An Interview with Huda Fahmy & Anna Hersh

In our latest episode of the Libro.fm Podcast, we dive into literacy for young readers with graphic novelist Huda Fahmy and children’s bookshop owner Anna Hersh. We talk school reading lists, storytime at bookshops, building confidence, the process of turning graphic novels into audiobooks, and even a mischievous cat with a knack for escaping in baby strollers.

Libro.fm: Huda, you mentioned that you taught English, in middle school and high school. How did your takeaways from that experience impact the work that you create today? What influence did it have on what you’re making?

Huda: I think the biggest thing…was really just trying to be that voice for these kids. The one that would tell them that you can do this, that your stories are important, that whatever you have to say in whatever medium you want to say, it should be heard, deserves to be heard. And hey, if I can help you figure out how to tell it, let me be the one to help you.

I was really hoping to help them figure this out and be that voice of encouragement and motivation. It really helps also figure things out for myself. If I wanted to go back and remember the voice of what young readers would like, [I would] just go back to what it was like to teach and be around these kids. They’re so much smarter than we really give them credit for, and they’re so much funnier than we give them credit for. So it was motivational for me, as well, to do that.

Libro.fm: Your web series, Yes, I’m Hot in This, does a great job of blending humor while addressing some pretty serious issues. How do you balance keeping it lighthearted and funny, which is what you’re sort of known for? How do you address that balance of serious topics with humor?

Huda: I know people can relate to this. It really is a defense mechanism for me. Coping through humor has always been just the way that I’ve dealt with really hard to deal with issues. I’ve always been drawn to humor, and I’ve always been drawn to things that make me think it through by laughing.

If you want people to just see your point of view, the easiest way to get people on your side is to make them laugh. […] The fastest way to make somebody see what you’re experiencing […] is to break down that barrier because we always come across a wall when we’re talking to people. […] As soon as they make you laugh, a little piece of that wall comes down. A little piece of it crumbles, and you feel like you can relate to them. You feel almost like you owe, “Thank you for making me laugh today. You’ve really made me smile,” and that means that we can kind of be friends a little bit.

So in that same vein, when I make people laugh with the comics, they break down that little barrier, that little wall of vulnerability. And they can connect and relate. I don’t know how it happens, [but] I’m glad it does. I really thought when I first created the comic series that I was doing something really niche for specifically girls and women who wear hijab. Hearing from all these people who really relate to just feeling like they’re the outsider, I realize it is a really universal concept and feeling and we are unique in our own way, but in our uniqueness we really do connect. So I loved that, and it just happened to be through humor that we can connect.

Libro.fm: We are also here with Anna Hersh, the bookstore owner and animal coordinator at Wild Rumpus Bookstore in Minneapolis, Minnesota.…I saw on Instagram that you host Pajama Story Time and Creative Story Time. Could you tell us more about your story times? Also, how do you go about selecting the books for these sessions?

Anna: Well, we have a really great events lead who is just the perfect person for that job: outgoing, organized, [and] really good at making the authors that we have come in feel special and loved. […] A lot of times it’ll be a picture book or something, and we work with the author’s publicist and that sort of thing.

Our personal non-author events, every Tuesday at 10:30, [is] a story time. We say it’s geared towards five and younger, but anyone who wants to be read to can come. They’ll read a couple stories, and they’ll sing some songs. And it is hugely popular. […] Our store is really small, so it can get a little crazy. Our events person and another one of our staff are the ones who lead the weekly story time, and they just pick what they want to pick—things that would be fun to read aloud to kids, a lot of times things that they can do fun voices with.

And then for the pajama story time, that’s something we had been doing sporadically before COVID, so we decided to bring it back. We’ve done it twice now, and it’s been really popular […] slightly more mellow story time. […] The staff who leads story time also dresses up in pajamas, and I have these weird house shoes under my desk in the basement that are unicorns, so she’ll wear my unicorn house shoes.

The creative story time, we just did one just to see how it would go, and it was wildly successful. It was kind of the brainchild of our normal events lead and another one of our staff who is immensely creative. They had worked at kind of a day camp doing crafts. So they were like, “What would it look like to do this?” So we were like, “Let’s give it a shot.” We bought some supplies […] and then made fairy wands. It was free for people to come in. There were a lot of parents making wands as well, not just little kids. I’m pretty sure all the staff working also made wands.

Listen to the full episode: 

About our guests

Huda Fahmy grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, and has loved comics since she was a child. She taught English to middle and high schoolers for eight years before she started writing about her experiences as a visibly Muslim woman in America and was encouraged by her older sister to turn these stories into comics. Huda was a finalist for the National Book Award for her YA graphic novel, Huda F Cares?

Anna Hersh is the co-owner and animal care coordinator at Wild Rumpus Bookstore in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Before Wild Rumpus she worked with exotic animals in sanctuaries.

Audiobooks we discussed