Renée Watson is the New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor Book, and Coretta Scott King Award-winning author of Piecing Me Together, This Side of Home, What Momma Left Me, and Betty Before X, co-written with Ilyasah Shabazz, as well as two acclaimed picture books: A Place Where Hurricanes Happen and Harlem’s Little Blackbird, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. She is the founder of I, Too, Arts Collective, a nonprofit committed to nurturing underrepresented voices in the creative arts, and currently lives in New York City.
Today, Renée Watson is on the blog to answer a few of our questions about her new YA novel, Love is a Revolution. Read on!
Renée Watson
Tell us about your book, Love is a Revolution!
RW: Love is a Revolution is about Nala Robertson, a Jamaican-American girl who lives in New York City. When she meets Tye Brown, a community activist, she tells a few lies to impress him. She lies about being vegetarian and she stretches the truth about volunteering with the elderly. Nala believes she has to keep the lies going in order to stay in the relationship. Eventually she learns that being her true self is more important than pretending to be someone else and that if she doesn’t truly know herself and love herself, she can’t really love anyone else.
What inspired you to write this novel?
RW: I wanted to write a story about love and activism. I set out to play with the troupes of romantic comedies. This is a love story, yes, but the ultimate love is about the main character loving herself. I really wanted to push against traditional, mainstream beauty standards by making Nala a big, dark-skinned girl who loves her body, has healthy self-esteem, and gets the coveted relationship with the hot guy. I also wanted to do something more nuanced with the “mean” girls that typically show up in YA. Instead of them being shallow, Nala’s antagonists are community activists who can be over-the-top with their activism and self-righteous when it comes to making a difference in their community, but they do have some substance.
I know these young people—teens who are falling in love, figuring out who they want to be in the world. I was thinking of the students I’ve mentored when I wrote the book.
Your protagonist is Nala Robertson, a girl who goes on her own journey of self-love, acceptance and even activism. What’s your favourite thing about her?
RW: I love that Nala values spending time with her family—especially her grandma. My favourite scenes to write were the ones where she is visiting her grandmother and building puzzles with her. In these times, she’s soaking up her grandmother’s wisdom and also providing company for the elders who live in the senior residence. It’s summer vacation for Nala and even though she is going on fun dates and enjoying outings in New York City, she still makes time for the people who are important to her. I didn’t set out to have the grandmother be such a big part of the book, but as I wrote, Nala’s character guided me in that direction. This was a nice surprise.
This is a radical love story, but not one that’s only about romance – it’s about how to show love to yourself and the people in your life. Why is writing about that important to you?
RW: I’ve written a lot of books about girls who stand up against injustice, who use art to bring awareness to social issues. I know many teen activists and I am so proud of them for raising their voices. I also know young people who are not protesting in the streets, they are not the first to raise their hand to volunteer. But they do care. They have something to say, their voices are just quiet. I wrote Love is a Revolution with that young person in mind. Like Nala, they might be wondering is there only one way to be an activist? Is there only one way to show that I care about my community?
I think it’s important to encourage young people—and all of us—to have balance. Nala is figuring out how to balance love of self, of others, of community.
What do you love about writing contemporary young adult fiction?
RW: This is the age where feelings are felt so deeply and there’s so much to learn and so many ways to grow. Yet, there’s also the desire for independence. All of this makes for good story and character development. Adults are usually set in their ways and young people are not. I like writing about the moments when a person is discovering who they are, who they want to be.
Can you tell us a few of your favourite authors?
RW: I love the work of Meg Medina, Nikki Grimes, Elizabeth Acevedo, Brandy Colbert, and Liara Tamani.
What was the last book you read and loved?
RW: The last book I read was Nikki Giovanni’s new poetry book, Make Me Rain.
Which books do you have on your TBR pile?
RW: I’m very excited to read One of the Good Ones by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite.
What do you hope readers will discover in Love is a Revolution?
RW: I hope readers discover their own ways of showing love for their neighbourhood, for their family. I also hope readers feel empowered to be radical in how they show love to themselves. To love our bodies, our skin tones, the texture of our hair, the neighbourhoods we live in, the non-traditional families we are a part of—this is a healing love.
And finally, what’s up next for you?
RW: Well, I didn’t necessarily plan it this way, but I’m continuing to explore love, this time with younger readers. My next book, Ways to Grow Love, will be out on the 22nd of July, 2021. It’s the second book of the Ryan Hart series.
Thanks Renée!
RW: Thank you!
—Love is a Revolution by Renée Watson (Bloomsbury Australia) is out now.
Love is a Revolution
When Nala Robertson reluctantly agrees to attend an open mic night for her cousin-sister-friend Imani's birthday, she finds herself falling in instant love with Tye Brown, the MC. He's perfect, except . . . Tye is an activist and is spending the summer putting on events for the community when Nala would rather watch movies and try out the new seasonal flavors at the local creamery.
In order to impress Tye, Nala tells a few tiny lies to have enough in common with him. As they spend more time together, some of those lies get harder to keep up...
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