Panel: Truth vs. Innocence in Children's Books - Brandy Colbert

Brandy Colbert is the Stonewall Award-winning author of Little & Lion, Pointe, and the forthcoming Finding Yvonne. Her essays and short fiction have been featured in several critically acclaimed anthologies for young people. Her work has been named a Junior Library Guild selection, a Book of the Month Club selection, and has been included on ALA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults list, as well as best-of lists from Kirkus, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, Vulture, and more.

What topics are appropriate? 
Like Elana [Arnold], I write issue books that aren't issue books--that is, there are a lot of issues, but there are lots of gray areas.

Tell us the initial kernel for one of your books?

People ask me a lot, "Are your books based on you?" I say that it's wish-fulfilment in an alternate universe. The family in Little & Lion is a version of my family, but a different version--plus, I'm interested in seeing Black queer girls on the page.  In Finding Yvonne (out next week, on August 7th),  I wanted to explore a family that was unfamiliar to me.

How do you deal with writing particularly sad scene?
I sort of "black out "when I'm writing [as a way of coping]. Sometimes I cry when I'm writing. Sometimes I cope by reading or watching something even sadder.

When did you have to "stand your ground" with an editor?

I butt heads over copy editing because I'm a copy editor. I'm very intentional about my words, but you can't copy edit yourself.  Their job is to copy edit; my job is to get copy-edited.

How do you respond to critics who say your books are too dark?
We underestimate young people.  They're in a very real, sometimes very dark world already. 

Favorite story from readers?

I am continually surprised how many people relate to Little & Lion. I felt like it was so specific--a black girl questioning her sexuality with a brother struggling with mental illness--but it really is true, the more specific you are the more universal you are.

Lightening Round

iPhone or android?

iPhone

Window or aisle?

Window

NYC or LA?

LA

R2D2 or BB8?

I don't know… I don't really...

Outline?

No outline. Ever.

Hogwarts house?

I've never read Harry Potter!

Desert island  album or recording artist?

Can I take a whole genre? Hip hop.

Bingewatch?

The final season of The Americans.

Last request meal?

I'm a vegetarian, so if this is my last meal, it would probably be a peperoni pizza.

What's on your headstone?

"She said what she was thinking."

One final takeaway?

Don't forget to focus on the writing.