Holly Thompson Interview in January's The Edge of the Forest

January's issue of The Edge of the Forest features an interview with our own Holly Thompson talking about The Wakame Gatherers, Japan, and writing. (She even mentions me and Shen's Books-- yay!)

Here's an excerpt that I found particularly interesting, as it pertains to some of the issues we covered in our "Crossing Cultural Borders" series of posts.

The Edge of the Forest: In workshops you've conducted you've spoken about some of the mistakes writers make when attempting to write multicultural fiction. Could you give a couple of examples?

Holly Thompson: Perhaps the most serious mistake writers make is not knowing a culture deeply enough; this can result in a book full of clichés—in setting, characterization, and dialogue. Another mistake is not doing enough research and relying on rather narrow personal experience. A writer doesn't need to be a native of a culture to write about a culture; research with primary resources, substantial direct experience and interviews with experts can enable a writer to create an authentic story.