Lisa Yee on race and writing.

From her essay at Red Room:

I am not an Asian author. I am an author who is Asian. There is a difference. 

I believe that it is every artist's right to determine what they create and not have that dictated to them. I've heard that I've let readers down because my books were not "Asian enough." WTF? One critic wrote that I had missed the mark because my middle school characters did not discuss race. Um. No.

She looks at the ongoing discussion about diversity and books from a whole lot of different angles, and as you'd expect from her books, she writes with energy and insight and will inspire much thought.