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Jacqueline Woodson on Bushwick, her new novel and having her books banned
By
Precious Fondren
Published Oct 15, 2023
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Alex Garber
By
Precious Fondren
Published Oct 15, 2023
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Jacqueline Woodson, author of more than 20 books including “Brown Girl Dreaming” and “Another Brooklyn,” has won dozens of literary prizes, including multiple Newbery Awards. In 2020, she was named a MacArthur Fellow.
But up until the release of her new novel, "Remember Us," one thing Woodson had never done is write a novel about the fires that engulfed Bushwick, where she grew up in the 1970s.
Woodson says that writing about that era of Bushwick had been a goal of hers for her entire writing career, and that it took her decades to figure out how she wanted to tell the story.
The book, which hit stores Tuesday, focuses on Sage, a seventh grader growing up in Bushwick in the 1970s. Mysterious fires rip through the neighborhood, not only claiming house after house but also the community’s sense of certainty.
Gothamist’s Precious Fondren caught up with Woodson to discuss topics including her new novel, Bushwick, and what it’s like to have her books banned. Their conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
Can you tell me about the Bushwick you grew up in? What do you remember of that period?
When we moved into the neighborhood, it was at the edge of white flight. There were about three or four white families living on the block. And by the time I was around 11 or 12, they had moved away. Then the neighborhood was predominantly Black and Latino. And they were coming from oppressive places to try to build home and community and generational wealth.
Penguin Young Readers
There was a deep sense of community. A bunch of us moved away to college, the crack epidemic came, people lost their homes, people lost their homes because of predatory lending.
Bushwick was considered the “matchbox” then, this kind of dangerous place. And now that Bushwick is "discovered by hipsters." And now, I say it's the grandkids of the white flighters who are living there. Now the block that I grew up on is predominantly white.
How did the way Bushwick changed play a part in you writing “Remember Us”?
It became a different neighborhood. And part of writing “Remember Us” is wanting to remember that this was a place that Black and brown people lived before and thrived. And that the reason they're no longer there is because of getting burnt out, predatory lending, "gentrification." And that change erased a whole community.
Since you’re pulling from your memories, what was it like to revisit them in writing this book?
For me writing is always cathartic. I always say I write because I have questions, not because I have answers. And when I was writing “Remember Us” it was about that time and wanting to go back to that time and understand it on a deeper level. And I feel like once I finished writing the book, I did understand it, and I was at peace with it.
It wasn’t hard to access the physical memories, but it was emotionally a hard book to write because of so much that people are going through in that book. Back in the day, buildings were burning down. And now the devastation is building, right? People are building these high-rise buildings that no one can afford to live in.
They're getting pushed out of neighborhoods. And so it's interesting to see the juxtaposition of what was happening then and what's happening now and with the same ending, right? People losing their homes and losing their neighborhoods.
In your book, it seems like Bushwick at that time was a place for Black and brown families. And now all young people love living there.
Well, the truth of it is we loved it, too. There is a deep love for that neighborhood as a place where great beginnings happen. It's so funny because my daughter, who's 21, is like “I want to live in Bushwick.” I'm like, “Mommy lived in Bushwick already. I did my time.” But it's so funny to see that. And also so heartbreaking to see that the young Black and brown people who want to live there can't afford to.
Jacqueline Woodson
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.jpg
Who is the audience you’re writing for in “Remember Us?” Is it still young people?
I always say I write to young people. I write for all people, and I got that from Jason Reynolds. I think that’s true of this book especially.
It is saying to young people that history lives here. Especially in this time where the history of Black and brown people is trying to be erased. It’s saying to young people and to the people who are much older you didn't imagine that. You weren't gaslit. That really happened, and lots of us experienced it, even though we never had a conversation about it.
A few of your books have been banned in some states. How did you react to that?
The first time I knew that I was banned was Judy Blume told me. And I was like, “But I'm not banned. She's like, “Oh yes, you are!” I went back and I found out that my book, “From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun” had been challenged in so many school districts.
The difference between then and now, is back then they challenged books, by taking books out of classrooms, parents wrote letters. Now, it's legislative. People are losing their jobs for sharing books.
In what way has it impacted your writing?
In terms of how it makes me feel, I'm not going to stop writing. I just feel like this is what I was put on this earth to do. And I'm going to keep doing it. And someone's going to find the book.
People have sometimes been able to find the book they needed. And we see the tragedy of when they don't. We see that all of these queer kids committing suicide because they think they're the only ones like themselves in the world, and they're so deeply persecuted because no other kid in their community seems to have met a queer kid on the pages or in real life.
You see the struggle that young kids face again and again, and with the erasure of these narratives I think we're going to see more and more of that. That's what scares me. The isolation and the way that Black and brown and Indigenous kids are not going to see themselves in the narrative. And I think it's very intentional.
What does the future of books for people from marginalized communities look like if these bans continue?
I don't know what the future looks like. I remain hopeful by working. I'm not just sitting here being hopeful. I'm being actively hopeful by creating the work and trying to create the change. I know there are lots of people of the global majority out there doing the same thing.
I know there are people in publishing trying to do the same thing of making sure that no child feels unsafe because they don't have the narrative to tell their story. It's a battle and it's one that I'm not going to stop fighting. When you look at the books that are coming out, when you look at the books that are being centered and getting attention, people are really trying to do the work to save the children in some way.
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Precious Fondren
Precious is a former WNYC & Gothamist culture reporter.
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