- Details
- By Neely Bardwell
Indigenous author and illustrator team Laurel Goodluck and Steph Littlebird are coming out with a new children’s picture book titled FIERCE AUNTIES!, a celebration of what makes aunties so special. The book will be available for sale on April 15.
The author, Laurel Goodluck (MHA Nation, Tsimshian), initially received her education in psychology and community counseling and family studies from the University of New Mexico. It wasn’t until around 2018 that Goodluck began to explore storytelling, inspired by her sons who are journalists and filmmakers. Her other books include Forever Cousins, Rock Your Mocs, She Persisted: Deb Haaland, Too Much.
Native News Online spoke with Goodluck for a Q&A to discuss why having Indigenous representation in children’s books is important. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
What was your writing process for Fierce Aunties?
One of the first organizations I found was We Need Diverse Books. They had programs and grants, and I applied for a grant to get a mentorship, and I was able to get the grant that year, and got paired with Tracy Sorrell, who's this phenomenal children's book writer, and we were paired for a year.
I had already been taking some online courses with Storyteller Academy. Through his courses, being paired with Tracy, going through We Need Diverse Books and Harper Collins, getting together with even the broader community of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, just finding that community and like minded people that supported me helped me answer my questions of how do I write? How do I begin this journey?
What really helped me too, was here at home in my office, all alone, I would read all the books I would take out from the library. Stacks and stacks of books, and reading them and understanding there was a structure to them. Some were the same. Some were a little different. Some used humor. Some were nonfiction. If you find something that speaks to you, the structure or the lyricism, you take that picture book and you type it out and you create the manuscript, and then you can see even more what that writer was thinking.
Whenever I meet a new person who's starting to write, the first advice I give is check out books and read.
What inspired you to write Fierce Aunties?
I grew up with a lot of strong women in my family. My mother is strong, all her sisters were strong. My auntie in Alaska was strong, and they were all a big part of my life.
So having strong women in my life, when that term became popular, fierce aunties, I just knew I wanted to write about that because of the influence of my fierce aunties in my life. Beginning with my great aunties, who were born in 1899, and 1901 Alice and Lucy. They were kind of my first fierce aunties who had lived through our land being taken away twice and such, and they still had a sense of humor. They still spoke their language. They still felt culture was important, even when they went through all those hard times. They're my biggest influence.
Most of my books, the overarching theme through it, is that we have a beautiful family structure. We have one that's broader than just our main nuclear family, as they call it. We have aunties and uncles, and we have societies that we belong to traditionally and clan systems.
I want kids to know that they can rely on that, and that they can remember that they have that, and not just Native kids. Fierce Aunties really celebrates that bigger family structure. What's beautiful about this is, there's fierce aunties in India, Indian culture, Asian culture, and in Black culture. This translates to all kids.
What does it mean to be a fierce auntie?
It's a responsibility. When you're a fierce auntie, you have a responsibility to be a role model to others, to be part of a community, to be there for someone that's looking up to you and pass on your knowledge, whatever your talents are, and you can give that back to them. Also, you can add your personality to it. You can have a little fun with it. We like to tease in our Native cultures, and I think it's also fierce. Aunties are also a little bit brassy and a little bit sassy and a lot of fun.
Are there any characters in Fierce Aunties that resemble anyone in your real life?
Deb Haaland's in the book. She used the slogan "Be Fierce" when she ran for all the positions that she attained. And, now again, she's using it in her run for governor of New Mexico
What Steph Littlebird did to this book, I see some resemblance of family, and I love that she used intertribal people and also used a real modern look, and it's almost like The Mod Squad. It reminds me of a real fun 70s kind of look.
There's a variety of skin tones, and a variety of different tribal markers, of different clothing and very modern. As Indigenous people, we're a variety of the spectrum, and that makes it just even more beautiful. It captures the family so well. Steph was the right person for this book.
Why is having books that are representatively important, specifically for Indigenous communities?
When you have a picture book you're being read to by a parent, this bonding happens with your parents. There's so many benefits of reading to a child, and then if you have that extra layer of being able to see your community and your way of life and markers of who you are and identity, you can get more involved. When you read a picture book, you can become the hero of your own book.
I was doing a school presentation here in an elementary school in New Mexico, and this little second grader, this little Navajo boy came up after I read a book called Yáadilá!: Good Grief!, and he put his arms out and said, ‘Thank you for writing your books. Now I can see my traditions and stories in books’.
That's why I'm writing these books. These books are for you because every kid gets engaged with these books, not just Native kids. Kids have a lot of fun talking about their cultures, so that's why I'm writing these books.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
That we need you. We were a handful just starting out getting together. Just sparks were flying. Now it's growing and growing and growing and more coming. There's a lot of young adult writers out there. There's a lot more picture book writers, and everybody has a story within them.
If you're interested in books, find somebody in your community. Reach out to our Native community. There's resources out there, and it takes time to learn, but anybody can do it. You just have to be patient, and if you feel like giving up, don't. It's hard, and you just have to keep going, and you can find your way. If you put the hard work into it, it's so much fun.
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