On episode #6 of the My American Meltingpot podcast, I am joined by author, activist and educator, Zetta Elliott for a passionate conversation about diversity in children’s literature. Zetta has written over 30 books for children, teens and young adults and is committed to telling stories featuring Black characters in the most unexpected places. From sci-fi, to speculative fiction, to haunted historical fiction, Zetta has written it all and shows no signs of stopping. She is on a mission to decolonize all of our imaginations when it comes to storytelling for young people.
During this episode, we talk about Zetta’s childhood growing up in Canada and then moving to Brooklyn, New York after college. It was in Brooklyn that Zetta had her “Black awakening” and fell in love with a Black culture she never knew existed. Her ambassadors to this new culture were books. Books written by Black authors like Toni Morrison, Jamaica Kincaid and Octavia Butler gave Zetta an entirely new outlook on the life she was living and the life she now realized she wanted to lead.
After winning a contest from Lee & Low publishers where the prize was having her first novel, Bird, published, Zetta dedicated herself to a life of teaching and writing. Eventually she came to discover the power of self-publishing, and considers the act of publishing books that unapologetically center the experiences of Black and Brown people, a form of resistance. Zetta Elliott is living proof that one can straddle both sides of the publishing world, self-publishing and publishing with a traditional publisher, and be a successful writer.
Resources from the Show
You can learn more about Zetta Elliott and her work on her website. You can also find contact information there if you want to write to Zetta for information about self-publishing.
Before you hit Zetta up for self-publishing advice though, you might want to read one of these thoughtful essays she’s already written about the practice.
What’s LOVE got to do with it?” Self-publishing as a Black feminist act of radical self-care
How It Feels to Be Self-Published Me
Black Authors and Self-Publishing
7 Tips for Self-Published Authors
Breaking Down Doors: My Self-Publishing StoryZetta Elliott on Starting Her Own Imprint & Character Development in Children’s Fiction
Zettta’s two most recent books that we mentioned on this episode include:
Cin’s Mark (self-published)
Dragons in a Bag (Random House)
My favorite Zetta Elliott book that was mentioned at the top of the show is:
A Wish After Midnight (The one about time traveling to pre-civil war era Brooklyn.)
If you’re a self-proclaimed history geek, like Zetta Elliott, and are looking for inspiration on social media, follow Zetta or Medivevalpoc for visual evidence of Black people in medieval times.
And speaking of history, here’s the true story behind that 9th century ring that is the inspiration for Zetta’s latest Afro-Viking story in progress.
I hope you find something in this list that leads you down a colorful rabbit hole of your own imagination!
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Comments
5 responses to “MAMP Podcast Episode #6: A Candid Conversation about Diversity in Kid Lit with Zetta Elliott”
The most enlighteningly, though-provoking 56 minutes of my day. I’m so glad I took the time to listen today! Loved the knowledge and the two messengers! We speak only Spanish in my home and the only books that I will purchase for my brown sons (Afro-Chino-Latino) are those written in Spanish (of course, they read in English– but I make them borrow those books from the library; not paying my money to support English hegemony in the publishing business, but that’s another topic…). Without going into the pros and cons of buying translated works, I was thrilled to see that Zetta Elliot actually has two of her books translated into Spanish on amazon.es “A Max le gustan las muñecas” and a bilingual co-authored volume “Let the Faithful Come/Dejen venir a los fieles.” Just purchased “Max”, fingers crossed that the translation does not disappoint. In any case, I appreciate that the author has covered so many bases!
Hello Panamama,
Thank you so much for listening to the podcast! I’m so glad you enjoyed our conversation. As you could hear, I too am a big fan of Zetta Elliott, but I didn’t know her works were translated into Spanish. She truly is a treasure. You’ve reminded me to add more Spanish-language book suggestions here on the blog and on Instagram where I often post book suggestions.
I loved your podcast with Zetta Elliott, Lori – and I learned why, at our bookfair in January with 3 Black authors, who have all won awards for their work, they were all SELF-PUBLISHED!
Hi Barbara,
I’m so glad you enjoyed the conversation with Zetta. She is one of my favorite authors. And no, we weren’t at the book fair together, but I remember you mentioning that she came once as well. It’s definitely a small world!
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Freedom Library has 5 of Zetta Elliott’s books, including A Wish After Midnight, which I read! And she took part in one of our Bookfairs – was it the same bookfair you took part in, Lori?