Not Logged in.
Book Jacket

For Today I Am a Boy


"A sharply written debut novel. A coming-of-age tale for our time."
- Seattle ...
More about this book
Author Biography

Please post your questions for the author

Created: 05/27/15

Replies: 5

Posted May. 27, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

Please post your questions for the author

In June 2015 Kim Fu graciously answered questions posed by BookBrowse members. Below are her responses.
You might also like to visit her website at http://kimfu.ca/


Posted Jun. 01, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
ABeman

Join Date: 01/14/15

Posts: 78

Is there an inciting incident (or person) that inspired you to write this book?

I was finishing an undergraduate degree in psychology, about seven years ago now, and so I was immersed in scientific literature about gender, and a lot of people around me were grappling with personal questions of identity. Around this time, I came across the story of Christine Daniels, a columnist for the L.A. Times who transitioned very publically at the age of 50. She lived and wrote as Christine Daniels for just over a year before abruptly changing her byline back to "Mike Penner," her birth name, then committed suicide. I found myself thinking a lot about the fifty years she lived before transitioning, the everyday conflict of it, before I even knew I wanted to write about it.

But really, I have a million answers to this question, and none of them feels quite right. A novel is so big and complicated that inspiration comes in from all sides.


Posted Jun. 01, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
ABeman

Join Date: 01/14/15

Posts: 78

The timing of this book seems so ideal. How do you feel about this trans-themed trend right now?

Being that I started writing in 2009, there's no way I could have predicted this huge cultural shift. I was just talking to Jack Halberstam, a queer studies/culture scholar (for something else I'm writing), and he pointed out that no one TV show or representation makes a difference on its own; it's about the larger landscape. Things change in art and media at the same time things change in people's personal lives and change institutionally. It all happens at once.


Posted Jun. 01, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
ABeman

Join Date: 01/14/15

Posts: 78

Who are the authors you read for inspiration in your own writing? What about authors you read for your own true self, whether they inspire your writing or not?

I don't read explicitly for inspiration -- it's all pleasure! Writers I aspire to be like in one way or another: Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, David Rakoff, Yiyun Li. Two books I read recently and absolutely loved: In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods by Matt Bell and Adult Onset by Ann-Marie MacDonald.


Posted Jun. 02, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
reene

Join Date: 02/18/15

Posts: 497

Your portrayal of Peter's feelings throughout the story was so accurate and sensitive. You covered him as a child, an adolescent and an adult. What amount of time did you have to spend on research for the book?

I spent about nine months reading and talking to people, but I didn't know I was researching for a novel at the time -- I was just pursuing a line of thought that interested me. I continued to read and talk through the next three years of writing.


Posted Jun. 03, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
reene

Join Date: 02/18/15

Posts: 497

After such a successful first novel, do have any plans for a second novel?

Yes, I do! But the details are still a secret for now :)


Reply

Please login to post a response.