Episode #64: Our Asian American Identities- PART ONE

Welcome to a VERY special episode of The Book Friends Forever podcast where Grace and Alvina recorded this live for the Asian Author Alliance to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month! You can find the recording on the Asian Author Alliance You Tube Channel.

This is a two-part recording because it went a bit long. In Part One this week, they discuss their earliest Asian American identity and how that identity influenced their professional lives.

First as usual, the BFF’s catch up on each other’s lives…

“How have you been?”

Alvina has been remaining “pandemic fine” although her work just announced that they will not be returning to their physical offices until at least after Labor Day. This was a little expected but it is still hard to wrap the head around. Some companies are switching to remote working indefinitely and Grace wonders even if regular book events will be taking place next year. The BFF’s question how else the pandemic is going to change the face of the working world. Grace is still very busy! She had a wonderful Birthday celebration recently and her husband surprised her with a rainbow cake! Her good friend Lisa Yee just got married in a unique social distancing ceremony.

Asian American Identities-the early years!

“When were you first aware that you were Asian American?” Alvina asks. Grace recalls that nursery school may have been the time that she knew she and her family were different from the rest of her classmates. Growing up in upstate New York, she and her sisters were the only Asian girls in their elementary school. Alvina, who started going to school in a very white community in Pittsburgh, also remembers being the only non-white person in her class. Her Dad reminded her in recent years about how as a little girl, she used to wonder why all the characters in her books had yellow hair. She said that she wanted to change that someday! Grace and Alvina discuss how back then when they were growing up, things were a little more homogeneous. There is a lot more emphasis on individuality now and of course the need for diversity. If you want to hear more about this topic, check out the Book Friends Forever Episode 29 with Lisa Yee called “Asian Americans: Not exactly the same!”

Chinese or Taiwanese?

Grace and Alvina talk about how their identity as Asians growing up vs. their identity now. Grace recalls that her family always told her they were Chinese. It is only in the past 15-20 years that her family has recognized themselves as Taiwanese and not Chinese. Alvina’s family however, always trained her to say that she was Taiwanese. Grace tells the story of their families attending a festival of nations event in their hometown. They were assigned to the “Chinese booth” and Alvina’s parents were really upset by this because they were Taiwanese! Grace remembers her parents wondering why Alvina’s parents were so bothered by this. Now they would understand.

Asian American identity and careers!

When Grace was younger, she worked hard to try and not be Asian or tap into the culture. She felt insecure around other Asians who were very proud of their identity or those that could speak Chinese. It was like imposter syndrome! Grace really didn’t feel any connection to the culture or identity. However, “doing books on Asian culture has actually given me the power to claim my Asian identity. Many people think that it’s the other way around.” Grace explains. “I do these books to learn about being Asian” For her books, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and When the Sea Turns to Silver, she adapted and changed original Asian folktales. Grace was nervous about what people would think, but she embraced it as those changes felt right to her. It gave her power to connect with her Asian identity and not feel like an imposter.

In previous episodes, Grace and Alvin have often mentioned their desire for more diverse books growing up. Alvina said that Rudine Sims Bishop’s “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors” concept. “We rarely had mirrors growing up” she says of her childhood books. When she decided to go into children’s book publishing, she thought that was an opportunity to work on getting under-published characters into children’s literature. Alvina is very grateful that Little Brown is where she got her start. It was much harder at first to find diverse books, but now it is a little easier.

When Grace wrote The Ugly Vegetables 20 years ago, she was worried about imposter syndrome as well. There was a lot of pressure felt because she thought people were going to assume so knew so much about Asian culture. Grace and Alvina both agreed that probably most Asian Americans feel some level of imposter syndrome.

In 2016, Grace was invited to the White House to a Champion of Change for Asian American and Pacific Islander Art and Storytelling. She remembers a quote that weekend from an Asian woman working with Obama at the White House that said, “I don’t speak any Chinese but that doesn’t make me any less Asian.” Grace recalls hearing that and feeling so relieved. There’s no such things as being Asian American enough or not enough, you just are.

Thank you for tuning in to PART ONE! Please visit bookfriendsforever.com next week for PART TWO of this live podcast recording.