{"id":4055,"date":"2019-03-06T08:36:12","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T13:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/news\/?p=4055"},"modified":"2019-02-11T08:38:14","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T13:38:14","slug":"interview-with-stonewall-winner-kheryn-callender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/news\/archives\/4055","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Stonewall Winner Kheryn Callender"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On January 28th, 2019 the Youth Media Awards were held in Seattle\nduring the 2019 ALA Midwinter Meeting. One of the awards announced was the\nStonewall Book Award – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children?s\n& Young Adult Literature Award. Author Kheryn Callender was a winner for\nher book Hurricane Child.<\/em> Kheryn was kind enough to answer a few\nquestions about receiving her phone call from the committee and more! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell me about getting that phone call. What were you doing?\nHow did you feel?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The night is a bit of a blur now, to be honest?I\nthink I might?ve been cleaning,\nor writing, or watching TV, when I looked down at my phone and saw I had a text\nmessage from someone who works at my publisher Scholastic, saying that someone\nhad been trying to call me, and to please pick up the phone if it rings. (My\nphone is always on silent, so I?d missed multiple\ncalls.) The text message reminded me it was the night before the ALA Youth\nMedia Awards, and I got a rush of nervousness and excitement, but before the\nemotions could take over completely, the phone started ringing in my hand. I\nanswered it after a few rings, and I heard only a few words from the call\nitself??Stonewall? and ?award?\nbeing the main ones. I started to cry and didn?t hear very much else, but didn?t want to cry over the phone to the poor\ncommittee that must?ve been tired?it\nwas late, and I hadn?t been answering\nmy phone?but I was also excited and grateful and completely\noverwhelmed. That overwhelmed feeling lasted a few days, but I?m still feeling thoroughly excited and grateful\nto ALA and the entire YMA Stonewall Book Award subcommittee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why was it important to you to include LGBTQIA issues and\ncharacters in your book?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It?s important to\ninclude LGBTQIA issues and characters because readers, and especially young\nreaders, need to see themselves reflected. A lack of visibility can make\nreaders feel literally invisible, which I?ve\nexperienced firsthand for most of my life. That feeling of invisibility can also\ncreate feelings of isolation, and it became easy to believe that I didn?t deserve to exist. I never want\nanother young queer person to feel the way that I felt. I want young queer\npeople to know that they are beautiful, and powerful, and loved, and deserve to\nbe in this world just as much as anyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does it mean to you to be recognized for a Stonewall\nAward?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be recognized for a Stonewall Award is an honor I never could?ve imagined, especially when I was\nCaroline?s age and felt so\nalone. To see Caroline?s story?and,\nin a way, my own story?accepted and honored is an emotional\nvalidation and affirmation. Now, I?d\nlike to take the opportunity to amplify black, queer voices and stories along\nwith my own. Queer stories and black stories both have a long way to go when it\ncomes to seeing more representation in media, and even rarer, and at times\nseemingly nonexistent, are intersectional black and queer stories. There need\nto be more?many more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell me about your next book?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have another MG and YA, hopefully coming out next year! Neither\nhave been announced, so I can?t give too many\ndetails yet, but each book features black and queer characters as well, and I?m really excited for both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anything else you’d like to add?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for having me!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On January 28th, 2019 the Youth Media Awards were held in Seattle during the 2019 ALA Midwinter Meeting. One of the awards announced was the Stonewall Book Award – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children?s & Young Adult Literature Award. Author Kheryn Callender was a winner for her book Hurricane Child. Kheryn was kind enough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":4056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-midwinter-meetings","category-stonewall-book-awards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}