First novel with 64 years.
Yes, quite an absurd uproar.
Why is it so important?
It’s not, when I buy a book I don’t ask myself how old the author was when he wrote it.
He had a novel rejected 98 times.
They told me it was too long. As a debutant author you have to write a short book so that it is not expensive for the industry to bet on you, ha ha ha.
What was your first book about?
In fact, my unusual boom, Chemistry Lessons, translated into 39 languages!, is my third book, because I wrote the first when I was 5 and the second when I was 12.
It portrays gender inequality.
We hold back when we don’t understand the roots of inequality, but science does know. I wanted to write a book about a scientist from the 1950s and what science knows.
Give me a chemistry lesson.
Chemistry needs balance to exist, there is no equation that is unbalanced. This concept fascinated me. When we see imbalances in the world, such as climate change, sexism, racism, inequality, they are nothing more than scientific aberrations.
Social inventions.
This imbalance is destroying the world, but we could fix it because we are all chemical beings.
When did you become aware of the inequality in your life?
Very soon. I wanted to deliver newspapers on my bike, something that kids do in the US, but the newspapers wouldn’t let me because I was a girl.
It’s ridiculous.
They also wouldn’t let me on a baseball team even though my dad was a coach and I hit better than the guys on the team he was teaching to hit with the bat.
Need.
Very frustrating. I also saw discrimination in the life of my mother, who was a nurse and had to leave her career to stay home and educate us. At 50, she retrained and was nurse of the year. I’m proud of it.
How did his life evolve?
When I started working in advertising men were in leadership positions and women were at the base, and that didn’t sit well with me, but when I spoke my mind instead of being called assertive I was called aggressive.
You speak with humor about masculinity.
When you write about something you care about, the only way to be heard is not to preach or be didactic, but you can show the ridiculousness of certain situations with humor.
Where does this lack of respect for women come from?
It is the usual imbalance of power; but we can’t wait much longer to solve the problems we have in the world, so we need to level the playing field for everyone, for women, for people of color, for people of all faiths.
Tolerance and acceptance.
The global situation requires a single common goal instead of competition. I’m a shirt dresser. You can’t row by making a difference to your teammates.
You have to row all at once.
And in the rowing boat we are all equal; we may not all get along, but we are able to work in coordination because the boat that wins is the one that cooperates.
Has he learned to deal with sexists?
The most important thing is not to try to make your way as a man would, and when they push you to let them pass and keep moving forward.
It looks like resignation.
I decide what I am willing to accept and what I am not. I don’t have to play the game other people suggest. Saying that it is not an option, and if there were more women who did it, things would start to change.
Hopefully.
Women must support other women. The difference between 1950 and 2024 is very big, but not enough. Would you tell a woman that she can’t do something because she’s a woman? It is what the women of other generations did. We move forward thanks to the women who planted themselves and are still planting themselves.
what is life
We are chemistry, we are made up of atoms and molecules, and our brain is capable of much more than we ask of it, so it is up to each one of us to sign up for change and leave the rules of society behind.
And which change are you aiming for?
In balance When we see an imbalance in the world what we have to understand is that in balance everything works. If you have a clear mind, you cannot accept the status quo. Today we have the ability to change and in a very short period of time, but all minds need to be involved.
As in the rowing boat.
When we row equally and together, we move forward very quickly and win. But that only happens when personalities don’t come into play and we accept each other.
