Philly Dame

Earlier, I posted that Giovanni’s Room, the famous LGBT bookstore at 12th and Pine in Center City, is holding a 50/50 benefit for the Lambda Literary Foundation and Giovanni’s Room on Saturday 11/21 at 7:30.

One of the authors reading tonight is Malinda Lo. Her novel, ASH, is a reimagining of the Cinderella story centered around Ash, a teenage girl who eventually falls for a woman instead of the prince. Malinda is the former managing editor of AfterEllen.com, the largest entertainment news website for lesbians and bisexual women. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and has master’s degrees from Harvard and Stanford universities. Malinda now lives in Northern California with her partner and their dog. Malinda was kind enough to answer these questions while in Philadelphia for both the NCTE conference and the Giovanni’s Room fundraiser. Thanks, Malinda!

1. When did you decide to write a novel and why did you pick the young adult genre?

(Malinda Lo) I’ve always loved to write and have been writing since I was a child. I wrote my first novel when I was 13, but there was a long gap after college when I didn’t write any fiction. Even though I had always wanted to be a writer, I didn’t quite believe that I could do that as a job. But when I was 28 I decided to finally go for it, so I became a freelance writer (mostly freelancing for LGBT magazines and websites; I later became managing editor of AfterEllen.com) and simultaneously began to write ASH. I did not choose to write in the young adult genre, actually; I simply wrote the book. It wasn’t until I was ready to submit it for publication that I began to think about which genre it fit into, and that’s when I realized it was a YA novel.

2. How did you decide to base Ash on the Cinderella fairy tale? What other novels/books influenced your writing?

(Malinda Lo) I chose to retell Cinderella for two reasons: it was my favorite fairy tale when I was a child, and I never read a retelling that truly spoke to me. Therefore, I decided to write the book that I wanted to read. I’ve been most influenced by Robin McKinley, who has written a number of fairy tale retellings, including Deerskin and, most famously, Beauty (a retelling of “Beauty and the Beast”).

3. You were just named one of the Out 100. Did you get to meet Sarah Waters?

(Malinda Lo) Ha! I have met Sarah Waters, but not through the Out 100. I’ve interviewed her several times for my freelance work, and I met her in person for a video interview I did for AfterEllen.com after her novel The Night Watch was released. I truly admire her writing — I think her books are brilliant.

4. What are you working on now?

(Malinda Lo) I’m working on another YA novel set in the world of ASH, but several hundreds of years earlier, so there are no crossover characters. It’s called HUNTRESS, and it’s my version of a hero’s quest — with lesbians. It’s due out in spring 2011.

5. Okay, last question — for the Philadelphia readers. If you were stuck on a desert island with either Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, or Betsy Ross — who would you pick, and how would you escape off the island?

(Malinda Lo) I think I’d choose to be stuck with Ben Franklin. I’d really hope he could invent some kind of communication device that would enable us to get someone to rescue us!

Thanks, Malinda. If you’d like to read more author interviews, click here. Happy reading!