Heidi Durrow is the exceptionally talented author and Mixed Remixed Festival founder, whose personal experiences and perspectives on the mixed experience have led to her award-winning book, The Girl who Fell from the Sky, that explores the inner-workings and experiences of a young biracial girl on a quest to find herself her very mixed up world. In the following One Love interview, Heidi takes us through her
Heidi has been featured in countless articles and interview specials as an expert on multiracial issues by the New York Times, CNN, NBC Nightly News, the BBC and Ebony Magazine, to name a few.
Heidi has been featured in countless articles and interview specials as an expert on multiracial issues by the New York Times, CNN, NBC Nightly News, the BBC and Ebony Magazine, to name a few.
Heidi once wrote a pretty humorous yet utterly realistic article on her own website, centered around
the racially-charged question:
What are you?
the racially-charged question:
What are you?
One Love x Heidi Durrow
OL: Can you tell us a bit about yourself; your Afro-Viking identity and the inspiration behind your book, The Girl who fell from the Sky? HD: My father was African-American and my mother is Danish (from Denmark). I grew up mostly overseas until I was 11 because my dad was in the Air Force. I went to American schools but spoke Danish at home and grew up with Danish traditions and eating Danish food. It took me well into my 30s before I claimed my Afro-Viking identity! Like a lot of fiction, my novel came about because I thought "what if"? What if a girl who survives a terrible family tragedy? What does her survival look like? I decided to write the story that I wanted to read about a biracial girl's coming-of-age. OL: How did you overcome the initial obstacles of getting your book finally published; what kept you going? HD: The many rejections of my manuscript probably should have stopped me in my tracks. I received about 4 dozen rejections from publishing houses (I don't know if there are that many any more). But I learned that I could learn from the rejections sometimes - and I revised the book and I kept sending it out everywhere. |
Finally it won the PEN/Bellwether Prize that came with a book contract. It took me about 10 years, but I was so excited to finally share my book with the world.
OL: What has been the most enlightening/fulfilling experience of your literary career thus far?
HD: I think the most amazing thing is to meet readers who identify with the story or the characters. And the readers who connect are not just mixed people - they are from all walks of life. That proves the power of fiction to me - that we can enter a story and feel empathy for a character that is not you but see yourself in her.
I also love that my book has entered into the mainstream. It became a bestseller because
people of all stripes and polka dots bought it, and that means that the conversation about mixed identity
and experience has entered the mainstream conversation.
That's important because that's when the needle moves on the conversation.
OL: The Mixed Remixed Festival, which you founded, celebrates all perspectives of the mixed experience. How important is this to you?
HD: The Mixed Remixed Festival is a real labor of love. The festival is intended to be a home for multiracial people and families and artists (filmmakers, writers, and performers).
It's really powerful to be in a space where you don't feel different - where your mixed family doesn't seem different.
HD: I think the most amazing thing is to meet readers who identify with the story or the characters. And the readers who connect are not just mixed people - they are from all walks of life. That proves the power of fiction to me - that we can enter a story and feel empathy for a character that is not you but see yourself in her.
I also love that my book has entered into the mainstream. It became a bestseller because
people of all stripes and polka dots bought it, and that means that the conversation about mixed identity
and experience has entered the mainstream conversation.
That's important because that's when the needle moves on the conversation.
OL: The Mixed Remixed Festival, which you founded, celebrates all perspectives of the mixed experience. How important is this to you?
HD: The Mixed Remixed Festival is a real labor of love. The festival is intended to be a home for multiracial people and families and artists (filmmakers, writers, and performers).
It's really powerful to be in a space where you don't feel different - where your mixed family doesn't seem different.
OL: What can we look forward to seeing in 2015 from Heidi Durrow,
as it relates to the Festival coming up in June and your upcoming book?
HD: Well, the Mixed Remixed Festival is June 13, 2015 at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles (www.mixedremixed.org.) We're putting together the programming now but already can guarantee it will be
even better than last year, which was AMAZING with Key & Peele and Cheerios and the Cheerios family reuniting.
as it relates to the Festival coming up in June and your upcoming book?
HD: Well, the Mixed Remixed Festival is June 13, 2015 at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles (www.mixedremixed.org.) We're putting together the programming now but already can guarantee it will be
even better than last year, which was AMAZING with Key & Peele and Cheerios and the Cheerios family reuniting.
HD: As for my writing, well, I'm getting closer to done with book two. So maybe in 2016,
you can be on the lookout for it in bookstores everywhere.
you can be on the lookout for it in bookstores everywhere.
OL: What does One Love say to you?
HD: One Love, I think is the best philosophy for life.
We are one world, one love, when we are at our best.
Heidi's warm personality coupled with her literary brilliance invites you to explore the concepts of identity and self, in this often confusing and MIXED up world, regardless of your racial or cultural heritage, the positive love that is exuded in her work and in all her ventures inspires us to passionately embrace, ONE LOVE. For more interview specials and stories that celebrate inspiring, go-getters: Like One Love on Facebook! |
Learn more about Heidi Durrow here & peep her CNN Interview below:
All Photos: Courtesy Heidi W. Durrow
CNN Red Chair Interview via YouTube
CNN Red Chair Interview via YouTube