Sharing her grandmother’s history in a novel way – Amy Lee-Tai  by Alex Carrier

One privilege of journalism is the chance to meet and interview new people. An easy job when the person is someone like author Amy Lee-Tai.

Lee-Tai is one of those people you know you’ll like her the moment she answers the phone. Her lyrical, friendly voice echoes good humor. Her conversation is much like her writing – fluid and inviting as it moves from one subject to another without confusion.

“I never really considered myself to be a writer in the professional sense until this book project came along,” admits Lee-Tai. “I always loved writing and reading. I was an avid journal writer.”

The project Amy Lee-Tai speaks of is her award-winning children’s novel A Place Where Sunflowers Grow. The historical dramatization is set in a Japanese American internment camp during WWII.

“It was a transitional time in my life,” she explains. “I had been a teacher, had children at home and was interested in writing a book about my grandmother - for lots of different reasons. I was doing research for a book when this project dropped in my lap.  In the end, it is not a biographical account, but my grandmother's life was part of the inspiration."

Lee-Tai is a reading teacher in elementary and middle schools.

“This whole project was a very natural transition for me since I was use to working with children and using children’s books,” she continues. “This came together because of my interest in children’s books and my family history.”

“My mother published my grandmother’s memoirs and artwork. That is what led to my book and was the reason she passed it on to me. This is definitely a legacy.”

Creativity is something Amy sees everywhere.

“I think human beings are creative by nature,” she says thoughtfully. “It is just a matter of being nurtured, a matter of opportunity, time and focus. My grandparents were truly creative, professional artists when it was hard to be one.”

Lee-Tai becomes introspective when asked what makes her unique as a writer.

“I think we all have different experiences, even in the same family. And we make different choices.”

“I think fluidity – connectivity is a theme in my life. I really crave connections with other people. I tend to hold on to people - my family, my friends.”

Lee-Tai spent her younger years growing up in New York with her parents and siblings and remembers it as a happy childhood.

“My mom made a concerted effort to give us a storybook childhood. Although my father was Chinese and my mother Japanese, my family was not trilingual. My parents spoke English to each other and that is what we learned.”

“When I was 13 and my parents divorced, things changed. Mom moved the kids to California where her mother lived. We became a bicoastal family,” she explains. “Here I was Asian American but I had not really grown up around Asian Americans. It was culture shock. It took a little time, most of my teen years, to merge all that with my identity. By college, I could navigate both worlds well.”

Being a writer and the process of writing is a newer part of Lee-Tai’s history – one she is still adjusting to.

“I am really a process oriented person – not a goal or end product related person,” she admits. “I think that reading a lot, and paying attention is important. You need to notice detail in life whether it is conversation or outside in nature. Then you just jot it down as random thoughts no matter the place or time because you never know what it might lead to.”

“Then you just work on writing like any skill,” she adds. “Writing is something that needs a lot of time and care and nurturing. It is being who you are and authentic that is going to come through to readers.”

Enjoy the Amy Lee-Tai experience at the Greene County Library. Discover how she and her book A Place Where Sunflowers Grow are authentically the same. Meet one of your new favorite writers.

Return to the index of pages on this
2007 Festival of the Book event at the Greene County Library. Link