 Covert artist Rosa Colón Guerra Today we celebrate the book birthday of Mani Semilla Finds her Quetzal Voice. We sat down with Anna Lapera to learn all about the inspiration behind this book. But first, a little bit about the book: Mani Semilla Finds Her Quetzal Voice – a contemporary middle grade novel full of spunk and activist heart. This book is a contemporary upper middle grade novel that follows Manuela “Mani” Semilla who wants two things: To get her period, and to thwart her mom's plan of taking her to Guatemala on her thirteenth birthday. If her mom's always going on about how dangerous it is in Guatemala, and how much she sacrificed to come to this country, then why should Mani even want to visit? But one day, up in the attic, she finds secret letters between her mom and her disappeared feminist journalist aunt, Tía Beatriz, transforming Mani from quiet bystander into budding activist as she stands up against the culture of harassment at her own school. What inspired you to become a writer? I knew I wanted to be a writer on the first day of the one-week poetry unit in 5th grade. Our class sat outside in a circle with our notebooks and pencils. I think I was so inspired by sitting in nature, because the very first line I wrote was “clear blue opening shadows of the earth’s territory,” and I thought that was soooo good! (I know, it’s not. But you couldn’t tell my 11-year-old self ANYTHING). I wrote some cringy poetry. Ever since then, every time I sit down to write, I feel like I am doing exactly what I was meant to be doing, and that’s a pretty magical feeling. Where did you get the idea to write this particular story? This book began as a short story about a girl who was obsessed with getting her period. But then she gets it at the worst possible time: at a family reunion at a Burger King during a forced family trip to Guatemala City, while all her primos are making fun of her heavily accented Spanish. (This may or may not have happened to me). But during my Musas mentorship, writer E.E Charlton Trujillo helped me transform this short story into a whole novel with a plot and everything. As I drafted the novel over the course of six months, I began to layer in what are now the very important parts of the story: the discovery of secret letters between her mom and a disappeared journalist aunt in Guatemala, just as Mani is beginning to witness the culture of sexual harassment unfold at her school. The letters become like a blueprint for her that teach her how to stand up to this harassment, but also serve as a point of connection and re-connection with her mother and with the idea of Guatemala itself. I was also really interested in conveying the many ways we as children of immigrants relate to a country from which we have heritage, especially if we have many heritages going on. Like Mani, I also come from a mixed family where my mom is from Guatemala and my dad is Chinese, Hawaiian, Filipino and German. Here are some baby pictures.
What was the most difficult scene to write in this story? While every character and situation in this book is fictional, there are parts that are definitely inspired by what I know to be true as a teacher: that a lot of violence is occuring in schools and that some of this is motivated by the desire to film something at the expense of others’ pain and respect, and that this is all happening in an age of unregulated internet that at times exploits and harms the lives of children. It is what scares me the most both as a teacher and as a parent. So the scenes where kids are groped and attacked while others attempt to capture it on film, while fictional in my book, were hard to write, knowing that many kids are suffering from this kind of bullying and harassment. But, these moments are integral parts to the book, because this is what Mani begins to stand up against, inspired by what she learns of her tía who stood up to femicide. Mani begins to make connections between what her tía in Guatemala fought against and what she witnesses in her own school. These scenes are integral to the heart of the story and to the central question that Mani asks herself (which my wonderful editor Irene Vázquez at Levine Querido helped me realize): what does it mean to be a feminist? What message are you hoping readers will take away from this story? Mani stumbles hard in her quest to find her voice and stand up for what’s right. In her attempt to do what’s right, she often does things that are just downright cringy, and at times, wrong. That’s what makes it a coming-into-activism story. I want readers to know that there are many different ways to be an activist and to use your voice. It is also very important to me to communicate the message that all people deserve for their bodies to be respected, that the harassment that many are subjected to is not something to brush off, and that they have every right to stand up against it. While some of Mani’s actions are hilarious, outlandish and at times even wrong, she eventually hones in on what will be her form of activism. What comes next for you as an author? I’m working on a few things at the moment. I am writing another coming-into-activism story, but this time it is a YA historical fiction piece set in late 1970’s Guatemala. I have completed my first draft and it is in the hands of my wonderful agent, Ellen Goff, who is currently reading through it. As we speak I am also in the Tin House winter workshop where I am working on my adult short story collection that follows a cast of Central American characters in the DC/Maryland area. And of course, scheming on my next MG novels, because MG is so fun!
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