Writing about racism requires a directness that writing a love story does not.

If anything, I have witnessed the ways my art travels, or is rendered more accessible, when sanctioned by or connected to white artists.

As a person of color, I know race can't be stripped from admiration or preference.

Children's books have great potential to reveal new possibilities to readers, because the intended audience is at an age of genuine learning.

My intention was never to write a "trans novel" - which is perhaps an effective strategy for writing a trans novel.

Of course, I can't separate my queerness from my brownness - if anything, my queerness amplifies my brownness, and vice versa - but I spent so much of my early twenties trying to erase my differences, often without awareness of what I was doing.

When I was writing, I wanted every word to be not only deliberate, but musical. Precious.