Oh well, listen to that harmony. My god, you should be in
a band, but this ceremony is hopefully a music manager is listening. I
got to tell you that this is a moment. And what I mean by
that is is that readers from all over the world, when they tune in
to hear all three of you at the same time, is what are the
chances that anything like this would ever happen. It feels pretty special. It's
really great to be sitting here with I mean, certainly when I was growing
up, you know, I wrote about my teen years and they marketed a
historical fiction. So I'm all, when I was growing up to three queer
authors of diverse backgrounds, representing different members of the community, I mean,
you have been unheard of. What you're doing is you're taking that brave step
forward because, let's be honest, in this real world, there's a lot
of people that are being shoved back into silence because they're afraid that people are
going to judge them. And we need you, We need you badly,
you guys. Thanks zero. That really means a lot, especially as you
know, as you know right now, it's like a hot and heavy book
banning effort so it's really nice to hear people say that we are needed and
appreciated and wanted. Yeah, it's really it can feel kind of like the
opposite sometimes, so so it is really nice to hear that, like from
people who actually do want us to be speaking out. Well, there are
so many of us that are in love and support and it's like, okay,
well, you know what, we need to come out and use our
voices as well. And so what we do is because when we hear your
passion and your drive to be not just authors, but you are sharing stories.
Look at the covers of all three of these books, what does it
show you people together? Every one of your books is about people working together.
Yeah, I love that. That's beautiful. That's right, and it
is I mean, really, you know, art is about creating empathy,
and it's about building bridges, and of our books, I think really is
working to do that both within the stories themselves but also within the outside world
of readers and educators and families. Yeah, if you could have seen all
three of our faces when you said that, Errol, we were all like
ah, because nobody's pointed that out. And you're completely right. Yeah,
really nice, And I do think that's something that all of our books have
in common, is like finding your community and your people that are going to
keep you going. Absolutely love that you know in reading the stories each of
them. The one thing that I feel as that reader is the fact that
it's like you know who your reader is because you're you're sharing the story with
them. You're not just giving them a story. I feel like we're having
a moment together of sharing. I love that. Yeah, Like I feel
like that's so true. When I write, I want it to be kind
of in conversation with the people who it's about, So that's so true.
Definitely to have that moment where we're sharing with our readers like a little bit
of ourselves or a little bit of how we view the world. And I
think that's needed now more than ever, is where we can just like actually
talk with each other or share our thoughts and feelings with each other, and
instead of just like instantly demonize or make monsters out of each other, it's
like actually having that back and forth. And I think our books are for
that. I hope listeners just picked up on that when you talk together,
that that because so many times creative people like to live in their own little
world and to protect their own space. And but but I love the idea
talking together once again. This is the this is the reason why I love
being in this moment with all of us together. Absolutely, and these books,
I mean, look, I feel like my book Only This Beautiful Moment
is about three generations of men in the same Iranian family, and two of
them are queer. One of them is not, and he's actually quite homophobic.
And he was very much inspired by my father's generation of men. And
I wanted to find a way to emphasize with how they got to where they
were and the trauma they went through and honor their experience in order to build
bridges in my own community. And so it is, it's all about listening,
It's all about curiosity. We can make a better world, in a
more unified world if we just listened to each other with with with a situation
like that, one of the things that that I've learned is sit down with
a writing with a writing instrument and start asking questions and questioning answers, because
when when people are in their own zone, and the one thing that I
get tired of it, well, you know, it's it's how old they
are now. That has nothing to do with it. We all should be
loving each other. Yeah, I mean my grandmother, like before she passed,
like she in her last few weeks changed her mind about you know,
gay people like and like it's just like it has nothing to do with how
old you are, Like it was just you know, we finally had the
conversation. I was afraid to have the conversation with her. Um, we
finally had it, and she changed her mind. And like, you know,
it's possible that like people just need to be like talk to and like
we Sometimes I definitely make assumptions sometimes about how bad someone is or how badly
they think of me, um, when it might not actually be the case
and they might just need to understand a little bit. Yeah. I'm often
accused of being you know, stop being a drama queen. It's like it's
what I am. I love emotion. I when I when I like something
or dislike something, I'm going to turn that drama into some energy. Yeah,
I love it. I love that. I think I think it's beautiful
that you're shining a light on all of this, and I would agree.
I mean, I think my own Iranian family has come a long way,
and I think, you know, sometimes what we need is patients. It's
not about age, but it isn't about having giving people the grace of taking
their time as they question themselves and grow. Yeah, ask the questions,
question the answers. I mean that that's you know, and it's one of
those things. Also, you know, share your story or someone will write
it for you. And the fact that the three of you were together is
you're sharing your story. And I just, I just I would like to
be a fly on the wall of the listener as well as the reader hearing
you know, when they get to hear your voices, and because you already
have a voice on the page, but hearing your voice now puts a new
voice on that page. Yeah, it's it's funny because like I people have
asked me before, like how do you develop voice in general, not just
like my specific voice, but how for me? I can't help but have
the voice in my head come out onto my page, and like it's the
voice that I talked to myself in is the voice that is what ends up
on the page. And so it's it's it's really fun when we offers get
to get together and we're exploring a lot of the same things and a lot
of the same themes, but saying it in such different ways. It's really
exciting to see just how varied the human experience can be. I I was
with the Speaker of the House recently, New Gangridge, and one of the
things that he shared with me was was was life changing? He says,
When I speak, it doesn't it doesn't include you unless you're willing to listen.
But it's what you listen to and how you react to it that makes
the movement. Is it the same true when it comes to to your writing,
is that you are speaking, But how we receive it is what's going
to change it. Yeah, I would say so. Um, like I
think that you know, a lot of the times I will be really anxious
about being misunderstood. So all I can do is, you know, say
what I have to say in the most authentic ways that I can, and
however it's received is how it's received, um, And I just have to
hope that you know, people take me at my word and um, you
know, don't misunderstand me. But of course it's like we can only go
from there and continue the conversation. Do you do you see it as being
still a little bit underground, and I you know, because eventually it's got
to come above ground. Man. It just feels like, you know,
people are trying to step on it again and push it even further underground.
It can't be that way with authors like yourself. Yeah, I wouldn't say
that it's underground anymore because of how loud and vocal our opponents are that they
know we're here and we're very much above ground, and they're trying to make
us underground. Yeah, but that's just like, that's just not going to
happen. And it ties back to your question before about it depends on how
people are listening to you. Yeah, And I call those bad faith readers
if they're trying to distort our books to say like, oh, it's pornography
for kids, or we're trying to turn people gay or whatever they want to
say, or even people who are within our own communities and want to warp
our words in our themes to mean something that was not at all ever in
the book to begin with. That's a bad faith reader. And what's nice
about the latter about people within the community that be trying to kind of manipulate
what was going on in the book. It's nice that we actually get to
have that discussion out in the open, queer readers talking about queer books.
That's amazing. And anybody can hate my book or interpret it however they want,
that's their right. But then it's also it's the bass after that is
the people that are trying to ban us because we are so above ground right
now and trying to warp our books into something for their agenda. Do you
walk into the store, the bookstore and and just take a look at where
it's position, because I mean at the at the Little Professor Bookstore at the
Park Worad shopping center here in Charlotte, they don't hide anything. And I
love that that they that they stand up for the author and the words within
those pages. I love that. Yeah, I do. I do tend
to notice, you know, when walking into a bookstore, like if they
have like, you know, queer books front and center face out, or
if they're you know, not like you can kind of tell from walking in.
You know, sometimes they have the pride display right up. Pride.
Sometimes it's just like integrated through all. But it does bring me a lot
of hope to see when they have it. Um, you know display,
and I mean when something is made invisible, the message is clear that it's
something to be ashamed of. And you know, I know for me,
I'm very aware that my book, a lot of it is about the queer
community with an Iran who don't have the privileges we do, who don't have
the privilege of going to a bookstore to read queer books, and so I
think it's often our job to stand up for those in our community who don't
have the privileges we have. Do you ever do you think we'll ever see
the day instead of having a pride month, it's a pride every day.
I mean, for me, that's hardest pride all year. We got to
speak it so that other people believe it. Then, Yeah, completely,
man, what a moment today. Thank you so much for your time.
We're all going to get together again very soon because I know that this is
my God. Your journeys are just fantastic. Thank you. Will you be
brilliant today? Okay, guys, you two, thank you so much.