Redefining What it Means

REDEFINING WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HOMELESS

“It’s so easy to judge…to assume a hundred things about people that are untrue.”

In my new novel, What I Want You to See, my main character, Sabine is determined to hold onto her image as a talented painter and deserving recipient of a prestigious scholarship to the art institute she attends. But controlling her image means hiding the truth about her situation: before she started the semester, she spent months living in her car. Like a lot of writers, my stories come out of what fascinates me. I’ve always been drawn to art, the art world, and art crime, so it was only natural that I embarked on writing a novel about an art student who becomes an unwitting pawn in a masterful crime. As I got deeper into the story, I realized that the other force shaping this story was my growing awareness of the changing face of homelessness. To craft a character so desperate to keep her scholarship she makes risky choices that put her future in danger, I stripped Sabine of her mom and their home. When the story begins, she’s renting a cozy room in a house near school and hiding her past from her new friends so she won’t be labeled as that “homeless girl.” I’d read a few articles about college students who were homeless, but as I dug into the research, I was shocked. It turns out that Sabine is like tens of thousands of actual college students who hide their homelessness or housing insecurity from the people around them. They’re among the “hidden homeless,” holding jobs, attending classes and working towards degrees while couch surfing, sleeping in cars or catching naps on a bus or in a library. Homelessness and housing insecurity, the inability to pay your rent, is the new normal in my home state of California where unaffordable housing and limited financial

aid mean that even students at prestigious institutions like UCLA can be affected. Homelessness can hit anyone, but is more common among marginalized groups such as trans youth, foster kids or racial minorities. Students experiencing homelessness rarely self-identify as homeless. Negative stereotypes about poverty, mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse are so strong that most reject the label. One high-achieving student told an interviewer, “I wasn’t homeless. I lived in my car.” As I wrote Sabine’s character, I resisted making her ashamed of her experience. I feel I owe it to my characters to do what I can to make them real and multi-faceted and to not render them as stereotypes. Sabine has a strong self-image which stems from her artistic ability, and she holds on to her vision of herself, seeing her talent as her ticket out of her situation. She is, however, conscious that revealing her past will cause people to see her differently and attach a label to her that will be almost impossible to shed. The labeling Sabine is so eager to avoid affects many students experiencing homelessness in real life. One reason they hide their living situation is that school staff and fellow students often focus on their living situation as a “point of trauma.” Like most of us, they want to be seen as multi-dimensional human beings, not stereotypes. Instead of educators and peers assuming they are damaged, breakable or emotionally unstable because of what they’re dealing with, they want to be treated as normal human beings addressing their challenges. It’s not surprising that a major theme of the novel turned out to be how we see others and how we want to be seen ourselves. We all want people to see us as our best selves, but we don’t always recognize the assumptions and prejudices we bring to interactions. I think Sabine explains it well when she says, “It’s so easy to judge…to assume a

hundred things about people that are untrue, or to blame them for their problems. It’s the opposite of seeing them…The edge between a normal life and being homeless is razor thin. One accident can push you from one into the other, from being seen to being judged.” One outcome of writing this novel is that I’ve changed how I talk about homelessness. I make a conscious effort to avoid referring to someone as a “homeless person,” and you may have noticed how in this article I substituted the words a “person experiencing homelessness.”

Homeless shouldn’t be used as an adjective, because it isn’t who a person is, it’s what they’re going through.

To learn about housing and food insecurity among college students, and ways you can help create change, check out #RealCollege on Twitter.

CHANGEMAKERS: AUTHORS CHANGING THE YOUNG ADULT LITERARY INDUSTRY by Séline DuMane

The young adult genre began in the 1800s, but authors such as Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, and Alexandre Dumas were referred as “writers who published literature that appealed to adolescents, but not necessarily written for them.”(1) Fast forward a century, the novels: The Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies became primary examples of young adult literature, yet they only “influenced the transformation of what the genre should embody, but were not initially marketed for the adolescent.”(2)

In modern times, the industry continues in its quest to find a concrete definition of young adult literature, especially one that is inclusive to the target audience. Thanks to social media platforms and book communities such as Bookstagram, readers, authors, and publishers can collaborate on creating what young adult means today.

Here are three authors who have guided our latest quest for YA over the past decade: audience based, yet The Hate U Give instantly proliferated global discussion about its cultivating, positive impact in young adult literature. Thomas brought these subject matters into the light— to accentuate readers, authors as well as the publishing industry the importance of one’s voice. And indeed, the community has since vocalize their desire to see more narratives that authentically represent their identities, adolescent transitions, and diversity needs.

During her book tour, author Becky Albertalli asked Thomas what she hoped the teen audience sees in this novel, “I really do hope The Hate U Give provides mirrors for readers who don’t often get them in books. I’ve had so many young black girls tell me just how thrilled they are to see someone who looks like them on the cover. I hope that they see themselves in the pages as well.”

In 2019, she released her second title, On the Come Up that received equal praise for diversity inclusion.

Angie Thomas Rick Riordan

In 2017, Angie Thomas published her debut novel, The Hate U Give which rocketed to number one on “The New York Times Young Adult Hardcover Best Sellers List” during the first week of release and continues to hold its rank at 157 weeks (as of publication of this article). How did this contemporary fiction earn a successful platform?

Angie Thomas wanted to represent a transparent, substantive narrative concerning cultural, societal, and racial conflicts directly inspired by current events arising in the United States. This literary genre has constant discussions about whether controversial topics should be highlighted to their

Many readers recognize Rick Riordan as the author of the Percy Jackson series, a young adult contemporary-fantasy phenomenon that explores the ancient wonders of Greek mythology, but set in modern society to implement societal concepts. Over this current decade, the young-adult fantasy fanbase asked the repeated question of whether Riordan could write about mythologies originating from other various cultures. Last year, readers received an answer through his establishment of a new subdivision in Disney-Hyperion Publishing called “Rick Riordan Presents!” Since the announcement, there have been optimistic reactions throughout the book community about

more authors having the chance to bring awareness to desired, diverse representation within the literary industry. Riordan stated the goals of his imprint as followed:

“Our goal is to publish great books by middle grade authors from underrepresented cultures and backgrounds, to let them tell their own stories inspired by the mythology and folklore of their own heritage. Over the years, I’ve gotten so many questions from my fans: “Will you ever write about Hindu mythology? What about Native American? What about Chinese?” I saw that there was a lot of interest in reading fantasy adventures based on different world mythologies, but I also knew I wasn’t the best person to write them. Much better, I thought, to use my experience and my platform at Disney to put the spotlight on other great writers who are actually from those cultures and know the mythologies better than I do. Let them tell their own stories, and I would do whatever I could to help those books find a wide audience.”(3)

Some of the first publications under this imprint are with young adult authors Roshani Choksani(4) and Yoon La Hee(5) who created stories underpinning Hindu Mythology and Korean Mythology that tremendously satisfied the ever-loving fantasy audience.

When Malinda Lo published her novel, Ash—a sapphic Cinderella retelling— in 2009, her sincere desire to release a narrative highlighting the LGBTQ+ community did not go unnoticed. Her novel became a finalist for several literary awards, but her determination to promote other titles significant to this specific diverse representation outshined the rest. In 2011, Malinda co-founded the digital platform, Diversity in YA, a website to promote and celebrate diverse representations in young adult literature.

“We celebrate young adult books about all kinds of diversity, from race to sexual orientation to gender identity and disability. Our goal is to bring attention to books and authors that might fall outside the mainstream, and to bring the margin to the center. We encourage an attitude of openness and curiosity, and we welcome questions and discussion.”(6) She not only includes characters of color, LGBTQ+ characters, and disabled characters, but annually collects data on the number of books that diverse authors publish. With her prior knowledge from multiple organizations that specialized in emerging LGBTQ+ and minority voices in literature, she brought her exceeding expertise to the young adult genre and aims to develop it as a majority.

Here is a list of some of the diverse YA Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels Lo mentioned.

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh (Putnam Juvenile) Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray (Little, Brown) The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough (Arthur A. Levine Books) Changers Book Two: Oryon by T Cooper, Allison Glock-Cooper (Akashic Books) Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee (Flux) Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older (Arthur A. Levine Books) Feral Pride by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Candlewick) An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir (Penguin)

*Diverse = Set in a non-Western world or inspired by a non-Western world; or with a main character who is non-white, LGBTQ+, and/or disabled.

Although changes continue to be made into the new decade, it is evident that the growing success of diverse stories are being taken into consideration within the literary industry. This list does not do justice to the hundreds of authors and stories published in this world, so I turn it to you readers: use your voices in demanding what stories you want in your local bookstores. Share your favorite diverse characters, authors, and non-western world settings. Change begins with us and continues with us.