The book’s creators
In an interview with Edie Ching at We Need Diverse Books, author Maggie Tokuda-Hall describes the difficulty of writing about a true story, one whose accuracy can’t be attested to by the subjects she’s writing about:
“When I make decisions in my fiction, everything is in service of the story. I’m accountable only to myself. With nonfiction, there’s still all the same craft work to be done, but there’s also this burden of fidelity.”
She writes that one of her greatest concerns is that her grandparents wouldn’t like the book, but that that is ultimately something she will never know.
“It’s very hard to write a family story,“ explains Tokuda-Hall, ”because if you fail you won’t just be letting yourself down, but you’ll be letting them down, too.”
In the same interview, illustrator Yas Imamura explains her decision to use the natural tones of watercolour to highlight the intimacy between Tama and George: “I wanted to use the traditional medium to be a bit more dynamic as they interact with their environment: the light filtering from the library window, through curtains and makeshift spaces. I think light is a very useful tool in creating real intimate moments.”
Read their full interview on the We Need Diverse Books website at the link below:
Q&A With Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Yas Imamura, Love in the Library
Maggie Tokuda-Hall is an author of young adult, middle grade, and picture books. She has a BA in Studio Art from Scripps College and an MFA in Writing from University of San Francisco and lives in Oakland, California, with her husband. She is represented by Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Lit.
Yas Imamura is an Asian American illustrator living in Portland, Oregon. She primarily works in children's literature and product design.
Sources
"About." Pretty OK Maggie, https://www.prettyokmaggie.com/about. Accessed 10 Jul 2024.
“Q&A With Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Yas Imamura, Love in the Library.” We Need Diverse Books, https://diversebooks.org/qa-with-maggie-tokuda-hall-and-yas-imamura-love-in-the-library/. Accessed 01 Aug 2024.
"Yas Imamura." The Bright Agency, https://thebrightagency.com/uk/childrens-illustration/artists/yas-imamura. Accessed 10 July 2024.