Panellists: Amanda Sun, E.K. Johnston, Monica Pacheco, Jane Ann McLachlan
MP: What makes a YA novel Canadian?
JAM: Weather. We have a unique obsession with seasons, weather, and winter.
MP: Setting. American cities are the default for most YA authors.
EKJ: The Story of Owen is set in my home town. When I go to read at local schools, the kids are always excited: “Hey! That’s my street!”
MP: There’s a trend for setting becoming a character in its own right.
AS: Can lit is starting to embrace the speculative.
EKJ: We have horror to thank for that.
MP: For me, it always comes down to the writing and the voice.
JAM: There’s a difference in dystopian, too. Americans don’t trust their government as much as we do. It’s a central theme. Canadians are different. Our dystopias are often ecological disasters.
EKJ: One review of The Story of Owen said, “This is a poorly written dystopia.” It’s not a dystopia!
JAM: Even people on the right are left-leaning in Canada. How do we sell to American readers?
EKJ: I actively don’t care. Readers are looking for interesting and different books.
AS: My editor is American. He’s the gatekeeper. What’s March Break? What’s icing sugar (it’s powdered sugar in the States)? You wrote “in hospital.” Did you mean in THE hospital? Are you done work, or done working?
EKJ: I reclaimed Canadian spelling in subsequent printings of my book. It was a victory.
AS: I write in Canadian English.
JAM: I edit to American spelling but I’m afraid we’re going to lose Canadian spelling if all our young people are reading American English. I feel like I’m contributing to the delinquency of our youth.
Q: What’s your opinion of the renaming of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to Sorcerer’s Stone in the States?
[There was a brief discussion of how Scholastic made the decision to rename the book in America and how this translated into the movies. Was it a “dumbing down”? No, just a matter of wording, like icing sugar vs. powdered sugar.]
MP: Both authors and editors expect advocacy. There’s more acceptance of diversity now.
EKJ: Maureen Johnston is an American author, but she wrote an amazing book that is British in every way: setting, weather, politics, and language.
JAM: That’s another thing that distinguishes Canadian YA: our sense of humour and multiculturalism. Canada is a mosaic and America is a melting pot.
EKJ: I have friends in the leadership of the We Need Diverse Books movement. It’s a slow burn.
AS: We don’t understand how divisive race is in America (or other countries).
Q: What about the “white washing” of diverse characters (the character is one of colour, but the cover image shows a white character)?
EKJ: It happened to Beth Revis. In Across the Universe, the male love interest is black. The actor in the movie is white.
AS: I wanted my novel’s Asian love interest on the cover and was nervous, but the publisher agreed. Julie Kagawa’s Clockwork Prince features an Asian on the cover. The cover for Nalo Hopkinson’s Brown Girl in the Ring is culturally appropriate.
EKJ: YS Lee’s Agency series is another example.
MP: I have noticed some of this, but I’ve seen more graphic covers that don’t feature a person at all. I don’t know if I’m reading too much into it, though.
JAM: What about the humour aspect? Canadian humour is self-deprecating.
And that was time.
Next week: We’ll be cutting contracts 🙂
On deck (today): The next chapter June update and a Caturday quickie pupdate.
Always Looking Up 