Photo from IG Live conversation on May 18, 2020

Maggie Tokuda-Hall, y’all! @maggietokudahall’s relentless passion, humor and conviction are palpable on and off the page. Here are some highlights:
▪️The influence of Judaism’s reverence for narrative and the importance of using stories to understand the world around us
▪️Judaism sits at the intersection of so many identities, which makes intersectionality critical for expansive Jewish storytelling moving forward
▪️The harmful impacts of gatekeeping with Jewish identity, especially for those that are not white, cishet, Ashkenazi Jews
▪️Why our writing and activism needs to call out the systems that give us privilege, not just the systems that oppress
▪️The enduring beauty of Jewish ideals: you never know where an angel is coming from, treat everyone with kindness and constantly question.

Thank you, thank you for your time and conviction during Jewish American Heritage Month, @maggietokudahall. I hope everyone will join me in pre-ordering the deliciously dark and fantastical SQUAD, which comes out this October. For those of you along for the ride this week, I hope to see you tomorrow at 9:30am PST for a conversation with the fabulous @saraharoeste.

For quick reference, here are books referenced in the talk:
SQUAD by Maggie (pre-order now!)
ALSO AN OCTOPUS by Maggie, illo. @benjidavies
LOVE IN THE LIBRARY by Maggie, illo. @yas.illustration (pre-order now!)
THE MERMAID THE WITCH AND THE SEA by Maggie
MILK FED by @realmelissabroder