What’s your business name and what do you do?
Coco McCracken. I’m a writer of memoir and nonfiction, mostly around the subject of race, and identity, and growing up as a pop-culture-obsessed, half-Chinese-Canadian teen (and well, middle-aged adult).
How did you learn your craft?
What felt like endless days/years of living through various heartbreaks. Then, journaling about it. And then, reading 100s of books about it. Oh, and also watching 1000+ hours of films about it too. Seriously, if a movie or a book isn’t a little bit sad, it’s probably not for me. Heartbreak will always be my favorite thing to write, read about, and watch.
What do you enjoy most about what you do?
I love being able to take life’s messy moments and transform them into something better than the core memory itself. Like, if I had a terrible family vacation that ended in tears, I wonder — why did things go that way? Is there a lesson there? Is there something beautiful and meaningful I can transform this into? Everything hard has laughter in it, so many light things can also contain darkness. Classifying moments, people or memories as just “bad” or “good” seems like a missed lesson in life.
What do you enjoy least?
Toss up between reality tv, Taylor Swift, and sundried tomatoes.
What’s one thing you wish people knew about your work?
That while it’s an important theme, my work isn’t only about identity or being Asian American (which technically, I am Asian Canadian). I wish BIPOC writers weren’t always expected to have to do the hard work of addressing and deconstructing our very existence. Can we just be the girls next door? The bar flies? The race car drivers?
What’s one artist you look up to?
My brother, Kyle Yip is a visual artist in Toronto. His art is out of this world on so many levels. Against all the odds that we faced as kids, and the lingering ripple effects of that difficult life, his work continues to be such a priority for him. I am in awe of what he produces. His style, execution, and mission are unparalleled.
What do you do when you’re not making art?
Probably thinking about my family. And then thinking about all the books I want to read. And then thinking about wanting to do the following hobbies I wish I had more time for: surfing, stained glass, clay shooting, fly-fishing, hiking.
Night owl or early bird?
Night owl by preference, early bird by circumstance (I have an 9 month and 4 year old)
What's your favorite place in Maine?
A toss up between sunset on the west-facing shores of Mooselookmeguntic Lake, the J’s Oyster bar with a martini and giant bowl of scampi, or our pickup truck with the whole family in it, ready to hit a road we haven’t traveled on yet.
Want to read Coco’s work?