Angela Johnson Audio Transcripts
Slideshow 1: On The First Part Last
The inspiration
The response
So, I went to New York. I’m on the subway and there’s this beautiful kid, he looks about 15 or 16, with a baby. And it’s 11:00 in the morning and I’m thinking, “You know, why is this kid not in school? Is this his daughter? Is this his sister? What’s the deal?”
The First Part Last was the easiest book I’ve ever written. He was just there. Everything was there. The First Part Last is not preachy. It’s definitely a cautionary tale. He loves this baby, but what has he lost? He’s lost the love of his life at 16. He’s lost many of his freedoms. His friends still love him, but he’s lost part of that relationship. And even with his parents, he’s lost being a child, because he is now the daddy.
It was really interesting when I first wrote it. I actually had parents come up to me and say, “I’m not letting my kid read this book because it’ll give them ideas.” I said, “Ideas about going into a coma, ideas about having this baby who’s weighed you down and you’ve lost your childhood. I mean, which ideas?”
Slideshow 2: Angela Johnson reads from The First Part Last
Once upon a time...
Slideshow 3: On her writing process
I never have a plan. I never wake up and do the three or four hours like some of my colleagues claim they do. If it’s a writing day, I wake up early, get a cup of coffee that I shouldn’t have, go to the computer, surf the Internet a little bit because, you know, can’t not do that, and maybe, you know, start writing something. If I can’t write anything, I like to journal a little bit. Most days are just in my pajamas, traipsing around the house. But to me all of it in the end is thinking about writing. Even when I’m not writing, it’s perking.
Since I think everything is part of the process, I like to travel when I’m blocked. There’s always going to be something in life that will ignite you. I always believe that. It’s going to be a newspaper article. It’s going to be something you heard at the supermarket. You know, it’s going to be something you felt when you were going for a walk or you were outside. So I try not to worry about it. I mean, I went for almost two years not being able to write, and it was really annihilating. Now I don’t fear, I’m really not filled with fear about it anymore because I always know that it will come back.
Slideshow 4: On talking with students about writing
I always ask if any of them journal and you can always sort of get an idea about who is writing. And journaling, I find, is that touchstone. When kids do that, they’re secure in writing. There are kids who, as far as they’re concerned, writing stops when they leave the school. But there are the ones who, you know, are putting it down, you know, any feelings they have, they’re raging on paper. And I say, you know, “Everyone is not going to be a writer, but everyone can write. You can put your feelings down.”
Slideshow 5: On writing universal stories
I think the biggest thing is I think we’re all connected. I know it can sound kind of corny, but I think the big problems that we have in this country is people don’t think they’re connected. That we get so wrapped up into, you know, our neighborhoods, and “I’m identified by this.” We’re all so connected – we’re connected by this culture. It doesn’t really matter if he’s black or if he’s Asian or if he’s white, you know, this is a universal story. We are all tied in.
There is not one story that is not universal. And ultimately, anyone can pick these books up. If anyone can pick my book up and say, “Yes, this is just this wonderful story, I’ve felt this, I knew someone who felt this,” I’ve done what I was supposed to do.
Slideshow 6: On her African American protagonists
Even though these are universal stories, all of my children — any child I write about, the protagonist most likely, probably 99.9% of the time — will be African American children because I remember that feeling. I remember being in a sea of books where no one looked like me.
And I remember the librarian, who especially pulled out the books by Ezra Jack Keats, as I sat cross-legged in the front because I was always the shortest kid, and read them. And I just thought, “Wow, this is amazing.”