Interview with Joanne Howard, Author of Sleeping in the Sun

 

Joanne Howard is an Asian American writer from California. She holds an MFA in writing from Pacific University. Her poetry received an honorable mention from Stanford University’s 2019 Paul Kalanithi Writing Award. Her fiction has been published in The Catalyst by UC Santa Barbara, The Metaworker Literary Magazine and the Marin Independent Journal and her nonfiction has been published in Another New Calligraphy and The Santa Barbara Independent. She lives in Santa Rosa, CA. 

Visit Joanne online at joannehowardwrites.com or Instagram @joannesbooks

Where did you grow up?

I am from Santa Rosa, California, which is about an hour north of San Francisco. The Bay Area is a beautiful, multicultural community, and I felt that it really inspired the cross-cultural relationships that you see in my book. 

When did you begin writing?

I began writing this book as my thesis as I was earning my MFA in Creative Writing at Pacific University, Oregon. This was in 2016, which means it took me quite a while to write this book! But I’ve been writing ever since I can remember, and it has been my longest dream to write a novel. 

What is this book about?

Sleeping in the Sun is about a young American boy named Gene coming of age in India at the end of the British Raj. He and his family occupy an unusual place in society, as they have all the privileges of white folks but aren’t part of the British aristocracy there, and they live a humble and rural existence on the edge of town as missionaries who work with local Indian people. Their quiet life is upended when a high-ranking British judge arrives to stay with them, and it seems that Gene and the family’s Indian servant, Arthur, are the only ones who find it suspicious. What they discover about the judge has implications on whether or not Gene and his family can still call India home. 

What inspired you to write it?

This was inspired by my own grandfather’s upbringing in India. My family has a remarkable talent for keeping every scrap of history, so I had a lot of first-hand accounts to draw on. I felt that I had never seen a book about Americans in British India, so I wanted to write it myself. 

What is one piece of advice you would like to share with aspiring authors everywhere?

Trust the story to take you where it wants to go. I thought that was nonsense when I first heard it, because of course I’m in control of the story as the writer. But in reality, there were a handful of moments where the narrative would just completely take a different turn as I was writing it, and I just followed my intuition to see what new connections or perspectives it would produce. So keep an open mind as you write, and don’t be too tied to your original plan. 

What is up next for you?

I am exploring a more contemporary idea for my next novel. Even though I loved immersing myself into this world that was so different from my own, I am feeling more drawn this time to a novel set close to home, which for me is the Northern California coast. 

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