Words Weaving Worlds - Jael Richardson

which was shortlisted for the Amazon First Novel Award. She was also the recipient of the Word Award. Our guest for today, J. L. Richardson, lives in Brampton Ontario where she serves as the executive director for the Festival of Literary Diversity, or FOLD. To our listeners, meet Ms. J. L. Richardson!

Um, I ended up like, wiggling my way into one by contacting a friend, but I wasn't in the, in the traditional format in the traditional programming schedules. I wasn't invited to any and I was sort of curious about why that was about how this worked and about how festivals found their authors, because I actually went to a lot of literary festivals at the time, and I realized a lot of the authors were white. A lot of the audience was white and.

There started to be this sort of controversy brewing about that in the States and Dalton Higgins, who's a writer in Toronto, wrote an article about this in Canada as well in 2014 or thereabouts. And I read it and sort of thought, yeah, we should do something about this and he specifically talked about the need for diversity in the publishing industry and listed things like editors and agents, which seem obvious, but then said festival directors. And I was like, oh, I could do that.

I could plan a literary festival and I could focus on underrepresented authors and diverse authors. And, um, if I started there, maybe, maybe the audience would be more diverse. Maybe I would feel more comfortable there and so, um. That's that's really where the idea came about and I had been an event planner in my other work. I had worked for university planning events and I really like I really liked doing that. I was quite good at it. So it was kind of a natural fit in that regard.

What was not a natural fit was very difficult for me to start out was the business side, learning how to start a charity and how to run a charity and how to work with a board like that was all really quite tough for me to learn, but all worth it in the end.

And I remember seeing the word activist and being like, Oh my gosh, is that what I'm doing? I've never seen that use that word used for me and I think that. Absolutely, my goal is to be an advocate and an activist in the sense that I'm very interested in pushing against the norms and pushing against typical expectations of literary festivals of, um. Publishing as a whole is quite white. It's quite monolithic in a lot of ways, not just whiteness, ableists, all these kinds of things.

White supremacy that happens when you just allow things to move with the machine and you don't push against it and so for me, FOLD is very much about. Um, carefully pushing against the system and thinking about ways to do things differently, uh, within the limitations of capitalism.

I always joke that I sit on the boundary of capitalism and socialism, because while I very much believe in the acts and the ideas of social justice, I have not been able to To conceive of a way to live and a way to allow that social justice work to survive without leaning into some of the elements of capitalism. For example, gaining sponsorships or things like that. So, um, that's where I find myself sort of treading this this strange ground.

But, um, it is always with the goal of, of pushing and supporting, um, depending, pushing against those that are in the way and supporting those who maybe need like a little lift.

Um, One of the first things we realized is a lot of people are looking for information and support about writing about how to write a book, how to edit a book, how to navigate publishing and we wanted to create a space that people could do that. Really. Well, free and not have to pay for it. I had the benefit of being able to go into an MFA and creative writing program and that made a huge difference in terms of what I knew about the industry about writing.

And so I've, I wanted to provide a kind of similar experience, um, no matter where people were in the world or no matter what their financial situation was. So every month, um, from September to May, we do free writing workshops, um, offered by authors and we call that Fold Academy. So, that was 1 thing we expanded. We do it all virtually. We have done it in various combinations of virtual and in person since we started actually, when we started, we did it on Facebook live.

It was wild and very stressful, but we eventually moved to zoom. And then we've been on zoom ever since, even before the pandemic. Um, and then the other thing that we did to. Band was, we created Fold Kids Book Fest. And that was because we, um, we had had a few kids events at Fold before, but some of our parents were like, I don't know whether to come to fold or bring my fold, my kid to fold kids. Like, I don't know how to do both.

And so we ended up starting Fooled Kids Book Fest in the fall, um, to support teachers and educators and, and children, um, because we figured one of the reasons that most literary festivals audiences are so old is because there's not a kind of engagement from a younger reader, um, and we wanted to, in 20 years, hear people say, Hey, Oh, I, I know fold. I went every year when I was a kid.

Um, and so we put, uh, we started fold kids book fest where we do programming for kids, typically ages about 14 to 16. Um, and we focus on children's literature, young adult literature, middle grade fiction, nonfiction illustrators. We do a lot. We do an event called an illustrator battle. That's all virtual and the illustrators compete with their art. Um, and so we do stuff like that, uh, at full kids book fest. That's very different from what we do at fold.

Um, and so when the school board sign on every teacher, and every student gets their own registration, or gets a registration code, each teacher has a code that they can share with all their students. And so that's one of the easiest ways for a student to take part with very low cost.

Um, and this is across Canada, so because it's virtual, this portion of the festival, um, teachers can participate in Fold Kids Book Fest no matter where they are in Canada and wherever they are in the world and most of our authors are Canadian. Um, most of our content though has little to do with the specifics of Canada. It's about great writing, great storytelling.

mixing in different types of characters from different types of places, telling different types of stories in different types of ways. Um, so it's really quite applicable widely, but we, we do have a majority Canadian audience at this point.

Um, you know, the fact that he's the first Black quarterback to ever win the Grey Cup is actually not the most interesting facet of his life. He's done, you know, he went undefeated from high school to college as a quarterback, which is unheard of, never happened before or since. Um, and so I wanted to tell this story. And I also wanted to tell it in relation to, you know, our... Are my life growing up, my dad didn't talk about it a lot.

He was just kind of like, I work at an investors group and I'm an insurance man. Like, there was no, he doesn't talk about those days. I just knew because there was a bunch of trophies in the basement that were mostly collecting dust. And, um, when I finished that book, uh, a teacher actually approached me and said, she would really love to have my dad's story to share with her, like grade one grade two students. And so I, I ended up.

Yeah. Writing a children's book because this teacher asked, um, and then gutter child came to me. Like, as soon as I finished stone thrower, I knew I was going to write gutter child and I loved writing it. Um, and then the children's books that have come since then, both of them, because you are, uh. Somebody like at HarperCollins Canada kind of asked, do I have a children's book like waiting in the wings?

And I have this like story poem that I had kind of written and kept to the side and we ended up working that into Because You Are and the hockey jersey was something similar. They came and said, you know, if we were going to make a book about changing the face of hockey, what would, what would you suggest? And I pitched something and it was picked up.

So all three times, the children's books were because people asked me, um, They, those ideas have, don't seem to come as like organically as my other, like, longer prose seem to do. Um, so it's always quite fun when people ask me about how I feel about being a children's author because it feels very different to me than the process of being an adult writer. So, or a writer for adult ish people.

As a result of that, of that huddle, result of that, we have people beginning to write their own children's stories. It's fascinating!

So if your huddle is ever looking for an author great place to look its also a good place to recommend to those librarians who don't know Canadian picture book titles. Um, and then the other thing I would recommend is we have something called pitch perfect and we do them at both festivals. But because of what you mentioned about your group, I'll just mention it in relation to Fold Kids Book Fest. The call is actually going to be coming out very soon. Um, and it's for, um.

People who've worked on a manuscript of children's literature or young adult literature who want to talk to an agent or an editor about their manuscript. So they finished it. They like it. They think it's great, but they don't know what to do next with it. They can meet with an agent editor. The agent editor will review it, give them feedback, make suggestions. In some cases, people have gotten publishing deals from those those contacts and relationships.

Um, But really, it's about kind of giving people that bridge towards the next step, which was a really hard step for me. I, I was lucky enough that my, um, um, MFA instructor shared my information with an editor, and I was able to build a relationship that way. But a lot of people have these stories in their back pockets. They don't know if it's good enough. They don't know what to do next with it.

So Pitch Perfect is this very, like, low stress, low stakes opportunity to ask questions, to have someone look at your words and give you very specific advice should you want to pursue the next steps in publishing it.

Part of the review process is also to look at the query letter and say what might be missing or what should maybe be included. So I wouldn't, like, nobody should get thrown off by the application process. It's very like. Just what would you like to talk to an editor and agent? It'll ask you some basic questions. So you'll submit that and then your job is basically done. Once the application process closes, our team will look at all the submissions and we try and pair as many as possible.

We focus on Canadians first. Um, and Canadians from marginalized communities first, and then we'll sort of look at what's been submitted and we'll look at the agents and editors who are available, who worked with us before, or who are interested. And, um, one of our coordinators will actually pair you with a specific agent or editor based on what you're submitting, your age category, and what your preference was agent or editor.

Turned it into some machine that I'm happy with. Like, I'm just like, this is who I am and I accept it. Um, and I remember thinking, wow, at 40 years old, that's probably the 1st time I've ever thought that it's probably the 1st time I've ever said that and really believed it. And it's because all my life. I've thought something needed to be changed. Something needed to be fixed. Something needed to be smaller. Um, and what upset me the most is how much time I had spent.

Trying to, like, fix, improve, change, sell, whatever I try to do and, um, so Because You Are was me thinking, like, what I wish I had known when I was younger, what I wish I had told myself over and over when I was younger and I was thinking specifically, I have a niece who at the time was about six years old, and just the things I would want her to know at this age, the things I would want her to say. And so the main theme of Because You Are is that you are just enough, exactly as you are,

So it really does drive home the point of being pleased with yourself and not feel like when you look in the mirror, it's like, yuck, not to feel like that, but that you do like being me. Yeah. Or do you like being you? So, yeah, so you just, I just, you talking about it, it just brought that book of Rita and her husband's. To mind. I'd like to have the whole idea of having a pitch perfect. So in this package, the writer submits.

The writer, will they get a, will someone edit the book or is that not part of the deal?

You might get those in the review process, but your reviewer may also just provide you with like a paragraph of text. Here's what I thought, here's what I might recommend, this is where it's kind of at. So it depends on who's looking at the manuscript. Um, a lot of agents, for example, are more likely to give you feedback on, like, how, like, on a notes level, just like paragraph of feedback, whereas an editor might just out of instinct kind of go in with their.

Editorial hat and, and do some like underlining and, and feedback that way. So it really just depends on their process and who you're working with. But you will, especially on a picture book level, because, you know, the word count is under a thousand and you can typically read it quite quickly, you will get, um, some editorial feedback.

To write to a deadline, and the idea just hasn't come yet. And so I'm sort of like forcing this act of writing and I'm forcing it in this timeline. Whereas for me, when I read a book, when I listen to other writers, when I go to events, and I hear writers talking. Generally, the ideas start percolating and bubbling. And the most difficult challenge I have is when I'm stuck with like a piece that I can't quite solve or resolve in a book or a story.

And the writer's block again happens when I feel pressured to rush that decision. So I am notorious, if you ask my editor, for being like, yeah, it's not going to be ready. Like right now, I said this month, it's not this month, because I have to really like allow myself. The space to create. Um, the other time I get writer's block is when I agree to a project before I have an idea. So someone will say, Hey, we have this great idea and The Hockey Jersey is a good example.

They sort of said, Hey, we have this idea for a book. We have this sort of proposal. What do you think about this? And I said, here's my idea and if you don't like this idea, you'll have to find another writer because they're like, I won't have another idea come to me. Like, right. This is the idea of got. You kind of take this one or you just leave it and you leave me and you go home with somebody else.

So I would, I think I could see myself getting writer's block if they had turned down my idea for the story and asked for something else and then I feel very like pressured because it was also a very short timeframe that I had to write in. So it wasn't like I could, I could take a year and think about the idea it came out six months after the, the, the approach.

So, um, that's why I was, that's where I get writer's block, I think, is when somebody asks me to do something and I don't have an idea yet, because I don't know if that was what I was supposed to be doing with my time, honestly.

Like, don't worry. I love you all. Um, I feel like they're very offended by that answer.

They're not actually the same terms that are used outside of North America in some ways to talk about racism or, um, things in that regard and so I wanted to kind of build something from scratch that also spoke to some of the things that I struggled with growing up. And I had really struggled with the term black and being called black. Um, I went to, you know, church regularly and you would sing these hymns and it's like, wash me whiter than snow. You hear all these things about.

How pure whiteness is and then black is being sin and then you're like, Hey, black lady, you know, like it just, it, it, it had these very negative connotations. Like, I just did not like it when I was younger. Now I see it as like a point of like, here I am, you know, but, um, I wanted to use a term that would.

Instinctually being negative so that people kind of understood what it was like for me to be called black as a child like that's it felt in some ways equivalent to being called from the gutter not because I was ashamed of being black, but because the term itself was always so negative and, um, and then it was used to describe us. And and so, uh, yeah, got our child was a really important term. Um, in the story, they are actually Xhosi people.

That is actually the name of their people and where they're from and Gutter is simply the place that they are sent to and where, you know, Elimina, the main character and most of the characters are born. And so they're called Gutter children, but they are truly Xhosi and so that was also important for me to have this term, this label that was given to them. By Mainlanders, and then this term that is actually who they are.

Um, and so that's for me, kind of a similarity to me to be known as being African versus being black as a child. Um, and, and now, um, as an adult, you know, you can look at these things a lot differently, but as a child, like certainly it felt, it felt like something. Something was wrong.

And so I would clarify that, especially for the book and because for the book and I'll speak to the book and then I'll come back to the, to the general question, but in the book, one of the things that was really moving to me was I, I got to go to a few school group, uh, conversations about Gutter Child, and I found the students to talk really thoughtfully and openly about gutter children and Xose people and mainlanders in really thoughtful ways related to their own communities and cultures that

I think they couldn't have done in the same way. If the characters had been labeled black, white, etc. Um, and so it gave them a kind of freedom to defend certain characters and argue against certain characters in a way that I think would have been filled with more tension.

So I'm very clear about the fact that in many ways, most of the Xose characters that I described, I picture as black, actually, all of them, but In creating the world, I intentionally pulled out that word and that terminology, and when people see them as Indigenous, or when they see them as, uh, Latin American, or when they connect it to their own experiences, um, as South Asians, I like that. I like that they can use that, that's what dystopia does. That's what I love about dystopia.

It creates an alternate world where we can bring in these conversations, but not be glued to the ones that really cause a lot of controversy in our present day life. Um, I think what you're, you were talking about, Elton, is a term we call in writing like a default whiteness, where if you don't describe a character, um, they are automatically assumed by many readers to be white, even if you're a person of color reading it.

It's just like kind of what we're used to, um, and just understanding the importance of either describing all of your character's race. Or none of your character's race is a very, uh, important practice. And I think it's important to think about when you call someone a Black writer or a Black artist, whether that distinction is necessary. I think there are times when it is necessary and times when it is helpful. Um, but there are also times where you can just let it lie.

And I, I remember I, I used this example when I was working on, so CBCQ, um, is a radio show.

And Tom, um, Uh, he hosts it and sometimes when he was away, I would guest host and I remember interviewing a writer and before we went on air, I just said, I think it's important for you to know that I'm black and I just, it just felt important because I think that there could have been the assumption that I was not black and in conversation, it might have changed the way we spoke about things and I thought it was important to, to create that distinction.

So that's kind of where I, I, I kind of think through those, yeah. Situations almost on a case to case basis about whether it's important to distinguish myself or to distinguish others based on race or identifying categories like a Muslim writer. For example, I think there are times when it's important to mention that a character is Muslim and there's times where it's not actually important at all. And so, uh, I think it's not a yes or no, or an always question.

It's sort of like based on what I need.

And you are not a person of color. That may be a problem, you know, and it's like, you need to think about what's important. What have you heard growing up? What is framing? How you describe these things? And these are the things that I actually think are. are really critical. If you're not going to describe a character as Black but they are Black, like if you're not going to use the term Black, and so you're going to describe what they look like, how do you actually describe Black people?

What are the things you use? Do you describe them based on food? Comparing them to peanut butter and chocolate and whatever? Like, what, what, what? And oftentimes that is where some of the most critical stereotypes and problems come into play. When you actually don't use the term Black, and you use other describing factors, and then you have to think about, like, why, why is it important that this character is Black? How would you describe them?

So I find that's where a lot of the tricky things come. You know, you want the nanny in the story to be Filipino, because that's what you've seen in your neighbourhood in Toronto or something. And it's like, maybe you should think about that. Is it important that they are actually Filipino? Or can you just not? You know,

Things where you know, your time stereotypes, when you feed into these places. And so it is so important when we're talking about characters, when we're describing characters, when you're positioning characters in your story to really think about why a particular character is being described in this way. A lot of people are talking about diversity now, and a lot of people are making diverse lineups in their, in their characters, but they're not thinking about why.

Why a certain character is of a certain race, and how what you've seen on television, what you've read, some of the stereotypes you've observed in your very small community are framing how you're presenting the world. I think if you're going to address the politics of why Filipino women or black women have historically been nannies more often than some other cultures, then that's great. That works.

But if you're just going to put this Filipino nanny or a black nanny in your story, and you're not going to pick apart the politics that led to that decision and the challenges that frame that if that's not the course of your story, and that's fine, then maybe don't make those descriptors because they're not.

You know, about where we're headed and why and it feels extremely overwhelming and what I love about reading and writing, especially reading a variety of people and communities and spaces is it allows me to learn more about communities in a thoughtful way that manages like the pace of my life, right? Um, sometimes if you watch a movie or the news, it can feel like.

It's all getting jammed, like in your eye, you know, all these stories, all these politics, all these things that you're supposed to do should be doing more, not doing enough. And reading a book about the state of a trans woman's life or about a Black disabled woman navigating, you know, romance and love helps me to understand more about circumstances that I'm not personally involved in, in a way that feels really healthy.

I feel like I'm able to be like, whoo, that was a lot and put the book down for a little bit, pick it back up, go back a few pages. It's a really solitary act, but it's a solitary way of kind of changing your heart, your state of mind as well. Um, and in the same way, writing does that for me, I'm able to think about politics. I'm able to think about the things that I'm struggling with right now. I'm struggling with like what you asked us at the beginning, which I loved.

I'm struggling with what activism looks like with what it looks like to be an activist when you are, you know, um, At the lowest end of the, you know, social class structure, and when you're at the highest end of the social class structure, and when you're a journalist or you're a lawyer, what does activism look like? Does it look exactly the same for each of us? Or are there things we're sort of called and meant to do with the positions we've been given?

Um, and so how do we tear systems down collectively across The class spectrum is really a question that I'm wrestling with and writing a story about it, writing 10 different characters who are wrapped around the same city, looking at the same political situation from different angles is really helping me through looking at, you know, how elections are going in the world.

Um, and so I, I would just say like, that's really why I write, why I read, why I do FOLD, um, to selfishly bring as many authors close to me as possible that I can, um, read and learn from.

And, um, And, and that's why I would encourage anyone if you haven't read a book in a long time, I strongly believe that people stop reading because they haven't found the book that's right for them or because they believe certain books are like the ones they should be reading and they don't actually like them.

So I love that you have this huddle on reading picture books because I'm like, I feel like a lot of people want to read picture books and they just feel like they're not appropriate for adults.

And I'm sure I read it before, but this time around, I saw it from a completely different angle. Completely, completely different perspective and there were times when I literally had to say enough of this. So it took me about three, four months to read that book. And I borrowed it from the library. So I had to keep renewing, renewing, renewing. But I'm glad I read it. I'm glad I read it. I had met Austin Card before because I had a bookstore in Toronto.

We had Burke's Bookstore in Toronto for many, many years. And so he came to our store and read from his works. But um, I just, I had this pull, I don't know what it was, to read the book again. My gosh, was it something different. There were times when it was pulling my insides out. Because it was just post slavery when it was sent. It's not nice, not nice, not pleasant, not entertaining, but educating.

What are the kinds of communities and characters that you are not reading enough of, or you haven't read at all? And pick up a book by a character or by a person from that community. And it can be romance, it can be thriller, it can be, uh, you know, literary fiction, it can be contemporary. It does not have to be the deepest, darkest story of all time that's traumatic and awful. I tend to lead towards those, I really like them, I sleep very well after reading them.

But for a lot of people, that's not their jam. And I just think, get in the head of someone that isn't you and isn't like you. Or if you're feeling really like your story, you're struggling with something, find someone that is very much like you and read their story and help you move into other stories as well.

And by the way, it would be great if you would let us know or remind us about the educational program that starts in September, because we would love to take those those types of announcements and incorporate them on our home our website and, uh, social media platforms to help you get the word out.

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