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Interview with author An Na
by Sandhya Nankani
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This interview first appeared on April 17th 2008 on the Literary Safari blog and is reprinted here with permission.
An Na was born in Korea and grew up in San Diego, California. She worked as a middle school English and history teacher before becoming a full-time writer. She has just published her third book, The Fold, which explores one Korean American teen's dilemmas when faced with the option of making her eyes "prettier (i.e. more western- looking) through plastic surgery. Her first novel, A Step from Heaven, earned her the Michael L. Printz Award and the Asian Pacific American Award for Literature, among others; and has been placed on many reading lists, including the Kiriyama Prize Notable Book Fiction List.
She divides her time between Oakland, California and Warren, Vermont.
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In The Fold, your new novel, you tackle a pretty serious subject, teen plastic surgery, with a humorous touch. What inspired this book?
A few years back a friend was putting together an anthology around the topic of beauty and she asked me to contribute. Immediately I thought about the time my sister was offered the fold surgery to make her eyes more “beautiful.”There are so many stars and models and ordinary folks turning to plastic surgery that, in many ways, the idea of going under the knife has been normalized. I wanted to explore how one teen would deal with being offered a procedure that is clearly colored by cultural standards of beauty.
In a sense, The Fold is not just about Asian Americans struggling to conform to Western standards of beauty. It’s about the pressure to conform to certain notions of beauty–a challenge that many teenagers face. How did your experiences as a teenager compare to Joyce’s?
I remember doing all sorts of crazy things to make myself look better. A lot of it centered around the idea of that "magical summer". The idea that, when I come back in the fall, everyone will think I’m different and gorgeous and popular. I’ve permed my hair (imagine crazy Korean afro), gone to the dermatologist, shopped for clothes, make up, etc. But I’ve never gone beyond the superficial stuff. I don’t even have my ears pierced. In fact, the whole idea of Joyce and her hating pain comes from me.
You’ve written two other critically-acclaimed young adult novels. Tell me: how do you connect with and get into the teenage mindset to write from its point of view?
I find that a lot of my stories are about needing to answer the longing that I had as a teen reader without books to reflect my experiences. I find that I gravitate to the characters who are still trying to find themselves and feel okay about who they are and where they come from. It doesn’t take too much for me to get back into that mind set. In many ways, when I am placed in uncomfortable situations, at a party, for instance, in a room full of strangers, I'm reconnected with those awkward teen feelings of being unsure and questioning whether I fit in.
I thought The Fold was stylistically different from your two previous books – A Step from Heaven and Wait for Me – being not so much about internal family challenges and struggles to find the American Dream, but more about the coming of age experience. What prompted this shift?
I like the challenge of trying something new. I like playing with structure and voices, and this time I wanted to see if I could write in a more "traditional style," if you will, because I had never written a straight chapter book before. It was also fun to try and think about crazy, over the top scenarios for my characters. I wanted to do something light and funny while still dealing with hard issues.
How did you go about researching this book? What is the one thing you learned about the fold surgery that you did not know before writing this novel?
I looked at a lot of websites and also tapped into my own memory of what I knew about the surgery. There’s a documentary out there about a woman who goes through with the surgery and an MTV special. So finding material wasn’t hard. It was interesting to learn about the medical terminology and the actual procedure. It's actually a fairly straightforward procedure but, still, as with any kind of surgery, there are risks involved, and I think a lot of that gets glossed over.
You portrayed both the pros and cons of the surgery in the novel, yet it’s obvious which side you stand on. Do you think the frequency of such operations is diminishing, or becoming more of “the norm”?
I think it's definitely becoming more of the norm. When singers and movie stars talk about their own procedures as if it is no big deal, then you know the average teen is going to start believing that. Soon enough they begin to save up their money and get obsessive about whatever part of their body they want to change – nose, eyes, breasts...
Mothers and sisters play an important role in this as well as in your other novels. Both Wait for Me and The Fold explore the relationship between older and younger sister and the theme of responsibility. Why is that?
I think this plays a big part in my novels because it played a big part in my life. I have a wonderful younger sister and she and I were always attached at the hip. Sometimes I hated it and sometimes I didn’t mind – most times I just expected her to be near me. In Korean culture, sibling relationships and the responsibility of the older sibling to care for the younger members of the family is a role that is taken very seriously.
What are the challenges of being an Asian-American young adult author? Do publishers expect you to write about certain topics more than others?
I think the challenge of any writer of color is not feeling pigeon holed. Luckily, I’ve worked with good editors, who only expect good stories, in whatever form they may come. At this point in my work, I still find myself needing to deal with Asian American issues. There has been a wonderful explosion of AA writers and stories in recent years. I think it's fabulous! We have more of a presence now. In fact, some of us have banded together to promote Asian Heritage month, in May. Look for us at Fusion Stories.
What are you working on next?
I have a young adult nove, The Middle Place, l that I have been working on for the last five years, and a middle grade novel that I am trying to get started.
*Sandhya Nankani is an editor in the education division of Scholastic and is the author of the Literary Safari blog.
Posted May 2008
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