Apr 11

Apr 11 Episode #9: Who gets a piece of the pie? And...Asian parents!

Grace and Alvina continue their conversation from the previous week and talk about whether being white or POC in publishing is a help or a hinderance, touching on issues of college admissions, white privilege, and affirmative action.

Grace recalls the time recently at the SCBWI event where she overhead a woman making a snide remark about affirmative action. Quite taken back by the comment, Grace spoke her mind and reminded the woman that the people who are taking these spots at college away from your “blond-hair and blue-eyed” nephew are not the minorities but really these wealthy white parents in the news who are cheating their way into college admissions.

Alvina talks about how this issue comes up in publishing as well. Especially now more than ever with the “We Need Diverse Books” campaign, many white authors feel that their books aren’t being published because the authors of color are taking their spots. This is not true of course but it is so hard to get one side to see everything from the same vantage point as the other.

Speaking of getting others to see where you are coming from….Grace and Alvina take a trip down memory lane and discuss the topic of Asian parents. There was that one time that Grace’s father write a review on Amazon.com!:

Grace was on her way to the National Book Awards and decided to check her reviews because she was in such a happy mood. She realizes the newest review was by her own father! It read “Better than I expected”. This comment stirred up some issues that Grace has regarding her parents and Asian parents in general. She opens up about her upbringing and how her parents had a harder time accepting that she wanted to go to design school instead of medical school. They have been proud of her but she knows that they struggle to try and understand why she chose her profession.

As usual, the book friends end the podcast by sharing what they are grateful for. Alvina is so thankful for all four seasons. When she moved to California in middle school, the seasons were always missed. She is especially appreciating spring right now in NYC.