “W
I recently finished The Mariposa Club by Rigoberto Gonzalez.
It was a good as people said it would be. Mariposa is butterfly in Spanish.
Reading
Say the Word by Garsee and Almost Perfect by Katcher for NerdsHeartYA
I'm so happy to see a link to Rae's LGBT Week event! Very awesome :)
Doret, thank you for the title you provided. I'm adding them to my LGBT challenge!
Amy, you're welcome. I command Rae for the way she has it set up. :)