Aurora: What was your inspiration behind My Heart Underwater?
Laurel Flores Fantauzzo: I went to an all-girls Catholic high school, where I was closeted and consumed with anxiety. I also grew up with Filipina mom and extended family, where corresponding with, telling stories about, and supporting relatives back home in Metro Manila was a lifelong, everyday occurrence, as were worries about salaries and safety. Cory’s voice came to me first: an insistent, funny, anxious presence that would not leave me alone. I took some years getting to know Cory’s family history, and I moved to Teachers’ Village, Metro Manila, where Cory’s brother Jun lives. I’ve had a FilAm consciousness in both California and the Philippines, so the settings, and their joys and complications, live in me all the time.
What character in this novel do you most relate to and why?
I likely relate most to Jun, Cory’s older brother. He’s the eldest child, prone to brooding, worrying about household finances, and grumbling about imperialism and hegemony. I also appreciate indie music like he does, and I like opening my home to friends. It could be that I just appreciate him, though; I definitely have none of his musical ability, though I hope I choose to be kind more often than not, like he does.
Why do you feel novels with powerful and unique characters are so popular and have such a voice right now?
It’s a vibrant time for voices entering into readers’ awareness, especially those voices that publishing did not make room for in past decades. Readers are curious and open to internal worlds not their own, and characters help bring us there; I’m fortunate and humbled to enter into YA at this time, when so many new and necessary classics are coming to life.
Please describe the content of My Heart Underwater and what can readers expect from it.
Cory, a Filipina American teenager, has her world ruptured twice; when her beloved father encounters a devastating work accident, and when she absorbs subtle and then overt abuse from a mentor. Her mother sends her to the Philippines with her half-brother, Jun, a guy she’s met on Skype but never in person. Cory first misunderstands this exile as punishment; in reality, this is a way for Cory to find her way back to safety and community, which she eventually does, through Jun and a new group of friends. Every character makes a pivotal mistake. It’s a story of a young person in diaspora, recovering from trauma and unhealthy attachments, and learning what real love means.
What’s next for you in the bookish world?
I’m working on another project about two college-aged siblings with a Filipina mother and a white American father, dealing with the effects of rising white extremism in the US. I’m still getting to know the characters and how they react to family and national instability.
Who is your current favorite writer? Why?
I always have several! I’ll name a few who’ve spoken to my heart recently: Zaina Arafat, Elaine Castillo, and Meredith Ramirez Talusan have written movingly about being of queer, multiple, international identities; Malaka Gharib and Grace Talusan recently wrote important books about Philippine American family in ways no other writers have before. Trinidad Escobar creates the most wonderful coming-of-age comics and zines, and will have a book out soon. I’m sure I’ll be fortunate enough to encounter more favorite writers soon!
Any writing advice for aspiring writers?
Believe in your own specificity. The small details make for enormous themes.
Up next, author Adi Alsaid!