Episode #108: Words Matter
Grace and Alvina discuss how words matter, including word choice, bias, and in what you do and do not say. As usual, they catch up on each other’s lives and talk about some of the things they’ve been eating lately!
As a reminder, in late May, the book friends podcast will host a very special guest author, Paula Yoo! Her new latest book is called From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial That Galvanized the Asian American Movement. It will be very exciting to hear from her! Hopefully you can read the book beforehand and tune in to this book discussion episode. It will be much like the episode #69 when Grace and Alvina talked to author Jason Reynolds about his book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-Winning Stamped from the Beginning.
“How have you been?”
Alvina has been enjoying life returning to a little bit of normalcy with friends gathering, going to brunch (outside), and having backyard BBQ’s.
Alvina was recently on a panel at the National Antiracists Book Festival with Namrata Tripathi, Vice President & Publisher of Kokila, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers. Speaking of words do matter, Alvina mentioned that they were not able to give them the questions ahead of time. She felt unprepared and didn’t answer as well as she would have liked.
Grace has been dealing with some very late school visits in China and the little amount of sleep has been effecting her.
Words Matter
This topic came to mind after the Publishers Weekly article came out about agent Brooks Sherman. He claimed to have discovered Angie Thomas, author of The Hate U Give by using the phrase “plucked from obscurity”. Publishers Weekly eventually did change the wording in the article. We know that words matter both in what we choose to say, what we choose not to say, and how we say it. Words matter regarding what we discuss on this podcast. As Grace says, “Neither one of us are scholars or experts.” The Book Friends apologize for the mistakes they’ve made in the past or ones they will make in the future.
Grace talks about Kirkus labeling. Kirkus Book Review Service has a policy of always stating the race of all the characters. Alvina talks about the Read our World event and how it used to be called “Read Different” until it was pointed out that it doesn’t sound very inclusive.
#hastags and outdated language: Grace mentions using the #asiansarehuman hashtag. She thought it was a great hashtag but the also read pushback on that. People thought it was insulting. Why do we have to tell other people that we are human? Hashtags are tricky but important. The Book Friends think back to other movements and what they’re called. They discuss alternative names for “cancel culture”.
Naming things: Sometimes it’s great to be able to name a feeling and put a word to it. Alvina was reading the New York Times article written by Adam Grant on the feeling of languishing. She was happy to hear a word that described her feelings and what many people are feeling this year and last.
Fortune Cookie Segment: “What have we been eating lately?”
Alvina has been using CookUnity and DeliverZero. She also tried out a TikTok food trend! Grace has been trying the Keto brand oreo cookies.
“What are you grateful for?”
Alvina is grateful for movies and oscar winner, Chloe Zhao. Grace’s daughter turns 9 soon and that means almost a decade of being a mom! She is feeling grateful that being a mom has made her strive to be a better person. They also share a wonderful grateful from their friend and author, Ali Benjamin! She wrote the National Book Award finalist, The Thing about Jellyfish and another novel, The Smash-Up.
Thank you for tuning in! Thank you to Hachette Audio, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, and Alex at Pacyworks Studio. Be sure to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and tell a friend about us. (Use the hashtag #bookfriendsforever.)
You can find Alvina @Planetalvina on Twitter and TikTok and @Alvinaling on Instagram
You can find Grace @Pacylin on Facebook and Instagram
Alison Morris is @AlisonLMorris on Twitter and @kidlitgirl on Instagram
*If you’re a patron, don’t forget to check out this week’s Random Questions feed! Grace Lin with Kwame Alexander answer, “Where do you not mind waiting?” Click here to listen! If you’re not a patron already, join today!
