UW Professor Jenny Heijun Wills launches her memoir, Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related (Penguin Randomhouse Canada) on Tuesday October 8th, 7:00 pm, at McNally Robinson Grant Park.
Tue. Sep. 3, 2019
Q: How would you describe this book?
Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related is a memoir in three parts. It takes as its starting off point Korean adoption reunion and explores the cultural and emotional joys and struggles of coming back together. It’s about race, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender, but also about kinship and love, anger and forgiveness. It will also be available in audiobook format, read by a brilliant Korean Canadian actor from Vancouver, Diana Bang.
Q: Can you talk a bit about your decision to write a memoir and how it came about?
It definitely was unintentional. I was working on an academic monograph about transnational adoption during my recent sabbatical, but a handful of poems and then scenes emerged instead. Older Sister still appears in short vignettes but is more chronological than before. Less fragmented. I first approached academic publishers, since those were the venues with which I was most familiar. Then more independent presses. It’s been an unexpected move to a big publishing house from there. I feel very humbled by this opportunity and have many people to thank. I’ve had a lot of help and guidance along the way, including at an amazing BIPoC writing residency at the Banff Centre.
BTW, I’m still not done the academic book...
Q: Can you discuss the process of writing this book and how it differed (if at all) from your process writing scholarly work?
With my academic writing, it sometimes feels as if the end result is the ultimate goal. Maybe I’m too nervous or insecure to share work in progress. As if everything needs to be figured out before others read/hear it or it’ll reflect poorly on me. But with this kind of writing, I’ve benefited from so many kind readers and listeners along the way. They’ve been nothing but supportive. I also received very intimate and specific guidance from industry professionals that shaped this work in immeasurable ways, which is a luxury.
Q: Were there any surprises or challenges you encountered while writing?
The greatest challenge for me isn't the writing or editing, but it is preparing myself for a different kind of reading audience. It’s exciting. I’m surprised at how natural it feels to move from scholarly to more creative writing. And I think many people who accidentally write a memoir are surprised when there’s interest in one’s own life story.
Q: Do you have any tips you'd like to share with other writers that you've learned from this process?
Be clear on what you are willing to talk about and what you are unwilling to talk about. Be firm about that boundary. Life writing doesn’t give the world open permission to all of you. Say ’no.’
Read BIPoC-authored literature. Then read some more. (To be fair, I didn’t learn that from this process. But I still wanted to say it)
Q: What will you be working on next?
I’m writing a historical novel right now. It is a confessional story. It’s devastating, the subject matter of this book. It scares me.
Event info at : jennyheijunwills.com
You can also catch Jenny reading from her new book at Thin Air International Writers Festival, on Wednesday Sept. 25th at 7:30 on the Mainstage, MTYP at The Forks.