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Question:
Beyond humanizing the cultural experience, how were you inspired to write this book for a greater purpose?

Question:
Beyond humanizing the cultural experience, how were you inspired to write this book for a greater purpose?

Answer:
My students were the ones who inspired me to write young adult literature.

Working with Black students at the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement, I recognized the need for a deeper understanding of systemic racial issues.

Each year I welcomed new cohorts of students who were about to be exposed to critical issues in society for the first timeā€”and they felt cheated that they had not learned about these things before college.

After reading about the inspirational work of Bryan Stevenson in Just Mercy, I felt called to use my platform to write a novel about what I consider to be the most critical issue of our time: racial justice and equity.

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