Conversation with Rona Wang
It was absolutely wonderful to interview Rona Wang, an award-winning writer! You can read our conversation below.
Masfi Khan: How would you describe yourself in ten words?
Rona Wang: Cat video connoisseur who also appreciates ampersands and(&?) alliteration.
MK: What inspires you to write? Have you been impacted by any writers or people in your life?
RW: I don’t generally get inspiration like oh, my muse is calling me. Writing is so indulgent and messy. It feels like flying, which is so cheesy, but it’s the best description I have! The writers I’ve been impacted by most are Laurie Halse Anderson, and maybe when I was younger, Meg Cabot and Rick Riordan--they’re so commercial. I feel like I should be saying Ken Liu and Gabriel García Márquez, and those writers are absolutely fantastic, but the truth is that when I was ten years old and starting to write novels, I was absolutely spurred by mainstream children’s fiction.
MK: You’ve written poems, fictional stories, and creative nonfiction pieces. How has writing in different genres affected your style and your view on this craft?
RW: I feel like I mostly wrote poetry in high school because that’s what people wanted to hear! There were so many slam poetry contests and written poetry contests so I tried my hand at them, but I never truly “got” poetry. Creative nonfiction takes vulnerability and reflection I still don’t know if I have, but it was my favorite genre to write in high school because I felt so lost and wanted to discover my own story and my place in the world. Lately I’ve been writing fiction and I enjoy it a lot, although I haven’t built up my own style yet! Overall, poetry taught me aesthetic and style, nonfiction taught me emotional nuance and character development, and fiction taught me story structure and pacing.
MK: In the beautifully-written "Inherited", you highlight your Chinese-American background. In what ways, if at all, does writing shape your experience with your racial identity?
RW: Thank you! In many ways, I never thought about race until I began writing about it and suddenly everything was clarified and amplified. I wanted to write about sneaking out at 2 a.m. to drink wet-black beer and making the sorts of mistakes you can only make when you’re sixteen and immortal. Except I spent most nights in high school in my room, on my laptop, and all my characters were the same way: stubborn or deferential or ugly or gorgeous, but inexplicably grounded, tethered to a history that was determined before they were born, forever owing sacrifices they didn’t ask for.
MK: Do you think writing has a social purpose that extends beyond the writer?
RW: Absolutely! Writing has catalyzed so many revolutions historically. Just look at Malala Yousafzai.
MK: What have you been reading lately?
RW: I’ve been reading through Jenny Zhang’s essay archive on Rookie! Her emotional nuance is stunning: she is so self-aware and captures the zeniths and nadirs of girlhood so well.
MK: Are there any projects that you’ve been recently working on?
RW: Recently I’ve been writing shorter pieces on home and diaspora. When I moved across the country to attend college, I began thinking much more about how I perceive home. Is it an identity born out of an insatiable need for ease and belonging? Is it somewhere we’ve been or somewhere we want to be? Maybe it’s just a story that is ours and ours alone and that is what makes it so damn beautiful.
MK: What advice would you give to young writers of color?
RW: There will be many days when you want to give up and everything seems impossible. There will be many days when it seems like others only want you to write about your race like you’re a token character. Sometimes you’ll have to take time off from writing. But don’t give up! Your words are valuable and so worthwhile.
Rona Wang is an eighteen-year-old freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying mathematics with computer science. In high school, she won five Scholastic national medals and was published in The Best Teen Writing of 2016 and 2014. She also won first place in the Sierra Nevada Review's high school contest and was recognized in the Adroit Prizes. When not writing, she is involved with activism and cat video appreciation. She has also been nationally recognized for her service to kids in STEM by the Hidden Figures and Girls Who Illustrate Awesomeness scholarship contest. She is originally from Portland, Oregon.
