Anuradha Rao: One Earth The Ethical Interview: Lifting People into the Spotlight Anuradha Rao is the author of the amazing One Earth: People of Color Protecting Our Planet, a collection of twenty biographies of people of all ages from all over Earth. Anuradha is a scientist, a conservation biologist. Her dream of this book arose from her wish that more people of colour were recognized for their work in the conservation and environmental communities. To provide a mirror for youth. “Until recently, at work,” she says, in her introduction to the book, “I had usually been the only one with a brown face.” WordWorks: Tell me more about your mission for the book. Anuradha Rao: I wanted to focus this project to make it a celebration of diversity and its contribution to environmental success, rather than to get in depth on why the movement isn’t more diverse, or get into the negative side of things. I wanted it to be uplifting and hopeful. The imagery in the book is part
of the reason I did it, because in the environmental movement, and in books in general, people need to see themselves and the actual world reflected in the media. Even for a young kid who can’t read yet, the images alone can contribute to their self-esteem and to their broader understanding of the world: who is important in it and whose voices and actions are important. WW: The photographs are beautiful. Orca seems to have designed the book in a loving way. AR: We wanted the book to be very visual, and I think we achieved that. One of the editors gave me great advice on photo captions. There is a tendency for people to flip through the images, captions, and pull-out quotes before they read the text, so we used captions to tell more than just what the photos were showing: to bring out something that wasn’t mentioned in the text, or to highlight a piece of the story. WW: That’s great advice for writers. Did writing for young people come naturally to you? I loved reading it and I imagine a lot of other adults will as well. AR: Well, it’s funny. It’s officially intended for ages 12+. But of all the talks that I’ve done, I’ve only had a couple to the lower end of that age range. Everything else has either been for younger children or undergraduate students or the general public, which included adults. And I sold books in my own network to mostly adults, so I think it’s just a readable book.
20 WORDWORKS ︱ 2021 Volume I
I didn’t know if my writing would be suitable for the age range, but through working with the editors I realized how much faith Orca has in young audiences to understand mature subject matter. I didn’t have to simplify it very much. I could basically write as I would write, but just not be overly technical about it. Speak normally about a mature subject, explain things that needed to be explained, and then have faith that the readers could look up information or could understand topics that were maybe not as prevalent when I was a kid. WW: Orca sounds amazing. AR: It was important for me to be able to review the edits and the layout as it was being produced and to have input. Orca was supportive of that. I also got their agreement that I would be able to send drafts to the contributors, and have them be able to review them. Basically every step of the way the contributors got to see what was being proposed and suggest any changes or identify errors. And so I feel really good about that whole process and how the book definitely is true to the people who are featured in it. WW: Do you have any advice for writers who are learning to interview people? How did you put people at ease and build rapport with people so far away from you? AR: I started with my friend Nitya, one of the people in the book. I know her very well and she agreed to be my guinea pig through the process. My interviewing techniques and
