They Say Behind Mountains Are

In Haiti You Had The Duvaliers For 29 Years And They Were Very Well Supported By The United States.

I Don't Know What Will Happen To The Physical Book And What It Will Mean For Authors. I Worry Whether It Will Mean People Can Still Make Their Careers This Way. Will Whatever Comes Next Allow People To Be Able To Own Their Ideas And Be Able To Take Time To Develop Them?

It's Not A Matter Of Whether The Reviews Of Your Books Are Good Or Bad, It's About Being Taken Seriously, Both As A Woman Writer And As A Writer Of Color. Also, It Worries Me When People Point To A Couple Of Women Writers Or Writers Of Color Who Get Some Attention - And I Am Sometimes Pulled Into That Category - To Prove That Others Are Getting A Fair Shot. It's Like Those People Who Keep Saying That Racism No Longer Exists In This Country Because Barack Obama Was A President Of The United States.

Language Is Such A Powerful Thing. After The Earthquake, I Went To Haiti And People Were Talking About How [they] Described This Feeling Of Going Through An Earthquake. People Really Didn't Have The Vocabulary - Before We Had Hurricanes. I'd Talk With People And They'd Say, "we Have To Name It; It Has To Have A Name."

If A Woman Is Worth Remembering,' Said My Grandmother, 'there Is No Need To Have Her Name Carved In Letters.