I knew one of my books had been on a stupid list of 800 titles challenged by the ridiculous Texas GOP. However, I didn’t know until tonight it had actually been preemptively removed from shelves in one of the biggest school districts in the state, along with 399 other books. It’s called Great. It’s for teens, but perhaps you’ll enjoy it.
I wrote Great as a queer YA response to The Great Gatsby, and it came out in 2014. I wrote it so that teachers could use it alongside Gatsby in class, and many of them do. I know what it’s like to be a teacher who has to stick to the curriculum and teach a so-called Great American Classic (which, I shall agree, Gatsby is) to kids who would really rather read something more relevant to their own experience.
Great is a little bit Gossip Girl, a little bit Cruel Intentions (which I suppose makes it a little bit Dangerous Liaisons), and it’s very 2014 in terms of technology etc. It’s been optioned a few times but as yet hasn’t made it to the big or small screen. The option is available again. Gatsby with teen girls in the Hamptons? Why not?
It’s still smart and funny. I still like it. If I wrote it today, it would be smarter, funnier, and more intersectional. It would explore a greater understanding of gender fluidity and social norms. It would do those things because I’ve grown and learned in the ten years since I wrote it.
Most authors get better as we get older, so long as we tend to our health and don’t always rely on the old tricks to get us through the project.
I’m also sober now, so I like to imagine I’d deliver it on time, with fewer typos.
I’m working on a new novel now. It’s going to be queerer and smarter and funnier. First, we’ll have to find a publisher for it, which means I’ve got to get these two chapters and an outline over to my agent, Scott Mendel.
I’m sure it’ll get banned in some places run by nightmare people. I’ll find a way to make sure kids can read it. The Brooklyn Public Library offers this service to all students in the U.S., and I love them for it.
My other books are Agorafabulous!: Dispatches From My Bedroom, DC Trip, and Real Artists Have Day Jobs. Here’s my Amazon author page and here are the books on Bookshop.org.
I figure if your art is getting banned in a politically regressive place like Texas (don’t worry, it’s also been challenged in Florida), you’re doing something right. It’s not even my best book, but I’m truly honored.
Recommendations
How to Feel - The response to my latest essay has been very kind, and if you are one of the lovely commenters or folks who’ve sent me sweet messages, I really thank you for it. I wrote it because I hoped it would resonate with artists and people learning to pay attention to their bodies. It’s on Substack, Patreon, and Medium.
Of course, I also wrote it for myself. It starts like this:
Artists are known to be a bit off, inclined to sadness and loud weeping and hours of gazing into the middle distance whilst wearing black turtlenecks and/or stained sweatpants. There are all sorts of terms to describe this type of individual — “highly sensitive person;” “melancholic temperament;” “raging alcoholic with a penchant for whimsical site-specific dance sculpture” — but ultimately, I have always known I was one of them. Perhaps, if you are inclined to read an essay with this title, you are one of us, too.
The next two recommendations are courtesy of
though I shall admit I had already decided to renew my BAM membership specifically so I can see some of Solange’s series.Solange and Saint Heron Are Honoring Black Innovation at BAM by Craig Jenkins for Vulture
Hammer & Hope has launched. Here’s “Come In” by Carrie Mae Weems and Ashley M. Jones.
Kaelynn Partlow, Autistic Advocate - My sister-in-law is a special education teacher in an elementary school, and she has lots of experience teaching autistic children. In addition, my nephew is autistic. So I trust my SIL’s recommendations, and she really likes this popular educator who I think is also on Netflix’s Love on the Spectrum.
Rayo & Honey - Unstoppably excellent goods, including the banner in my messy home (see below).
Pink Bike Ralph - A hilarious man and lovely friend working as an indie printmaker in Philadelphia, PA. I’m holding his mug in the photo below.
No writing advice this week. I have to go actually do some writing of my own. If you’re interested in working with me to get your book proposal or manuscript in shape, there’s more info on that here.
If you’d like to help elect more pro-choice women Democrats who probably won’t ban books for being too queer or Black or Latinx or Asian or Indigenous or progressive or pagan, for example, check out Emily’s List.
Thanks for reading SARATONIN. I have a lot of fun writing it and getting to know you a little bit.
xoxo
Sara B.
I loved this novel. Texas is an odd state.