Kao Kalia Yang, author of The Most Beautiful Thing
Children’s Literature category, sponsored by Books for Africa
Each week leading up to the 33rd annual Minnesota Book Awards announcement, we are featuring exclusive interviews with our 36 finalists. You can also watch the authors in conversation with their fellow category finalists here.
In a year defined by a pandemic and its fallout, virtually everything about our lives has changed in some way. How has COVID-19 impacted your writing habits and preferences? Has the unique zeitgeist of the past year influenced your writing output in any ways that you can pinpoint?
More than ever before, I’ve recognized my responsibility as a caretaker and a parent to bring joy to the young ones in my life. Whether this is a party in the rain, a dance accompanied by wind and thunder, or a simple task such as the act of digging a hole big enough for a rose bush but also for little ones. I’ve worked extra hard to bring to my children: the things I want them to remember beyond the dangers of a pandemic. We’ve set out to make the memories we’ve wanted to keep this year. Living this way has influenced my relationship to the work I do as a writer: every feeling of being alive is at once more fragile and fierce than ever before.
Would you tell us one or two things about your finalist book that you are particularly proud of, and why? (Sure, it may feel a bit un-Minnesotan to say so, but it’s not boasting if we ask!)
The Most Beautiful Thing is a story that is true to my life but does not yet exist in other children’s books; it is a story of an old Hmong woman who survived the pursuit of a tiger to live in America, a story of a young Hmong girl growing up in a family that does not have much money but the things they have money cannot buy. I’m proud to be able to honor the memory of my grandmother’s single tooth with pride, to reckon with my smile, its flaws and its beauty, without shame, to rest in the truths of our love story.
What do you hope that your audience learns or takes away from your book?
Khoa Le’s illustrations in this book are a visual feast for the eyes, a celebration of colors and cultures, of the power of story to connect across individuals across space and time. The story itself is tender and original and reflects an enduring promise of family: that we care for each other to the best of our abilities. My hope is that it reminds readers everywhere of a fact that this pandemic has made brutally clear: a family remains not because all of its members are present but because of the love and memories we share and will pass on to future generations.
Minnesota enjoys a reputation as a place that values literature and reading. If this sentiment rings true for you, what about our home state makes it such a welcoming and conductive place for writers?
The children’s writing community here in Minnesota is “top-notch” (my kids’ favorite new word). We care about each other. We support each other’s works. We hold ourselves and our community to an incredible standard. We are competitors and friends at the same time.
What advice would you give to an aspiring writer with an interest in your category?
It’s very important to remember: the shorter the form, the tighter the writing has to be, the less room you have to build characters and execute story.
Tell us something about yourself that is not widely known! (It doesn’t have to be about your writing.)
I love flowers. I particularly adore orchids. They remind me of places I’ve never been and the places I want to be. They bring these possibilities into my home and my life, give me cause to celebrate beauty. Flowers let my heart breathe.
Kao Kalia Yang is the author of memoirs and children’s books and is a four-time Minnesota Book Award-Winner. Yang is a recipient of the McKnight Fellowship in Prose and has been honored for her impact and leadership in both New American and arts communities.