Sherman Alexie
The Absolutely True Diary
of a Part-Time Indian
Little, Brown & Company
Interview conducted
by Rita Williams-Garcia.
RWG: Now that it's
all said and done, what is the story decision that you
are most proud of?
I suppose I'm most proud of
telling the story in first person. I worried that my
highly autobiographical novel would be just thinly disguised
memoir if I wrote in the first person. And I was equally
worried about writing yet another first-person YA novel,
featuring yet another highly sensitive protagonist.
So, yes, I did write an early draft in the third person,
but that narrative distance created an emotional distance
as well. And I realized that I was afraid of the first
person because I was afraid of my own history. I'm not
a fearful person, onstage or in my books or anywhere
else, so I was nearly debilitated by my fear. I wasn't
sure I was going to be able to finish the book. But
with much support from my family, my agent Nancy, and
my editor Jennifer, I was able to proceed.
RWG: You are amongst
friends. Which scene made you pee on yourself as you
wrote it? (Don't even front. I know you peed.)
I peed with laughter when I
wrote the "metaphorical boner" discussion
between Arnold, my Spokane Indian protagonist, and Gordon,
his new friend and white boy genius. I just loved the
thought of two adolescent males discussing books with
as much sexual ferocity as most boys (and men) discuss
women.
RWG: Arnold is a comic
book artist and a self-described book kisser who stands
up to Tolstoy. What is literacy to Arnold?
Wow, that's an interesting
question. I suppose Arnold would think that literacy
is a form of self-defense. If one reads enough books
one has a fighting chance. Or better, one's chances
of survival increase with each book one reads. I love
that Arnold takes on Tolstoy (I would have never had
that kind of courage) and I'm a little miffed that you're
one of the few interviewers to bring it up. In fact,
I change my mind about the first question above. I'm
most proud that Arnold, a rez boy, has enough courage
to disprove the universally accepted literary maxim
that happy families are all alike when, in fact, it
is the unhappy families who are most similar, especially
on a reservation.
 Rita
Williams-Garcia is the author of six distinguished novels
for young adults: Jumped, No Laughter Here, Every
Time a Rainbow Dies, Fast Talk on a Slow Track, Blue
Tights, and Like Sisters on the Homefront.
She has also published a picture book and has contributed
to numerous anthologies. Williams-Garcia's works have
been recognized by the Coretta Scott King Award Committee,
the PEN/Norma Klein Award, the American Library Association,
and Parents' Choice, among others. She recently served
on the National Book Award Committee for Young People's
Literature and is on faculty at Vermont College for
the MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults program.
Rita Williams-Garcia lives in Jamaica, Queens, NY and
is the mother of two daughters.
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