We are delighted to welcome Yusef Salaam and Ibi Zoboi, authors of the verse novel Punching the Air, a searingly honest and hard-hitting novel that leastes a lasting impression upon the minds of readers.

Please could you tell us a little about your backgrounds and how you came to work together on Punching the Air?

I met Yusef in college when he walked into one of my classes and our professor embraced him and said something like, “I knew you didn’t do it.” Moments later, I discovered who Yusef was and chased after him for an interview for my college’s newspaper. I never got that interview, but three years ago, I ran into him while promoting my young adult novel, American Street. Yusef was selling his self-published book of poetry and we both agreed that he needed to tell his story to young people. -IZ

The thing about when Ibi and I met was that I wasn’t ready to share my story. I was trying to hide in plain sight because the world had already labeled us as monsters. The truth had not gotten out yet and here was this person who wanted to help me get the truth out. I’m a member of what was known as the Central Park Five who were falsely convicted of a heinous at the age of 16. We were exonerated in 2002. When Ibi and I reconnected a few years ago, I was ready to tell another version of my story. -YS

How did the collaboration itself work?

Yusef and I had several long conversations and we came up with the name of a boy: Amal, which means hope. Amal’s worldview and personality is inspired by Yusef and I crafted the poems around how Yusef was able to reflect on his experiences as an incarcerated teen. Yusef’s own poems served as a foundation for the book and four of them are infused into the novel, which helped shape the tone and cadence for Amal’s voice. Amal is a very self-aware teen who can clearly articulate the injustices he’s experiencing and his greatest desire is to channel that awareness into art. This is how I saw 16 year-old Yusef and I had the task of allowing him to live on the page through Amal. -IZ

Can you introduce us to Amal Shahid and the situation he is facing?

Amal’s rage gets the best of him one night. It was more than just a matter of being in the wrong place at the right time. It was a matter of being in the center of a boiling point. Tensions were brewing in this neighborhood and someone would eventually get hurt. But unfortunately, a white boy is in a coma and a Black boy pays the hefty price even though he was not responsible for the fatal blow. Justice wasn’t served. Amal has to find a way to keep his mind and spirit free even while trapped behind walls. -YS

Amal's story was informed by parts of your own experience Yusef, were any parts of your past challenging to revisit?

I would say no. It was actually liberating because this is not my story. I was able to channel certain ideas through this character and Ibi was able to help me shape what it is that I was saying in order for it to resonate with the most readers. -YS

Self-expression and art are important themes in Punching the Air, how important is it to give a voice and a platform for young people?

While Punching the Air addresses juvenile justice and wrongful imprisonment, this story is ultimately about the healing and redemptive power of art. There is very little we can do right now for the young people who are serving time. By the time we begin to see drastic changes, they would’ve already been processed through the system and in danger of recidivism. This book addresses the present. It asks young people, what can you do now to to keep your soul in tact and speak your truth. Creative expression and channeling rage is vitally important and this is the most important message in Punching the Air. -IZ

The novel is told in verse, what were the freedoms and constraints of this and how did you arrive at this decision?

There was only freedom in writing this novel in verse. Because there are gaps in Yusef’s memory of his own experiences, the white space on the page represented those gaps. We wanted to focus the story on Amal’s emotional journey and didn’t want to bombard readers with irrelevant information. We didn’t want readers to ask, “Well, did he do it?” Through a series of poems, we can a deeper understanding of Amal’s perspective—his highs and his lows, his self-doubt, his fleeting moments of joy. All of that can be expressed through poetry. -IZ

Poetry is a profound way to get to the heart of something. I wanted to be a rapper when I was a kid. I listened to message-driven hip-hop and that in itself was poetry. In my mind, there was no other way to tell this story. -YS

Amal is disinterested in schooling because it does not reflect his experiences and culture, does the education system need adapting to encompass different perspectives? What do you feel are the pitfalls of not doing this?

It’s not just about perspectives, it’s about experiences, which of course shapes perspectives. The experiences of a Black child in an urban environment needs to be validated in the classroom. Instead of focusing on lack or punishing children for behaviors that are a direct response to their environment, why not give them outlets to express bottled-up emotions? How do we expect children to retain information when they haven’t processed the injustices in their communities? -IZ

We have to start valuing the creativity that is all around us, the creativity that children produce. A child not being able to sit still in a classroom can be a gift. That child is asking the teacher to change direction. Switch it up, play a game, take the classroom outside. Otherwise, the child is being asked to conform to set of rigid rules that can be detrimental to him. That child will not live up to his or her potential in that classroom. Creativity is stifled. Living a purpose-driven life is stifled. This is a cycle that begin in the classroom. -YS

Many of the comments around enslavement and its ongoing impact for communities and individuals are hard-hitting  'I'm the only one with an anchor tied to my ankles' (p47), is there adequate recognition of the ongoing impact of slavery on the lives and life-chances of people today?  What can people do to better address this?

Absolutely. We can never forget. Not forgetting and constantly making connections to America’s violent past will unveil centuries of injustice. This is when I look to my mentors— Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou who said we mustn’t be bitter about these injustices. We have to speak it, vote it, dance it, paint it. This is how we continuously address the effects of slavery in this country. -YS

I truly believe that trauma can be passed down through genetic memory. In fact, the idea of DNA is referenced a few times in Punching the Air. Again, I’ll go back to the idea that art can be heal. Truth-telling through art can break generational curses. -IZ

'Your mind is free, Your thoughts are free, Your creativity is free - '

The importance of books and reading is explored int he book, the following writers are mentioned:  'The Mis-Education of the Negro' Carter G Woodson... (p371) James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, Ibram X Kendi, Michelle Alexander, Ta-Nehisi Coates... 

The Youth Library Group is made up of  librarians working with children and young people across the whole of the UK, are there other writers that you consider to be must haves for library collections?  What role does reading play in terms of helping our understanding?  

Any and every book by Black writers published now should be included in your collections. Pair a book about social justice with a book about Black children being carefree and safe. The books should reflect a range of experiences for Black children—ones that are rooted in addressing social change and ones that are simply fun and joyous. This would highlight the humanity of Black children. -IZ

While I was in prison, books were what allowed me to create pictures in my mind. I traveled to any and everywhere through the pages in a book. It’s what freed me. And even when I met Ibi, we were given books to read that helped shaped our understanding of the world. I have so many books, my most prized possessions! -YS

What gives you hope and what advice would you give to people feeling imprisoned by stereotypes and prejudice in the way that Amal is?

Being able to share my story gives me hope. There was I time when I felt the world was against me. The current president of the United States put out an ad in the New York Times calling for our execution. I was only 16 when I thought the world wanted me dead. And now, I get to share my story with the world and people like Ibi and Ava Duvernay are helping me do just that.

It is hard to imagine anyone reading Punching the Air  and not being affected by the injustices it describes.  How can people get involved with helping to combat this?

Share Punching the Air with everyone you know. Read other books like this one. Start a dialogue. Get involved with local activism. Speak out when you see injustice. See others as fully human first while acknowledging systemic racism at every level. See Black children as children. -IZ

Thank you to Yusef Salaam and Ibi Zoboi for the interview, to HarperCollins for the opportunity.
Photo Credits: Yusef Salaam by Staci Nurse, Staci Marie Studio; Ibi Zoboi by Joseph Zoboi.

Katie and Kevin Tsang's brilliant Sam Wu series comes to a close with the sixth installment Sam Wu is Not Afraid of Space.  We were pleased to have the opportunity to catch up with Katie and Kevin to talk with them about the series and their exciting future plans.

Congratulations on the publication of Sam Wu is NOT Afraid of Space can you tease a little about what readers can expect?

Sam Wu is finally going to Space Camp--something he's been wanting to do since the very first book! It felt like the perfect setting for the final book in the series. And the whole crew is going too--Sam and his best friends Zoe and Bernard, plus his nemesis to friend Ralph Philip Zinkerman and his twin sister Regina. At camp, the friends will have to face a variety of fears as well as compete in Space Camp challenges! We had so much fun writing this one and did lots of research about what Space Camp is really like.

It is the final book in the series how does it feel to have reached this point?

We are so excited and grateful that we were able to do the series as we initially planned it. We always wanted there to be six books, and we always wanted the last one to be at Space Camp. It is definitely bittersweet to be wrapping the series up, but we've loved writing the books and hope kids will continue to read them and be inspired to face their own fears. 

Can you tell us a bit about how you collaborate when writing the books?

It took us a while to figure out what worked best for us! We always start with a lot of brainstorming and talking out the plot and the characters. When we first started thinking about the series, we would go on long walks to figure out what we wanted to do with the story. By book six it was much easier because we knew all the characters and both of us felt so comfortable writing in Sam's voice. Once we know the concept for a new book, we'll sit down and do a very detailed outline to make sure we are on the same page. Then we write everything together -- we sit in the living room and connect our laptop to a large monitor, and we take turns writing different chapters and scenes. The person who isn't typing can jump in at any time with suggestions or ideas, and we alternate who is typing and who is reviewing. If we start to argue about anything (which of course happens!) we take a five minute break and then come back to it. Now that we have a baby we have to take her schedule into consideration too, so we mostly work in the evenings after she's gone to sleep. 

What were your biggest fears as children and why?  Were you able to overcome these?

Kevin: I was, and still am, terrified of sharks. So writing SAM WU IS NOT AFRAID OF SHARKS felt very close to home! I think I have a healthy fear of them though, I definitely wouldn't want to get close to one. 

Katie: I used to have a recurring nightmare about being chased by dinosaurs in a giant parking structure. I think I have Jurassic Park to blame! Now my fears are all around meeting our writing deadlines...

The original Reflecting Realities report shone a light on just how narrow the UK's publishing has been in terms of representation.  Kevin, you grew up in Georgia, were you able to see yourself reflected in books and do you feel this had an impact on your interest and engagement with reading?

Kevin: My favorite thing to read as a kid were the Goosebumps books, and while I didn't see myself reflected in a lot of books, or anyone who looked like me, I still liked reading. I think I would have enjoyed reading about kids of Asian heritage though, and wish there had been more options available. I'm glad that now there are so many more options for kids to find themselves in books. 

Another finding within Reflecting Realities  was how the tendency for inclusive books to focus around issues and the dearth of humour.  How important is humour and do you feel there is a tendency among gatekeepers to overlook the funny in favour of the serious? How can we overcome this?

It was very important to us to make the SAM books funny books that appeal to all children, but just happen to be inclusive and have a hero of Asian heritage. The books aren't about Sam's cultural background, they are about him facing his fears with the help of his friends, which lots of kids can identify with. But we made sure to include details about Sam's Chinese heritage in the food he eats at home, or in the stories his grandma tells him. We really believe funny books have the power to create real positive change in the world. 

Sam Wu is NOT Afraid of Ghosts was selected for BookBuzz, how did it feel to have the book as part of a large-scale National initiative?

We were thrilled when Sam Wu was selected for BookBuzz because we knew it meant that so many readers would have the chance to meet Sam, which felt great. We were also happy it was selected because we wrote it to be as accessible as possible so even reluctant or less confident readers could enjoy it. Nathan Reed's brilliant illustrations also make it super appealing and accessible. 

Now that the series is coming to an end, do you have ideas or plans for future books together and is there anything you can reveal to us?

We have a new series coming out this fall, called Dragon Realm, about a group of kids who meet at a summer camp in China and then discover dragons in the mountain behind camp! It is pitched slightly older than the Sam Wu books, and is longer and not as highly illustrated, but still has similar themes of being brave and facing challenges with the help of your friends. The new series is also much more fantastical and more directly inspired by Chinese myths and legends. And we would love to also keep writing books in the same age range as Sam Wu too...we'll see what happens! 

The Youth Libraries Group are delighted to be included on Patrice Lawrence's blog tour for her latest incredibly young adult novel, Eight Pieces of Silva, we are delighted to have had the opportunity to interview Patrice about her new novel and about her life and writing.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your writing?

I was born in Brighton and spent the first half of my life in Sussex. I was always a big reader. My first home was in a private foster arrangement because my mother was single and unmarried with no family in England. She needed to finish her nursing training so she could work and find somewhere for us to live. My foster mum, Aunty Phyliss, signed me up for the library straight away and actively encouraged my reading, learning and writing. 

My mother too is a massive reader and loved books -  older classics such as The Secret Garden, Black Beauty, Anne of Green Gables, Heidi, The Wind in the Willows – and would read books first so she could discuss them with me afterwards. (Sadly, I could never get on with the Walter Scotts.) My biological father lived in a basement flat crammed with books, everything from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to Star Trek novelisations. He tried to direct my reading. I loved the Asimovs but nope to Hemmingway’s Old Man and the Sea. Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf remains unread on my bookshelf more than 30 years later.

I was surrounded by stories, but paradoxically, the more I read, the stronger the reinforcement of the belief that black people didn’t write books or belong between the pages. Even though I’d always enjoyed writing – poems, stories, even a 1980s reworking of The Wizard of Oz for a sixth form production – all my characters were white. It wasn’t until I saw the BBC adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s Pig Heart Boy that it occurred to me that I could write about black British people. It was like I’d finally found my voice.
 
Many congratulations on the publication of Eight Pieces of Silva please could you introduce our readers to the book?

Thank you. Becks is sixteen and grew up with her mum. Her dad left when Becks was very young then ended up in prison. Becks’ mum has been with her new partner, Justin, fora while and they have recently married. Justin’s daughter, Silva, who is two years older than Becks, lives with them too. The two sisters have a good relationship, but at the start of the book, Silva has disappeared. Becks has to go into the forbidden territory of her sister’s bedroom to find clues to Silva’s secret life.

I wanted to write about a noisy, loving, working class multi-ethnic family. Becks has always been attracted to girls and didn’t come out because she was never in. She has a strong friendship group, a cool love interest and a cat called Azog the Defiler. I also wanted to explore how even in the most loving families, young people can be unhappy and no one notices.

I also wanted to explore the lasting impact of grief. My father died when I was in my 20s and I still have what I call bereavement blips – moments of unexpected grief. (There seriously is a disproportionate number of deceased parents in my books!) How does our grief, in whatever form it takes, impact on our other relationships?

 
As ever with you writing, the voice of your characters is incredibly strong.  How do you set about creating such distinctive 'voices'?
 
I grew up in a household with a first generation Trinidadian and a first generation Italian! When I returned to live with my mother when I was four, I had a strong working class Brighton accent. When I moved to London, my daughter’s father – white, working class east-Londoner – sometimes used words and phrases I’d never heard in my life before, a melding of the communities and cultures that lived on the estates where he grew up.  Different resonances, rhythms (and swear words) have always been part of my life.

I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time listening to young people talking to each other, often on London buses. I imagine the character telling me the story, thinking about their points of references and early years. If they used an analogy, what would they use for a comparison? (I do have to test some things out on my daughter.)

I’m also influenced by Jenny Downham (Before I Die, Unbecoming, Furious Thing). I joined the critique group where she has been a long-term member. She’s incredibly generous and supported me through the early drafts of Orangeboy. Her characters all have a very strong voice, so I thought that’s how it’s meant to be!




There's a clever balancing between the pace and progress of the mystery and some really thoughtful explorations around relationships - healthy and toxic - families, sexuality and race.  Were there challenges in interweaving so many threads?

No, because for me, character comes first and then I follow. I knew Becks well from the beginning, inspired by a student who asked me if I intended to write a LGBT character. I also knew the situation. I’d read the true-life case book The Incurable Romanic by Frank Tallis and was interested in the ways that love can be destructive. I also wanted to write a proper mystery with clues.

It did take a while to get the balance right. I wanted Silva to have agency, even if it was directed in the wrong place. I wanted Logan to be manipulative, but not coercive. I didn’t want the story to be about Becks being a lesbian, but she also lives in a world where straightness is assumed and racism and homophobia can catalyse violence. She knows this and it would always be part of her internal world. 

Most books are about ‘race’, but because whiteness is invisible, it goes unregistered. I imagine that if Anne of Green Gables was bi-racial, she would have had a very different experience! There are subtle differences when you are a person of colour and I like to include those so young people can see their own experiences reflected. I’m also interested in how others project a racial identity on you. My heritage is mixed African Caribbean and south Asian Caribbean. (My father’s surname was Singh and he was brought up by his Indian mother.) My Indian heritage goes unnoticed in the UK, but in Trinidad, people who are of mixed Indian and African descent have a separate ethnic classification. There is so much to explore about how others’ perception of our identity impact on our sense of belonging.
 
Each blog as part of your tour features a clue to tie with the book and its themes, how can readers get involved?

The clues are relatively mundane and inspired by my own memories – the green counters at Waitrose to drop down a chute and choose money for charity, my joy in red dresses, loving Black Panther, walking through the Middlesex water filter beds in Hackney Marshes to the football pitches… I would love readers to turn their own memories into clues too and write or draw their own pieces.
 
You won the the YA Book Prize and the Waterstones Children's Prize older category.  How did it feel to win these with your debut novel and how important do you feel prizes are?

There were many things happening in my life at that time, so it’s hard to say. I was working full time as well as writing, so I was juggling that as well as being a parent and trying to write Indigo Donut. However, collecting the Waterstones Prize for Older Fiction with my daughter watching was one of the happiest moments of my life. It was also  important to me as no other publisher wanted Orangeboy and it was a real testament to the belief and tenacity of my editor, Emma Roberts, who passionately believed that a book about a black young man from London would win prizes if it was published! 

The combined prize money gave me a small financial cushion that enabled me to leave my previous job and focus on the job of children’s writer. The prizes also raised my profile with booksellers, publishers, literary festivals and librarians which meant new commissions, more school events and even arts reviewing on Radio 4!

I’m writing this on the day that the Waterstones 2020 winners have been announced. As well as Liz Ryder’s distinct and unique Bearmouth winning the Older Readers category, three black writers/illustrators – Sharna Jackson, Dapo Adeola and Nathan Bryon – have won the other two. Dapo and Nathan’s picture book Look Up! has won the overall prize. These books will now be so visible in shops and libraries – such a boost for black writers and independent publishers.


Alongside your young adult books, you've written middle grade titles like Granny Ting Ting and Toad Attack and have also written a Tudor Story about Eve Cartwright Diver's Daughter do you have a preferred form or age-range and are there other's you'd be keen to try?
 

I’m also writing a picture book for Nosy Crow inspired by the arrival of the Empire Windrush! I’ve never thought that I’m writing for different age groups as such, just books with different-aged characters. For me, I just love exploring many ways of telling stories.

What are you working on next?
 
A YA that encompasses roses, Queen, childhood friendship, a road trip and the vulnerability of young woman caught up in ‘county lines’ drug dealing.

And, also… But that would be telling!

Thank you to Patrice Lawrence for her time and insights through the interview.  Thank you too to Hachette for the opportunity.

The Youth Libraries Group are delighted to be part of Zanib Mian's blog tour to celebrate the publication of Planet Omar: Incredible Rescue Mission, the third book in the award-winning series. We were pleased to have the opportunity to chat with Zanib about reading, writing and all things Planet Omar!

 What books did you enjoy reading as a child?

I enjoyed all of Dr Seuss’ books as well as Roald Dahl. One of my most favourite books was Chicken Licken, again perhaps because of the rhymes. I remember not quite wanting to move on from picture books, and always choosing them in favour of chapter books, secretly feeling disappointed in myself that I wasn’t reading longer books, like my friends. I was just drawn to them! But I did move on when I was ready. When I had my own children, I rediscovered why I find a good picture book so magical and now that my children have outgrown them, I still buy lots to read to my nieces!

When did you realise you wanted to be a writer?

This is an interesting question, because I fell head over heels with writing at primary school. I especially loved writing rhyming poems (all that Dr Seuss!), but I didn’t realise I could be a writer until I had my own children. I immersed them in books since they were 6 months old, but I found that books were still not representative of all the people in their world, so I decided to write!

Can you tell us a little about Sweet Apple – how and why you set this up- what challenges and high points were there?

When I began writing stories for my own child, which included people like him and his family, and watched him delight in them, I thought I should perhaps share them with others who couldn’t find inclusive books. Though I wanted to, it wasn’t until 2009 that I set about publishing my first book, Adam and the Tummy Monsters under Sweet Apple, with the highly ambitious vision to publish children’s books to represent people from all backgrounds, not just my own. I felt that larger publishers simply weren’t doing it at the time.

Coming from a Science background, with no knowledge of publishing and no contacts in the publishing industry, I threw myself into the deep-end and faced many challenges – mostly to do with getting my books on the shelves of stores, or marketing them well enough for people to know they were out there! The only thing that kept me going through those difficult times was when something wonderfully positive happened that reassured me that the work was good enough! One such example was Cbeebies Bedtime Stories featuring Oddsockosaurus and signing contracts for a further two Sweet Apple books!

The Muslims won the Little Rebels award – what do you think is special about the award and what did it mean to win it?

Ah, the Little Rebels Award is very close to my heart. It is the award that ‘made’ me. I had published Planet Omar under Sweet Apple initially, but was facing the usual problems of getting the book noticed. This award did just that for me. It recognises children’s books on social justice, books which are tackling important issues – radical fiction! Writers of these books have spoken from the heart about issues dear to them, and it’s just wonderful for there to be an award that puts these works in the spotlight.

 Can you tell us a little about how the deal with Hachette came about?

This was all linked to winning the Little Rebels Award, after which larger publishers discovered the book, which was first published as The Muslims and later rebranded as Planet Omar. After the award, there was much interest in the book, both at home and internationally. I signed my wonderful agent, Jessica Craig, who handled everything perfectly. The three-book deal with Hachette was a dream come true, something I had always wanted, but never thought I would achieve. I absolutely love working with my editor, Kate Agar, and the rest of the team. Each and every person involved with publishing Planet Omar does it straight from the heart, with an enthusiasm and passion that is just heart-warming beyond words.

 Were there different expectations for the series when working with Hachette?

To be honest, I was wary of them wishing to heavily edit the story, and perhaps remove a lot of the religious references which I included in the book to help readers understand Islamic practices better, and therefore invoke empathy and build bridges. However, they wanted to do no such thing, Omar and his family are exactly as I always intended them to be. The book was completely rebranded with a new title and brand new illustrations, by a professional this time! I love the new series title Planet Omar, and the zingy eye-catching covers!

What can readers expect in book three, Planet Omar: Incredible Rescue Mission?

I’m having a lot of fun writing Omar’s adventures! In Incredible Rescue Mission, Omar’s teacher Mrs Hutchinson goes missing and is unfortunately replaced with a teacher of every kid’s nightmares. So Omar, Daniel and Charlie launch a rescue mission, looking for clues and going out on their bikes to uncover the mystery. Of course, Omar gets carried away with his imagination, concluding that their teacher had swallowed an alien and has therefore been abducted by them! The mystery is finally solved during Omar’s first ever trip to Pakistan, where he is attending a cousin’s wedding and what they find is very surprising!

 Humour does not always get the recognition it deserves, what are the challenges of writing a comedy series and do we need to take humour more seriously?!

I am someone who loves to laugh and loves to make people laugh. I also adore people who can make me laugh! So I guess giggles are a big part of my life, and it therefore comes naturally to me to write a comedy series. I also believe that laughter is the best remedy, so yes, we should take it more seriously, especially during these times when children’s mental and emotional health should not be overlooked.

Do you have any direct contact with the illustrator Nasaya Mafaridik? 

I haven’t yet had the pleasure of meeting Nasaya, though we have been in touch via social media. I think the book wouldn’t be what it is without the illustrations – they are extremely important to the reader’s experience. I would love for Nasaya to join me on the next book tour so our readers can get the complete Planet Omar creators experience and I just can’t wait to meet her in person!

What is next for you?

Oh, I am sure you will be reading a fourth Planet Omar book, wink, wink! I’d also love to write a female character in another middle-grade book. So watch this space to see if that transpires!

A massive thank you to Zanib for being involved with the interview and for Hachette for their support in setting this up.