In conversation are authors Kelly Yang and Joanna Ho about their new YA releases—Private Label, which follows a Chinese American girl who gets help from the new boy in town to search for her dad after her successful fashion designer mother is diagnosed with cancer, and The Silence That Binds Us, which explores timely themes of mental health, racism, and classism.
The pair chat about their novels, inspiration, what they hope their readers take away from their novels, and more!
KELLY: Hi Joanna! I’m thrilled to talk to you about your first ever YA!
JOANNA: Hi, Kelly! I’m so excited to talk with you about PRIVATE LABEL, your upcoming YA. The cover of your next book is so beautiful, it is stuck in my brain. Can you tell me what it’s about and where the story came from?
KELLY: Of course! PRIVATE LABEL is my first YA romance! It’s about a 17 year old Chinese American girl Serene, whose mom is a fashion designer. When Serene’s Mom gets pancreatic cancer, Serene has to come in and take over her mom’s business. And in the process, she finds out a lot about herself and falls in love with a new boy in town (who could not be less fashionable). The story is inspired by my mom’s own diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. What about your book, THE SILENCE THAT BINDS US?
JOANNA: That sounds amazing! THE SILENCE THAT BINDS US is also about a Chinese American girl. Maybelline Chen loses her beloved older brother to suicide and in the aftermath of his death, city leaders turns against her family and the Asian community, claiming that it is the Asian culture that increases the stress and pressure in their schools. In effect, they blame May’s parents for their own son’s death. It’s the story of May’s journey of grieving, healing, and finding her voice when so many want to keep her silent.
I’m so sorry to hear about your mom’s diagnosis. That must have been such a difficult experience for all of you. Challenging personal experiences are often hard to live through, let alone relive by talking about them. What inspired you to build a story based on this painful experience?
KELLY: That’s such a great question. I have always thought of writing as a therapeutic experience. Growing up, writing was the way for me to process the world. Especially when my world felt like it was spinning out of control, which as a young immigrant was often. So I think about 3 months into my mom’s cancer journey, when some of the chemo was really starting to get to my mom, and I truly felt like I had no real tangible way of helping her, and it was a heartbreaking feeling, I started drafting this manuscript. Writing this book allowed me and my mom to think about something else besides cancer, allowed us to fall in love with the characters, to be able to connect through the lines, and LAUGH – because one of my characters is an aspiring stand up comic. It was such a healing experience for us. This story gave us strength and hope! And I am so glad that you are talking about suicide in your story, because I feel like both cancer and suicide are things that we don’t always talk about in the Asian American community but they’re so important. They’re things that so many families struggle with and these stories are so necessary.
For you, how did you get the inspiration for your book?
JOANNA: I wanted to write a book that explored anti-Asian racism. This was long before “stop Asian hate” became a slogan on protest posters, before it was a topic of public conversation. It was a way for me to explore my own experiences with racism, and also the topic at large. My high school community was racked with two teenage suicide epidemics soon after I graduated. Several years ago, I was at a group dinner and a wealthy white businessman stated that it was the Asians in the community that caused the stress and pressure and suicides. I was sitting directly across the table from him and was so invisible that he didn’t even see me. I began to wonder how it would feel to be a parent or a sibling to not only experience this deep personal tragedy, and then be blamed for them. To your point about silence in the Asian American community around mental health, cancer, and other difficult topics, I think racism is something we all know exists and we discuss behind closed doors, but don’t speak about publicly enough. I hope this story offers many openings to dialogue about topics we all need to discuss more openly.
How do you hope that PRIVATE LABEL lands with readers? What do you hope they will take from the story?
KELLY: I hope that teenagers reading PRIVATE LABEL feel less alone when life suddenly throws them curveballs and they find themselves in the eye of a storm they never ever saw coming. I had no idea my mom was going to get cancer, and suddenly we’d be on this journey. I have no idea what the future will bring, but I’m grateful for every day that we have. In some ways, I think her cancer has brought us closer together. We’ve been able to have some deeply honest conversations, just like in the book, about life, what coming to this country meant for her, and our hopes and dreams for the future. Ultimately, as much as this book is a love story between Serene and Lian, it’s also a love story between Serene and her mom, finally being able to bond, in the most unexpected of circumstances.
What is your greatest hope for your book?
JOANNA: Although the topics of suicide and racism are heavy and painful, I really hope this story offers a message of hope, healing and empowerment. I hope it offers a lens through which we can collectively examine the invisibility of Asians in our society, the nuances and challenges of working in solidarity, the value of speaking out about mental health, and the power of working together to change dominant narratives that have confined us for too long. Similarly to you, writing this book has also brought me closer to my mom. In some ways, it’s been a vehicle for me to learn about my own history and heritage and this has strengthened our bond.
You were able to create a story of love and laughter from unexpected and difficult circumstances. How do you hold on to that light in your own life?
KELLY: Great question! Well, I write next to a 60 lb fuzzy labradoodle, who always helps me see the humor and lighter side of life! I also have three rascals, Eliot, Tilden, and Nina, who remind me every day why I do what I do. Why I get up and I write, on the good days and on the bad days. It’s always to inspire the next generation. To show them that life can be unpredictable, and sometimes downright terrifying, but I’m going to keep trying, and I don’t know what is going to happen, but I’m going to approach it with love, kindness, and humor.
What about you? How do you hang onto the light?
JOANNA: My kids! Cookies! Nature! I eat a lot of chocolate chip cookies! I agree with what you shared also. My kids really remind me what matters and give me such hope for the future. Spending time with them is genuinely my joy and they fill my reserves, even if mommying can be exhausting! When my daughter is drawing leopard dots on herself with Sharpie in the middle of church, or my son is lecturing me about the ten million trains that he would like to own one day, I feel grateful to be their mom and this in and of itself is light and life for me.
KELLY: That is the sweetest thing! It’s such a joy and an honor being in conversation with you and I cannot wait for the world to read THE SILENCE THAT BINDS US!
JOANNA: I can’t wait to meet your three rascals, especially after I finished reading NEW FROM HERE! I can’t wait until PRIVATE LABEL is out in the world!
