Note from Doni: You may buy tickets at the door tonight. I will be there to introduce Larkin to you, and wouldn’t miss her show. I hope to see you there for what will be a great evening and a great fundraiser for a worthy community organization. Click here for info re: Alison Larkin’s performance in Redding.
Q: First, congratulations on the success of your novel, The English American, which I’ve had the pleasure to read.
What’s most surprised you about what’s occurred since The English American was published?
I’ve been most surprised by the number of people I have heard from who seem to connect deeply and personally to the book. It’s a great gift, this surprise, because I feel as if I have made a great many new friends, i.e. my readers. The other surprise is the fact that ABC Television have just optioned The English American for a half-hour television series – with the Mark Gordon Company attached to produce!
Q: Your novel is partly autobiographical: You were adopted at birth in the United States by a British couple. And Pippa Dunn, your book’s main character, was also adopted at birth in the U.S. by a British couple. I’ve read that when it comes to ways in which your life and Pippa’s mirror each other, you say that you two have shared emotional journeys, but after that the book is mostly a work of fiction. Do I have that correct?
Yes. I wanted to create an authentic adopted heroine at the centre of the kind of book I like to read, i.e. fast past, short chapters, characters you care about, with a heart thumping what’s-going-to-happen-next quality, while telling an adoptee’s story.
Q: On a related note, in your novel, Pippa is driven to find her birth parents, which she does. How does that part of Pippa’s story relate to yours?
Very closely.
Q: I realize you’re just one person who happens to have been adopted, but do you have any advice for birth parents considering putting their child up for adoption? Likewise, any advice for the adoptive parents, and finally, adoptees?
To the birth parents I would say only do it if it feels absolutely like the right thing, because it’s a huge thing to give up a child and may affect you in ways you are unaware of. I’m enclosing a link here to Jean Strauss’s article in USA Today about the movie Juno, which birth parents might find helpful. To the adoptive parents, I’d say they’re kids, not ‘adopted kids’. Each kid is different. Treat them with the respect they deserve, and listen to the ‘experts’ if you need, but also listen to the kids themselves – to who they really are, even if they’re very different from you – and do everything you can to help them become the best they can be. To my fellow adoptees I’d say, trust your instincts, or, what PIppa calls her ‘knower.’
Q: In addition to your novel The English American, you have a one-woman stand-up comedy show of the same title that’s also received raved reviews. What is it about this topic and the way you address it that people find so engaging?
I think I’ve found a way to tell my truth lightly, in a way that makes people laugh. I have found that if you can make people laugh, then you can get them to cry. I like it when they’re doing both at the same time.
Q: The English American has liberal doses of humor, but there are also some painful parts, such as what happens after Pippa finds her birth parents. (Note: Hope I’m not giving too much away. If so, I can reword it.) Did you intend your book as cautionary tale for adoptees?
Good God no! If I had any intention at all it was to show people – everyone – even people who have zipadeedoodah to do with adoption– why someone from a very happy adoptive family might feel the need to find the truth about the people she came from. And why learning the truth about herself brings that adoptee even closer to the family who raised her. The other intention, and this was the big one, was to present the adoptee as a heroine, rather than a victim. Adoptees tend to be portrayed as eternally damaged at best or serial killers at birth – by people who are not adopted. I’m SO tired of that kind of stereotyping. I wanted people to see it through the adoptees eyes. Pippa is a heroine – not a victim.
Q: How has your family reacted to your novel and show?
Wonderfully well! They’ve all been very supportive indeed.
Q: What’s been the feedback from the adoption community?
Amazing. From all members of the adoption triad. It seems it’s the first time an authentic adopted heroine has been portrayed in fiction with genuine mass market appeal. For reviews, people can go to www.alisonlarkin.com
Q: I hear you’re considering a second book. Would you like to tell us about it?
I’d love to, but I’m still figuring it out myself! I can tell you that it’s not a sequel and that as soon as I’ve finished this interview I’ll be getting right back to it so I can find out what happens next..
Q: You’ll be performing your show in Redding Saturday. What do you hope people take away from that evening?
I hope they have a fun, entertaining time! I will be performing some excerpts from the show and reading from the book also, and there will be a Q and A at the end, before the book signing..
Q: Which reminds me, will this be your first time in the North State? If so, what are your expectations?
I have been to Shasta County for Shasta County Children’s Services twice before and I loved it! It’s very cold in New Jersey, where I live, and I am so happy to be spending a couple of days in your neck of the woods.
Date: Saturday, Nov. 22
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Place: Shasta College Student Center (Cafeteria)
Ticket donation: $15
To purchase tickets: Call Lilliput Children’s Services at 530.722.9092
Alison Larkin will perform excerpts from her internationally acclaimed one-woman comedy
and read “The English American,” followed by a book signing and question-and-answer session.
In her comedy and novel, this writer/comedienne draws from her experience
as an adopted English woman who finds her birth parents, and a new
homeland in the United States, and weaves them into hilarious, poignant
entertainment. For more information, visit http://alisonlarkin.com/.
