News from Heidi

I'm headed to Washington D.C. for the American Library Association conference this weekend! I'll be reading on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 and doing a signing and booth signing that afternoon. I'll also be a speaker at the Gala Author Tea on Monday afternoon. I love libraries -- so this is a special treat!

The highlight of the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival was the Loving Prize Presentation & Conversation with hapa artist Kip Fulbeck and President Obama's sister, Dr. Maya Soetoro-Ng. Imagine how tickled I was when she said she wanted to buy a copy of the book during her presentation. I know someone who knows someone and I hooked her up with a copy. When I handed it to her, she said: "Did you sign this personally for me?" So lovely! And yes, of course, I had. Fanshen and I were so grateful to have her as part of the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival this year. I'm hoping she enjoys it!  Photo by Wilki Tom.

I was so incredibly honored to deliver the Commencement Address at Clark College this week in front of a 1000+ person crowd. The school graduated the largest class ever--and what an amazing collection of graduates. They had overcome so much to obtain their Associates Degrees--one student had survived a firing squad in Liberia, the student speaker talked about finding her way out of an abusive relationship and in mid-life finally pursuing her education, another said to me as she received her degree that it was her fifth time trying to finish and she was so glad she persevered. My job was to wow them, but they wowed me! Congratulations Clark College graduates. Keep on going!  Read more here. Photo by Steven Lane.

I was delighted to see this review that recommended The Girl Who Fell From the Sky for teens. Although I didn't write the book as a young adult novel, I believe that young adults (and in particular) young women will find themselves in this story and maybe discover that they are not entirely alone in their struggles as they deal with society's ideas of their value regarding beauty. Thank you Books 4 Teens for your review!

The mystery at the center of the story is slowly unraveled as the book shifts amongst narrators, perspective and time. Instead of confusing or irritating its audience, the novel’s structure only adds to its power. This sad and compelling plot is further credited by a strikingly unique voice.
The Girl Who Fell from the Sky is sure to be one of the best books of 2010. -Best Books 4 Teens

This review blew me away--I was thrilled:

Like Catcher in the Rye or  To Kill A Mockingbird, Durrow's debut features voices that will ring in the ears long after the book is closed on young Rachel Morse. It's a captivating and original tale that shouldn't be missed.

Read the complete review here.

Holy smokes! I couldn't believe it when I saw that The Girl Who Fell From the Sky hit the LA Times Bestseller List. But it's true. It really is true! Yay!

The 3rd Annual Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival is coming up next week--June 12-13, 2010--and I hope you'll join us. This is a project co-founded and co-produced by me and my friend Fanshen Cox.

We created the Festival in 2008 because we wanted to offer a forum to other artists whose work was about the Mixed experience, the forum that was denied us for so long. Won't you please join me? We have a fantastic line-up. Below are the details and highlights. And please consider donating if you can, this is an all-volunteer non-profit effort, as a fiscally sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts. Donations are tax-deductible.

Multiracial Americans, the country’s largest growing community, will celebrate stories of the Mixed experience at the 3rd Annual Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival, June 12-June 13, 2010, at the Japanese American National Museum (369 East First Street) in downtown Los Angeles. Pre-registration is now open at www.mxroots.org.

In the Obama age, the free two-day Festival brings together film and book lovers, innovative and emerging artists, and multiracial families and individuals for workshops, readings, film screenings, and special family activities in collaboration with the Target Free Family Day at JANM. The Festival is also held in conjunction with the Museum’s interactive exhibit of Mixed: Portraits of Multiracial Children by celebrated Hapa artist, Kip Fulbeck.

The Festival hosts the largest West Coast Loving Day reception, a nationwide grassroots celebration of the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that allowed people of different races to marry.

This year’s Loving Day celebration features the annual Loving Prize Presentation and Conversation with Kip Fulbeck and Maya Soetoro-Ng, writer, educator and sister of President Barack Obama discussing identity, family, and what it means to be multiracial in America. Well-known Hapa actress Amy Hill will moderate.

The Festival, a fiscally sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts, a non-profit organization, is produced by the co-hosts of the award-winning weekly podcast Mixed Chicks Chat (www.mixedchickschat.com).

Today, 7 percent of all marriages are interracial, according to the Census. More than 6.8 million individuals identify as Mixed. New Census figures reveal that multiracial Americans are the fastest-growing demographic; and 1 in 5 mixed-race individuals lives in California.

The Festival highlights include:

• Target Free Family Day at JANM, Saturday, June 12, 11am-4:30pm, features storytelling by TV actress Kim Wayans and husband, Kevin Knotts, reading from their popular children's book series, Amy Hodgepodge; educator and sister of President Obama, Maya Soetoro-Ng reading from her children’s book; and curly-hair expert Teri LaFlesh author of the newly released Curly Like Me, demonstrating hair tips and tricks. Families can also enjoy interactive craft activities all day, and a special dance performance by Culture Clash.

• The Festival hosts the largest West Coast Loving Day celebration, Saturday June 12, 2010, at 7:00pm. Tickets are $20 at the door, and $15 for pre-registered Festival attendees. The reception is held in conjunction with the 1000-person New York City Loving Day celebration hosted by Loving Day (www.lovingday.org).

• Maya Soetoro-Ng and community activist Nancy Brown, founder of the Multiracial Americans of Southern California, will each receive a Loving Prize, the Festival's annual award for inspirational storytelling of the Mixed experience during the Saturday night Loving Prize Presentation, June 12, 2010 at 7:00pm. National Football League star Hines Ward and award-winning screenwriter Jenny Lumet (Rachel Getting Married) will receive their prizes in absentia.

• KTLA’s Frank Buckley moderates a discussion among historians and scholars, “Exploring the Historical Context for Contemporary Stories of the Mixed Experience,” Sunday, June 13, 2010 11:30pm-12:30pm.

• Among the dozen films that the Festival will screen is HBO’s A Family is a Family is a Family: A Rosie O’Donnell Celebration about the touching, profound and funny insights of blended and non-traditional families, and Off and Running about a transracial adoptee’s journey. The Festival is also pleased to present several award-winning short films and a handful of feature films including a follow-up to last year’s hit debut Biracial Not Black Damn It: Part 2.

• The Festival includes author readings by best-selling novelist (and Festival co-founder) Heidi W. Durrow (The Girl Who Fell From the Sky), novelists Carleen Brice (Orange Mint and Honey, Children of the Water), and Marie Mockett (Picking Bones From Ash), and poets Neil Aitken (Winner of the Philip Levine Prize, The Lost Country of Sight), and Tara Betts (Arc and Hue).

Events are free and open to the public. Tickets, however, are required for the Loving Prize Presentation and Conversation June 12, 2010, at 7:00pm. Tickets are $20 at the door, and $15 for pre-registered Festival attendees.

The complete Festival schedule can be found on-line at www.mxroots.org.

Pre-registration is strongly encouraged. On-line registration is now open at www.mxroots.org.

Festival sponsors and donors include: Japanese American National Museum, Social Justice Works!: The Aaronson Fund, Zerflin.com Graphic Design, Target, Grassroots.org, Pandora Web Box.
 

Thank you so much to the Go On Girl Book Club for choosing The Girl Who Fell From the Sky for the August book club pick. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the book.

I'm excited to guest host LitChat tomorrow, Friday at 4pm Eastern on Twitter. Just use the hashtag #litchat to follow the conversation. Learn more about LitChat here.

What could be better than a reading with Sharon's awesome food and friends and mimosas? Well, nothing, but getting a peek at Sharon's delicious recipes for the event. You'll find them on her blog, Cheesy Pennies. Thank you guys so much for a wonderful event, and your wonderful friends. And thank you to Diesel Books who sold books at the event.