Nancy Au Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Interview

DEAR FRIEND / TEACHER / COMRADE / LOVER / ARTIST: An Interview with Nancy Au and fellow author and playwright Carson Ash Beker.

CARSON BEKER: In this collection, you give voice to Baboochka Survivor of Wars, to Lai and her duck Louise, to toothless sexy mountain witch Bea, to people who travel in dreams, to parents who survived wars and their child who just wants to get away, to Sophie in her elephant costume, to powerful fisherwomen, to spiders and grandmothers and storytellers, to the very last dragon in the world, and to so many on the verge of becoming. You listen to them all and hear them, the same way that as a friend, you've listened to me. You lay out their grief and wonder and uncertainties and strengths in a way that I can say, yes, I know what that is, that sadness, that invisibility—and then you give them wings, you give them voice, you give them roars. You give them their voice back through listening and telling stories, the same way you've so often given my voice back to me... You write, "If you do not know how to swim, you trust that the deep waters will hold you." This book made me feel held that way, in the dark waters between becoming and belonging. How did you know to begin listening?


NANCY AU: I began listening at a young age because I grew up in a large family and struggled with finding my voice in times of need (and still do)....