WRITING AS THREAT
On the Saturday after I spoke on a panel at the Schomburg, I attended the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators conference here in NYC. I supported my friends Julia Torres and Cornelius Minor as they gave a framework for authors and artists to ingratiate themselves to PK – 12 educators. After the spot-on workshop, Elizabeth Acevedo graced the ballroom stage. The voluminous curls on the gracious Dominicana can be seen a bodega away (in NYC, we have them on every block or two, right?). I carried de lo mÃo’s book The Poet X in my bookbag for the last couple of weeks. I am both exhilarated and infuriated that only now can such a young adult novel with a core identity of a poetry anthology.
The poet in me, who once read at the now defunct Cornelia Street Cafe and still yearns to do so at the Nuyorican, dedicated what little free time I have to this tome.
Somewhere in her speech, she speaks to her insecurities and how she eventually came to the conclusion that she would write for her very specific audience. The shift from “trying to write for everyone” to “putting the onus on audiences to move to her” is underrated. In a room full of white people, many of whom influence the bookshelves for major publishers and partnering districts, this was a queen telling the court that the food she decides to serve will be the main course. She wrested this power from the gatekeepers much to their amazement. For Julia, Dulce-Marie Flecha, and I, it’s the story of our survival in predominantly white spaces.
Then, she prophesied, “It didn’t matter how many stickers were on my book because, no matter how many awards and accolades I got if I didn’t believe that I was a writer.”
That jabs so many of our sides, too. I have the uncanny ability to believe exponentially in other CONTINUE READING: Writing as Threat | The Jose Vilson
