Thread by @DerekKunsken, Now @premeesaurus on "writing what you look like," digging into the different [...]

Now @premeesaurus on "writing what you look like," digging into the different parts of her identity and being a member of a diaspora.

Some of what gets into the writing is the values, rather than culture or strictly identify.

Same question to @teresempierre: "A lot of people first think about Black Jamaicans because not a lot taught about the history of the region." "I try to write about the myths of Grenada that comes through my parents and let that shape my work."

"At the beginning, I thought I couldn't write #scifi/ #fantasy with Black characters and it was hard to realize, but now I write what I want and can read a lot more authors from this diaspora."

Evan @Evanwinter on using sources: "I grew up partly in Zambia and Caribbean and Africa each have so many cultures and peoples, and those cultures have come together in interesting ways and I draw from different parts of the continent in my secondary #fantasy."

Nandi @nandi_taylor: "My book is based on Yoruba and her love interest is mixed race (half colonizing/half-Caribbean) and part of the diaspora too. I loved playing with the idea of colonized islands and how my character was treated by colonized and colonizers."

This panel is on right now, presented by @CanConSF and is so cool.

Premee @premeesaurus: "There are few people of colour in Edmonton. My parents really pushed the idea of being as white as possible to fit in, so I didn't hear a lot of mythology and stories and maybe my parents didn't either, because they were a diaspora of a diaspora."

Premee ( @premeesaurus Con't): "So I didn't have sources and it still makes me feel dishonest to use, because I have to research it." @CanConSF "When my brother and I visited cousins in Toronto, they would tease us for being *so white* and..."

"... my writing now includes characters trying to take that power to say who they are."

Terese @teresempierre: "I prefer to use mythology rather than the significance of the stories that aren't mine, but i can read authors who have more authenticity and access to those. There's some gate-keeping, but I feel like I'm part of this community."

Terese: "I'm living the diaspora experience in Toronto." "There are still a lot of stories within this experience I can talk about. "

Another amazing question from @ashesandmochi for @Canconsf's online panel: "When so much of our history is rooted in colonialism of Europe, how do you disentangle that for your writing?"

Evan @EvanWinter: "When I came to start writing, is was a struggle to figure out whose perspective I should write from because I have Guyanese ancestry, living in England and Zambia and British teachers. So all my learning was British, and I had to find my way back..."

"...to me. I found I had a colonized experience and the question became "Where do you go from here?" That's the story that came out for me."

Nandi ( @nandi_taylor): "I'm Canadian-Trinidadian but my writing is rooted in Africa and yet my own history to those roots is tenuous. We're sometimes a little too hard on ourselves maybe. White writers don't seem to have this problem, so maybe we can be kinder to ourselves."

"I wanted to have these characters to be able to talk about colonialism took away our sense of self and confidence. I had two magic systems (colonial and colonized) and there are constant clashes where her magic is called primitive. You see this in standardized testing today."

Nandi: "It's not post-colonial, but I do get into cultural appropriation when her "primitive" magic is starting to be seen in trendy in the culture of my book."

Premee ( @premeesaurus): "In terms of the colonial frames, I like to shine a spotlight on it, to pay attention to it. Guyana was colonized by Dutch, French, British, and so on. I visited at 17 and it was my first experience of culture shock. Everything felt very British."

Premee (con't): "I was struck by noise and violence and poverty and people had guns and so on. It was a rearrangement of everything I'd learned and my parents hadn't prepared me for any of that. We understood that our ancestors were taken from another county and that..."

"...the British did everything they could to cut the strings to our history. I'm interested in looking in my work at why people leave places, whether they're stolen or whatever, and why they decide to stay of move on, like my parents did to Canada."

Terese ( @teresempierre): "When I write about the Caribbean I want to write about Black people and I want to write about joy." "I want to incorporate the cultural memories and fraught history into my writing, but I want to represent it well. That means including the poverty."

Terese ( @teresempierre): "I lived in Grenada as a child and there are things you forget because children don't notice everything. I would like to go back and learn more. As an adult and as a writer, you have more responsibility."

Moderator Ashley ( @ashesandmochi): "How do we recognize and repair the homogenization of Caribbean culture?"
@EvanWinter: "These are power stories. The homogenization is part of the exercise of power. Part of what we do as writers is to give voice to stories and..."

"...show how we're all the same and dehomogenizing our culture." @nandi_taylor: "Sometimes writing secondary worlds makes it worse. In my work, there are islands with colonial histories with indigenous and other cultures. One of the ways to fight that homogenization is to..."

"...have more writers - more voices."
@premeesaurus: "It is the power of stories and stories homogenized it in the first place, like Pirates of the Caribbean, Cool Runnings, cruises, and other generic stories that are being told by capitalism. We can correct..."

"...and individualize our stories and let others tell the stories in their own way. This is tricky because the publishing industry has a narrow focus of 'marketability.' A white editor may not connect with an authentic work."

Terese ( @teresempierre): "Who's doing the reconciling? Diaspora writers can adopt unique voices and get to know the diaspora better and reading more diaspora writers. I agree with the power dynamics mentioned - who's stories are allowed to be told?"

These are great speakers. If you're not following them yet, following them here:
Ashley Deng: @ashesandmochi
Terese Mason Pierre: @teresempierre
Premee Mohamed: @premeesaurus
Nandi Taylor: @nandi_taylor
Evan Winter: @EvanWinter.

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