Hi All, Such a weird feeling to even be able to write this, but I will be working with Meredith Kaffel Simonoff of DeFiore & Company to bring my next novel, and future work, to life. I am thrilled! I feel incredibly lucky. She was the first agent I emailed to, the first who replied, and we […]
Earlier this summer, I had the opportunity to discuss Magical Realism, Space Travel, and life as a QPOC writer with Marci and Ako from Colored Pages Book Club! Gosh, it was fun! They are doing amazing work on with their site, so please give them a visit. https://www.thesecoloredpages.com/cpbc-guests/2019/8/24/interview-w-he-mele-a-hilo-author-ryka-aoki
YAY! I am writing a children’s book! I was asked to write a children’s book for Flamingo Rampant Press, which is geared toward families with LGBTIQ members. I have decided to write a book about a young child visiting the planets. I have always been fascinated by how different each of the planets is, and want […]
So, this was something to wake up to. My friend Kay Ulanday Barrett had posted on their site that they had been one of “9 Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Writers You Should Know” in Vogue. I wrote a big congratulations–and then they said I was one of the nine, as well. So gosh! Wow! One […]
I am looking forward to this reading because it was so improbable. I was a judge for a literary contest, and after our panel presentation at the AWP, Tobi Harper from Quill/Red Hen, asked if I wanted to read at the Pasadena Litfest. Sometimes, things click, and all the hard work pays off, and people […]
Sometimes, the chance to do something really neat comes out of the blue. I got an email from elle.com asking if I might recommend a book that I think men should read. To be honest, I thought it was a spam or phishing attempt at first–I have no idea how Elle would have even known […]
in some ways because it was an unsent letter to my mother, in other ways because it was handwritten, but, yeah, family stuff. one of the most rewarding things about getting older is that one has time to rethink and reconcile with one’s past. it’s not about making up with one’s parents or family. with […]
I was asked by Iris Mahan and Danielle Barnhart if I might contribute to Women of Resistance–Poems for a New Feminism last year. I was working on my novel (the same one, yes the same one I’m finishing now), but I wrote a poem, “January, After El Niño,” that just came out easily. It wasn’t an […]
I got this in the mail recently: “MEANWHILE ELSEWHERE just won the American Library Association Stonewall Book Awards Barbara Gittings Literature Award!!! This is a mouthful but I think it’s basically is the top LGBTQ fiction/poetry award they give out. Which means: THIS IS HUGE. And as a result your work will probably end up […]
Writing has far less need for boundaries than people do. I worry sometimes, that unlike music, writing is limited by language. However, sometimes the limits don’t matter. This is one of my favorite interviews, with Erin Hawley from Easterseals Thrive. http://www.easterseals.com/thrive/rykaaoki.html