AsiansOfMixedRace.com Interview:
Justina Chen Headley

Justina Chen Headley is an award winning author. Her YA novel, "Nothing But The Truth (and a few whites lies)" won the Asian Pacific American Award for Youth Literature in June of this year. Her first book was a picture book titled "The Patch." Book number three, "Girl Overboard" is set for debut in 2008. She is a mother, a wife, one of the Readergirlz and one hell of a writer.

AMR.com: Your book Nothing But The Truth (and a few white lies) won the Asian Pacific American Award for Youth Literature back in June. How did you feel when you received the news?

JCH: I was completely stunned--and so happy that a book about a Hapa girl would win an award!

AMR.com: What is Nothing But The Truth (and a few white lies) about and did a personal experience inspire you to write it?

JCH: My novel is about a half-Asian, half-white girl who doesn't feel like she belongs anywhere. She has this transformative summer--at math camp, of all places!--and realizes that there's really nothing better than being exactly who she is.

I took my Hapa kids to the Children's Museum and these teens surrounded us there and started to do that hung-twung-wung thing. You know what I mean. They were mocking us in pseudo-Chinese. That's when I realized that I had been totally in denial; I had told myself that my kids wouldn't face any kind of racism because, after all, they were half-white. That night, the girl in my novel started talking to me...

AMR.com: I want to ask you specifically about chapter 31, where Patty called herself a "living version of a morpheme" and quickly concludes with "So color me perfect. I'm done trying to be one color." Growing up, did you ever feel this way?

JCH: YES! In college at Stanford I finally felt free and as if I belonged. My high school was pretty much white--I was one of a handful of people of any color. I felt so conspicuous and different. But then college... it really opened up my eyes that there were places with huge diversity. And this was just 20 minutes away from my high school.

AMR.com: Regardless of gender, do you think we all have a little bit of Patty Ho within us?

JCH: Definitely--I think feeling different is (unfortunately) a universal feeling. I can't tell you the number of people (men and women, teen boys, college women, different ethnicities, etc.) who tell me that they knew exactly what Patty was going through!

AMR.com: Your first book was a picture book, The Patch. What is the book about and why is it important to you?

JCH: My picture book is about a little girl who has to wear a patch (and again feels so conspicuous!). I wrote it because my own little girl had to wear a patch for 4 years!

AMR.com: Giving back to the community is very important to you. How did you accomplish this with your first two books and will this be something you will continue to do as you produce more books?

JCH: Community service is totally important to me. I made a commitment that I'd tie every book I publish to some kind of community service, somehow. So with The Patch, I gave away my advance to InfantSEE, this terrific program where the America Optometric Association guarantees that every single baby in the U.S. gets a free eye exam. Then with Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies), I honored my parents with a $5,000 college scholarship that I gave away via an essay contest.

If you want a peek at what I'm going to do with my upcoming novel, GIRL OVERBOARD, you can check out www.myspace.com/girloverboardtour...

AMR.com: You have a new book set for release soon. What is it called and can you divulge some of the storyline?

JCH: My forthcoming novel, GIRL OVERBOARD, is being published in January, 2008, and I'll be on tour with that book, starting in November.

So that book is about Syrah Cheng, a girl who seemingly Has It All. Her dad's a newly minted billionaire and everyone orbits around her for her parents' toys: their yacht, their obscenely huge in-home theater, their jet... The only place Syrah feels real and accepted for herself, not for her last name, is on the mountain when she snowboards. The book opens a couple of months after she's wiped out riding and has totally torn up her knee...

AMR.com: Who are the Readergirlz?

JCH: Yay! I'm so glad you asked about the readergirlz! We're an online book community celebrating gutsy girls in life and lit. I started this with 3 other young adult authors--Dia Calhoun, Janet Lee Carey, and Lorie Ann Grover. Every month, we feature a new book and a corresponding community service project. In October, we're featuring 31 authors in 31 days--where a different YA will chat live, online every single night. Check it out at www.myspace.com/readergirlz and groups.myspace.com/readergirlz.

AMR.com: Who is Justina Chen Headley?

JCH: Good question: I'm still trying to figure that out, too! I'm a writer-mom with a passion for community service who wants to create literature that lingers with my readers.

AMR.com:Have you always wanted to be a writer and who inspired you to write?

JCH: I've wanted to be a writer since I was in second grade. Even when I wasn't writing, I was writing in my head, making up stories. Always, always, always.

AMR.com: How would you feel if you were told you were an inspiration to young writers, especially young Hapa writers?

JCH: That would be a dream come true! Honestly, the world of literature needs more people of color to tell their stories. And let's face it, books about hapas--and other mixed race people--are so vastly underrepresented. Get writing, everyone!

AMR.com: Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to be a writer?

JCH: You have to write every single day. And you have to read voraciously--read everything. I mean it.

AMR.com: What are you reading now?

JCH: Now, I'm reading the works of the 31 authors who are participating in the readergirlz program 31 Flavorite Authors in October. There are so many great authors for teens today--whose work is so relevant for adults, too.

AMR.com: Who are some of your favorite authors?

JCH: Oh, that's hard! For adult writers, I love Amy Tan. For young adult writers, I have to say K.L. Going is one of my favorites.

AMR.com: Who are some of the new and up and coming authors readers should look out for?

JCH: Readers of any age would love K.L. Going. I think she's sensational and has an amazing spirit. Nikki Grimes is fantastic, a poet. Janet Lee Carey is lauded as this generation's Tolkien.

AMR.com: What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing?

JCH: I love running and doing yoga, hanging out with my family, hiking. In the winter, I love cross-country skiing and snow shoeing. I hate gardening.

AMR.com: If you had only one choice, what is your all time favorite quote?

JCH: There is no doubt, this is it: "The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!” --Jack Kerouac...he's my man!

AMR.com: And the most important question, Starbucks or Seattle’s Best?

JCH: Starbucks! My hubby used to work there. I better say Starbucks or else. Favorite drink there--green tea frapuccio made the Asian way, not the way they make it here in America. You must order it thusly: NO syrup, double the matcha, hold the whip. A mouth party. Trust me.