Malinda Lo

This has been a rough week for people of color and women. First, there was the whole thing where people forgot that yes, there are black people in The Hunger Games. Then I watched the most recent episode of Once Upon a Time (that TV show on ABC), in which there was a black fairy ... More→

Ever since I blogged about the casting of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, I’ve been thinking about a broader question: How exactly should one write about race in a novel of speculative fiction that is not set on this here Earth right now, so that readers understand what you mean? I’ve blogged on writing about race ... More→

I seem to get sucked into fascinating Twitter discussions while I’m eating breakfast all the time! Just today we were discussing the lack of gay girls in YA, which is something I’ve been thinking about for awhile, along with the assumption that it’s harder to publish a YA novel with a gay girl main character. ... More→

Since Ash was published last fall, it’s been brought to my attention that some readers have gone into Ash expecting to find Asian characters in the book, and clues that Ash’s world has Asian influences. This is because back in 2008, I blogged about race in fantasy novels and noted that I personally have always ... More→

Yesterday, after reading Annalee Newitz’s thought-provoking analysis of Avatar (the new James Cameron sci-fi/CGI spectacular), I went and saw it. Wow. I’m not saying “wow” because I thought the special effects were so fantastic. Maybe they were, but I was pretty much aware the whole time I was watching it that I was watching special ... More→

Last week, author Mitali Perkins posted her Ten Tips on Writing Race in Novels, which resulted from a lively discussion on her blog about whether authors should describe race at all. It’s been really interesting to me to read her tips. Like most readers, I’ve encountered the food-related descriptors (coffee-colored skin) and groaned. I’ve also ... More→