On Thursday, March 28, a new author series kicks off at The Seattle Public Library’s Central Library. Curated by Seattle writer and editor Nisi Shawl, it’s called “Reading and Writing the ‘Other:’ Diversity and Inclusion in Our Worlds.”
The three programs include the March 28 event on Writing the ‘Other’ and sensitivity reading with Nisi Shawl and author K. Tempest Bradford; an event about “Research and Resources for Writing the ‘Other’” with research librarian Melody Steiner on Tuesday, April 9; and a BIPOC Book Fair at the Douglass-Truth Branch on Sunday, May 19.
To learn more, we asked guest curator Nisi Shawl to share their thoughts on the series. Shawl is the multiple award-winning writer and editor of science fiction and fantasy, including “Everfair” and the newly released sequel “Kinning.” They are the co-author (with Cynthia Ward) of “Writing the Other: Bridging Cultural Differences for Successful Fiction.”
Why did you curate a series on Reading and Writing the ‘Other’”?
It’s a timely topic, given the furor we’re seeing over representation around the country. And it’s a topic I’ve thought and talked about quite a bit. The book I co-wrote with Cindy Ward, which is based on the workshop we taught together, has helped many, many books come into being, and it’s my hope that this series will nurture and sustain other books, and a deeper understanding of the stories of historically under-represented people.
Can you share a bit about the programs and why you’re excited about them?
These are programs that open up new vistas for our participants. The first event on March 28 is a discussion about the basics of Writing the Other, with initial thoughts from myself and Writing the Other co-teacher K. Tempest Bradford. We’ll also encourage lots of audience questions. And since we almost always encounter curiosity about the role of cultural consultants, aka sensitivity readers, in this work, we plan to address that issue as well. What do they do? How do they do it? Where can they be found? How can I become one?
The second event, on Tuesday, April 9, is a talk by author and librarian Melody K. Steiner, who is flying in from Ohio to present us with ways to research other cultures, other histories and other points of view we want to represent accurately and respectfully.
The third event on May 19 at the Douglass-Truth Branch is aimed at kids. It’s a bookfair, sort of like those Scholastic bookfairs held in elementary schools across the U.S. The difference is that all the authors of the books offered, and many of the characters featured in those offered books, are Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color. So we’re giving kids of all backgrounds an opportunity to read the “Other,” as in members of marginalized races and cultures. Even–no, especially–when kids themselves belong to an identity group that’s marginalized, seeing the stories of these “Others” is so important. Plus, every single child or teenager who attends gets ONE FREE BOOK OF THEIR CHOICE!
What are some of the authors we might expect to hear from at the BIPOC Book Fair on May 19?
Tempest and I will both be there. You can’t escape us! We’ll be joined by Diana Ma and Shiv Ramdas.
What are some of the authors and thinkers who have influenced your views on reading and writing “the other”?
Mostly I haven’t been influenced– at least not in the way most people mean “influence.” Nobody directly inspired the ideas central to my essay “Transracial Writing for the Sincere,” which is the basis of the primary workshop, which is the basis for the book and the classes, webinars, etc.
But two authors did send my thoughts Writing the Other-wards: W.E.B. Du Bois and Bruce Sterling. Du Bois invented the phrase “double consciousness” to describe part of what it’s like to be both Black and American. He wrote about how African-descended people must learn to see themselves not just through their own eyes, but also through the eyes of dominant (that is to say white) culture. And Sterling asked me if I’d lived as an adolescent in a foreign land, or spent months or years somehow isolated from normal society — in other words, if I’d ever felt thoroughly alienated from the world. He said that his informal survey of science fiction authors had yielded this alienation as our one common experience. I told him about my year in Scotland. But reflecting on the conversation afterwards I realized that I had, in fact, been living in a foreign land my entire life. That my status as a Black person meant that whenever the dominant culture found it convenient to consider me as an alien, as “Other,” they could. They did.
From thinking about my own circumstances as an “Other” I progressed to a more generalized understanding of otherness and representation.
Thank you so much for sharing these insights. And speaking of writing, we’d love to hear about what you’re working on right now.
I’m working on an update of “Writing the Other” to be published next year, along with a bunch of related titles based on the classes the Writing the Other team has recently designed.
This fall there will be a new novella out from me: “The Day and Night Books of Mardou Fox,” coming from Rosarium Publishing. It’s a Beat-era fantasy set on Staten Island, in NYC’s Greenwich Village, and San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood.
Anything else that you’d like to share?
I’d like to share Reading and Writing the Other with everybody we can get to come. Something for everyone! Free books!
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