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What Others Are Saying:
"As part of the Talking Volumes series, Jon managed to make members of the audience laugh and cry. In the line-up of authors (which has included Pat Conroy, Amy Tan, John Edgar Wideman, Salman Rushdie, and Margaret Atwood), Jonathan Odell stands out as one of the very best."
— Linda Meyers, Loft Literary Center
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Author, Speaker, Storyteller, Mississippi native
LOVE this. I can see you listening to these women, and I hear their voices in your work. I agree with you. We don’t choose who we channel, we only choose whether or not we’ll pay attention.
Thanks, Lindsay,
I wrote this in one sitting, after hearing from the umpteenth agent that nobody wants to publish a novel about African American women written by a white man. One agent even suggested (joking, I think) that I should change my name to Fannie Lou Hamer.
But the cool thing was that after Delphi finally got published, Kirkus Review said, “Jonathan Odell, an African American, is the rare writer on race who allows for a range of responses…”
I really hated to tell them that I was white.
Thanks for this note – this is a topic I have been thinking about in regards to Childrens Books. I began with who can and should be writing but I love the thoughts around “is it right” One of the questions for me is -
What is a quality multicultural text, what perspective is being presented and “is it right”?
Sorry to have miss the meeting with the Mpls staff today but would love to continue this conversation some time.
These are some great questions, Joanne, and I’m often surprised to find out that what I think another race or culture or gender would value, they find insulting. I’ll never forget how an African American man went off on me when I said something positive about “To Kill A Mockingbird.” He said that book was written to make white liberals feel good about themselves but he would never let his kids read it. He said, it just teaches them that black men are either victims or monsters. From now own I try not to presume and ask directly how folks like to see them portrayed in “story.” I know that question for me as a gay man, has led to valuable discussions.