Q&A
“WHAT’S CRUCIAL TO ME
IS ALWAYS STAYING CLOSE
AND ATTUNED TO
THE YOUNG PERSON,
AND HOW THE YOUNG
PERSON EXPERIENCES
THESE SOCIAL PRESSURES.”
And that’s why I wanted to really
get close to what it feels like for the
children to do what the adults don’t
even bother to do.
DID YOU KNOW THAT ONE DAY YOU
WOULD WRITE A BOOK ABOUT THIS
TIME PERIOD? I think I knew in some
form that I would. I don’t even think
I’m done with it. I think there are
some more stories I want to tell; I’m
even contemplating whether I will
pick up Jamila’s story again. What
happens to me is that I fall in love
with my characters and the world
they are from, and sometimes I want
to revisit them.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE IMMIGRA-
TION AS A MAIN THEME FOR
SEVERAL OF YOUR EARLIER BOOKS?
The first Young Adult book I did
was a nonfiction book called Remix:
Conversations with Immigrant
Teenagers, so I think in a way that
was my first foray into realizing that
this was what I wanted to write
about. I went around interviewing
all of these immigrant teenagers, and
I was thinking about Queens and
20
BACK TO SCHOOL 2018 WAYNE MAGAZINE
TIMELY TOPIC Author Marina Budhos has written about how young people manage the immigrant
experience and minority status in several books, including Watched and Ask Me No Questions.
I was thinking about how Queens
had changed so much from when
I grew up. The Queens that I grew
up in was very segregated, not really
[integrated] yet as much but for my
Parkview Village community. And
then I came back, and it was like
“Oh my God, Queens is this incred-
ible place with all of these immigrant
teenagers.” I wanted to revisit my
own landscape, but now it’s filled
with all these teenagers who, like me,
sort of straddled different worlds. Of
course, they were immigrating into
it, and I had it different, but I felt
I understood it. And I was asking
myself the question, “What’s it like to
come of age and come into a country
at the same time?” I went around
interviewing different teenagers, and
I loved writing that book.
HOW DO RECENT CHANGES IN
IMMIGRATION POLICY INFLUENCE
YOUR WRITING? I’m working on a
new novel called Sanctuary, and it’s
about a family that takes sanctuary in
a synagogue, and the daughter who
has to live her life. Everything that is
going on, it’s been a struggle to write.
Part of it is that it’s like a hot stove,
and fiction requires a little bit of
space. Right now, every day it’s kind
of a hot assault. ■
WHAT DO YOU HOPE READERS
WALK AWAY WITH WHEN THEY
FINISH THIS BOOK? I just want them
to enjoy it. I want them to sink into
Jamila’s world and the characters and
the friendship, but I also want them
to think about what it’s like to be in
between, when you don’t fit in on
either side. What is it like to be in a
school where you are trying to put
different communities together?