.WRITERS.ON.WRITING..Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #48
Diann Leo-Omine
What is the first book that made you cry?
I couldn’t tell you the first book that made me cry, but I was most recently moved by the cookbook Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown by chef Brandon Jew and writer Tienlon Ho. I haven’t yet cooked any of the recipes, but I felt my childhood and family life really spring to life from the history about San Francisco’s Chinatown and the Toisanese (Southern Chinese) diaspora. Even the choice to include the main collaborators’ Chinese names in their bios at the back nearly brought me to tears.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
What stories are begging to be told? Tell them.
What period of your life do you find you write about most often?
It’s been a mixed bag about my early 20s and false starts entering the “working world” during the Great Recession spliced up with growing up in San Francisco in the 1990s.
What is a good writing habit you have picked up?
This isn’t so much a personal habit so much as it is realizing the importance of building writing community. I’ve met a lot of inspiring creatives from my Rooted and Written fellowship but also from Food Media Lab (a conference held by San Francisco Cooking School where I met my collaborators for Lunchbox Moments Zine, featured in the Yellow Arrow blog in 2021) and Golden Trout (a local writers group based where I live in Sacramento).
Diann Leo-Omine (she/her) is a creative nonfiction writer born and raised in San Francisco (Ramaytush Ohlone land) and the colorfully boisterous Southern Chinese-Toisanese diaspora. Her creative nonfiction piece “The Hawk” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal PEREGRINE (Vol. VII, No. 2). We nominated “The Hawk” for a 2023 Pushcart Prize.
To combat the recent swell of hate crimes against Asian Americans, Diann cocurated and edited the charity food zine Lunchbox Moments. A grateful alum of Tin House and Rooted & Written, she is currently devising a manuscript centering her maternal grandmother.
You can find Diann reading part of the “Hawk” with other PEREGRINE authors in Fly to Me, Speak to Me: A PEREGRINE Reading on the Yellow Arrow YouTube Channel. Learn more about her on Instagram and Twitter @sweetleoomine or at her website sweetleoomine.com.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #47
Kaili Y. Turner
What is the first book that made you cry?
The Autobiography of Assatta Shakur definitely. I had so many different feelings reading that book. She was a woman with a mission to help better her people like so many and was put through so much, even today, She’s a freedom fighter and I look up to her.
What period of your life do you find you write about most often?
I probably write about my upbringing most because its so full of cultures and conflict. As a Black Indian who grew up in Mashpee, Massachusetts, there was Native American tradition everywhere but I was also Black and have that background and upbringing and knowledge of the deep south, Florida, collard greens, etc., from my grandmother on my dad’s side. When I look back, it was a euphoric time riddled with chaos inner and external.
What word do you find yourself using most often in your writing?
I don’t know that I often use a specific word, maybe I should ask that in my Instagram stories. A major theme though that is in my work is it’s edgy, topical, and often a reflection of what is going on in my communities.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
To always be true to myself, my feelings, and my goals. To take every challenge and success as they come and to celebrate the effort of both. Never be afraid to ruffle a few feathers when your speaking your truth and continue to pay it forward.
Kaili Y. Turner is a Black Indian (Nipmuc) comedian, actress, writer, producer, and puppeteer who received her MFA from the Actors Studio Drama School. Kaili’s pilot “Fk’d Up & Fabulous” is streaming on the Tenoir TV app and her play “Indian Country” was a semifinalist for the Eugene O’Neill playwrights conference. She’s also the creator of Rock the Bells Comedy, a variety show that is a platform for BIPOC comics and musicians. She was a participant of the Walt Disney/ABC Pilot Prep Program for Native Americans and a recipient of the SNL/Second City Scholarship.
Her fiery poem, “Amerikkka the Beautiful,” was included in RENASCENCE, Vol. VI, No. 1. Kaili sat with the guest editor of RENASCENCE, Taína, for a chat before its release and was kind enough to participate in Renascence: A Reading in 2021, now available on the Yellow Arrow YouTube channel.
You can find Kaili on Instagram @mdamstarlight, Facebook @kailiturner, and Twitter @kailiyturner and learn about her current projects at kailiyturner.com.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #46
Leticia Priebe Rocha
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
When my family immigrated to the United States when I was 9 years old, I learned English by reading fiction. To be transported into entirely different universes during a time of such challenging personal transition was transformational.
What is a book you wish someone would write?
A poetry collection centering on Brazilian folklore.
What word do you find yourself using most often in your writing?
I am currently gravitating toward the word “unspool.”
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
Go deeper.
Leticia Priebe Rocha’s poem “Lost In” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal PEREGRINE (Vol. VII, No. 2). Leticia received her bachelor’s from Tufts University, where she was awarded the 2020 Academy of American Poets University & College Poetry Prize. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, she immigrated to Miami, Florida, at nine and currently resides in the Greater Boston area. Find her on Instagram @letiprieberochapoems, Twitter @LetiPriebeRocha, or Facebook @leticiaprieberocha and online at leticiaprieberocha.com.
Leticia participated in “Fly to Me, Speak to Me: A PEREGRINE Reading” from December 2022. Support Leticia and the rest of the authors by watching the reading on the Yellow Arrow YouTube channel.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #45
Keshnie July
What is a book you wish someone would write?
The Autobiography of a Brown Girl, which I plan to write
What is your writing Kryptonite? Your most interesting writing quirk?
I write like I speak and can sometimes use unnecessary words. My quirk is that I tend to overstate a point.
Describe an early experience where you learned that language has power.
I was always interested in learning new words. I would practice the words learnt in school in every day conversation. When I heard that one of the adults had said, “Who does she think she is using big, big words,” I realised that a child could not even practice a new word without being judged for it. More importantly it made adults uncomfortable.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
“You have to write a book.”
Keshnie July is a happily married mother to two gorgeous children and lives in beautiful South Africa. She has written for herself, albeit off and on through the years. Her favorite is poetry, however she has always hoped to write a book one day. This opportunity has been a call to fulfill a longheld dream to write and share her work with the world. Her piece “What is in a Name?” was included in Yellow Arrow Journal, Vol. VI, No. 2, ANFRACTUOUS. Keshnie participated in “An Exploration of Belonging: The Anfractuous Reading” last year. You can hear her read part of “What is in a Name?” below and find the reading in its entirety on the Yellow Arrow YouTube channel.
Find Keshnie on Instagram @keshjuly or Facebook @keshnie.july.
.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #44
Blaise Allysen Kearsley
What is the first book that made you cry?
I feel like it may have been The Bluest Eye. Not only because of the story’s deep sorrow but because of the ways in which Pecola Breedlove demands to be seen. And the way Toni Morrison made me feel seen, and all the ways in which I felt that this book was for me at that time. I was at a predominantly white school in a predominantly white neighborhood. It was just an all-around profound, personal experience. At the moment, I can’t even remember a book I read before that had such an impact. Except for some of the children’s books I read when I was little. They make me cry as an adult.
What is your writing Kryptonite? Your most interesting writing quirk?
It’s in the details. The remembered images. Like, for my birthday recently, I invited friends to see the premiere of the Bowie film, Moonage Daydream, and dinner and drinks afterward. My friend Erica, also a writer and someone I’ve known since elementary school, said a movie birthday was old school. I hadn’t thought of that when I planned it, I was just looking for something fun to do. But when she said that, I told her maybe I needed to pack party favors in little paper bags with Snoopy sitting on the roof of his dog house emblazoned on them. She said, “As usual, you’ve got the details just right.” I don’t know if that’s the best example, but I do know those little details come pretty naturally to me. Those little details live in my brain like useless trivia might live in someone else’s. Little details are big.
What word do you find yourself using most often in your writing?
In high school, it was “sinister,” which makes me laugh now. But with affection. Now? “Perpetual” comes to mind. I know I used it in this interview.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
“You’re a writer.” It took me a long time to own that.
Blaise Allysen Kearsley included her creative nonfiction piece “Words to Call a Sweater” in Yellow Arrow Journal PEREGRINE (Vol. VII, No. 2). Blaise is a Brooklyn-based Black-biracial writer and teacher and the creator/producer/host of How I Learned, a long-running storytelling, comedy, and reading series. Find her on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook and online at blaiseallysenkearsley.com.