[ Music ] >> I am Becky Albertalli, one of the authors of Yes No Maybe So, and I am coming to you from Rossville, Georgia, which is a suburb of Atlanta, and I am in a chair in the corner of my bedroom. >> And hi, my name is Aisha Saeed and I am the co-author with Becky for Yes No Maybe So, and I am also in Atlanta, Georgia, and also in a corner of my bedroom hiding from [inaudible]. So Yes No Maybe So is a young adult book about two teens, Jamie and Maya, and about their summer as they're canvassing for their local special election, and it follows both of them as they go from being unwilling canvassers to realizing just how much is at stake, and its heart it's also a love story. >> And the love story and the romcom aspect was actually really important to us, and they -- I think it's kind of funny to -- meaning describing her book as a romcom about a really horrific cultural moment in the United States. Everything in the last couple of years has felt really far, especially for anybody who wants any more [inaudible] group, and both Jamie and Maya do. And, you know, it's a really difficult time. We did not want to shy away from that, but it's so important for marginalized kids and adults and people to always be reminded that, you know, they deserve moments of joy. They deserve happiness and crushes and just, you know, like weird awkward kind of analyses of the other person's feelings in all of these things that are hallmarks of the romcoms that we love and were inspired by. And so I think for us kind of the heart of Yes No Maybe So was like being able to kind of, you know, thread that needle and balance those elements with, you know, just the reality of what is going on right now in the world, in the entire world, and also very specifically in our community here in Atlanta, in the U.S. >> Yeah, and speaking of communities, Maya is Muslim and Jamie is Jewish, and so the book tackles issues that have specifically affected Jewish and Muslim communities even more so than they were previously after this 2016 election, and so the book explores Islamophobia, it explores anti-Semitism, which are unfortunately, they grow more and more pressing with every passing day, and so yeah, those are two issues that also are covered in the book, and yet, as Becky said, joy is so important even in the hardest of times, and so despite the fact that we're taking on all these different topics, there is a lightness, because that is how we continue to keep on keeping on is by finding those moments of joy and holding on to them, and so we have a lot going on in this book, and so I think because the heavy themes are also -- there's also a lot of laughter that it kind of all balances each other out. >> I mean, Aisha and I have always been big fans of each other's work and we had kind of, for a very long time, been batting around the idea of writing a book together just from a, like, mutual fan-girl perspective, but that's the kind of thing that, like, it's much easier to daydream about than to actually, like, build an idea together and sit down and do, and so it kind of, you know, evolved over time, and by the time, you know, both of us were kind of winding down some of our other projects, you know, we -- I think we're very lucky to stumble upon an idea that resonated with both of us in such a personal way when we were just -- you know, we were devastated. We were in mourning, in a way, and, you know, felt very hopeless during that initial period after kind of finding out the results, and one of the first bright spots for us was finding out that there was going to be a special election in our congressional district, so we are part of the same congressional district. It is, you know, a very, you know, a long-time redlining district and, you know, a Democrat was trying to flip that seat. It was a U.S. congressional seat, and it was the first time that our district had a real shot of flipping blue, and we were inspired by that and not just as writers, but, you know, for us it felt very important to kind of engage with that election and that process in person and to be a part of that, to canvas, beyond, you know, kind of the things that we -- the ways that we had already participated in the process. We felt compelled to step outside our comfort zones a little bit. And Aisha, do you want to jump in a little bit? >> Yeah, I mean, Becky and I were both were not exactly fans of just knocking on strangers' doors and asking them to vote, and truly I think that were it not for that 2016 election, I don't know if I ever would have canvassed or gotten up the nerve to canvas, but there was just this feeling of impotence, like wanting to do something with the frustration and that felt like such a tangible thing to do, and so we would -- we knocked on doors, like we started doing it, and it turned out it wasn't as scary as we thought. I imagined people yelling at us or giving us glares, but really most -- the worst case was that people didn't open their doors when we knew they were home. >> That happened a lot. >> And the more we did it, you know, sometimes we brought our children along, like it was a really joyful experience, and it was also really nice to go to the campaign headquarters and to see so many other people in what we had always thought of as a firmly red district, but there were so many other people like us, which was so helpful to go and do, to go and be with other people who are like-minded with the same goal. And really, Becky and I would just text afterwards, share like, oh, this happened, remember when that happened, and somehow a story, through our conversations began: Wouldn't this be an interesting premise? And Becky is Jewish, I'm Muslim, like, oh, what if it's two teens who are Muslim and Jewish? And it really is probably one of the most organic stories that just came up naturally, just -- it was the most natural way. You would think that with two authors coming together to tell a story that there would be a little bit more construction going on, but it was so -- it was really something that just popped up into both of our heads at the same time and it just -- it worked out really well. >> Oh, yeah, it was strange, too, it was as if we had a third collaborator on this and that collaborator was, like, the world because there were so many times when, you know, either something would appear in the headlines that was like ripped directly from our book that weren't helping us. It was as if we were predicting the near future in a way, or maybe just, you know, sometimes the way that these sorts of things play out is somewhat predictable, but you know, there were, yeah, just certain laws that, you know, our state representatives would try to pass. Sometimes we were inspired by reality and sometimes reality just kind of caught up to our book. Our book is about a state senate campaign, but kind of -- as I mentioned, it's based on a real U.S. congressional campaign, and what ended up happening was our candidate, the Democrat, narrowly lost and it was devastating, like it was brutal. It was the worst day since, you know, the day after the 2016 election, and one of the things that was really hard about it is we have all these online communities that kind of include people from all over the country and all over the world, even, like the writing community and kind of publishing and just our -- you know, our friends from other places and, you know, people have a lot of feelings about the Georgia 6th District race because, A, because it affected everybody, you know, but also it was kind of framed in the national media as a bellwether, I guess, or like a canary in a coal mine. It was a referendum on Trumpism. It was one of the first major races, you know, where, you know, in theory if this is an opportunity for, you know, people to respond to Trump, and the fact that our candidate lost was a real blow. However, I'm going to let Aisha tell the epilog to this. >> Well, yeah, so it was devastating, and it was devastating to hear all the think pieces about, oh, what this means and, you know, we knew, as Becky said, that it got so close that that was huge in and of itself, and in fact, in 2018 during the mid-term elections, Lucy McBath was running against Karen Handel and she won that 6th District congressional seat and she won it by the thinnest, razor-thin margins, but she did win, and I mean, the fight's not over, because there's another election coming up in a few months and she has another tight election to come, but it was the first time in almost four decades that this district had turned blue, and so it was really neat because we couldn't have predicted that when we wrote this book. When we wrote this book, we were following the loss of an election and we could never have known that there could have been a happy ending for our district, at least for now, because it is an ongoing -- an ongoing thing to keep -- to keep things where -- as we want them to be. So yeah, that was really nice, to be able to have that as our fun epilog to our personal story. >> And I remember going to the National Book Festival as a reader, you know, when I -- I lived in D.C. for a while. Never thought I would be a part of it and I, you know, I don't think I could have imagined it in this format, but in publishing and in politics, you know, we are flexible in some ways because we have to be and, you know, it's been really tough in just about every industry, you know, and psychologically and just physically for many people, but, you know, I have been impressed and inspired by the ways that organizations have found to kind of pull off some things that I just did not realize would be possible without face-to-face and in-person interactions. >> Yeah, absolutely, and I really think it's going to be American ingenuity that is going to get us to get the word out for the election coming up to get people out there voting. I mean, it's such a high-stakes election, and like Becky said, like our book was like a roadmap. This is how you do it. But we did also have in the book, like, there's a character named Sophie, Jamie's little sister, and she has a postcard party and she sends out, like, postcards to congress people about certain issues, so there's that, too. There are ways. We can phone-bank, which is also mentioned in the book, and you can text-bank, and there are other ways to be involved and to get the word out. It's, you know, not as we wanted it to be, but there are ways, and I do think, like Becky said, there's -- I think we've all -- no one could have predicted this. If you had told me six months ago that this was going to happen, I would have laughed. I would have said, "This is impossible," but we're living it and we're making it through, and I think that speaks to our American ingenuity in and of itself. For anybody out there who is thinking about writing with their friend, I will have to say it is genuinely one of the best experiences of my writing career. I tell Becky this all the time: I feel like I've been spoiled. I want to write every book with her. I'm like, "It's boring, I have to sit here and write it myself now? I want to share with you immediately, just like we used to. I want to bounce ideas off." Those are the joys of being able to co-write with somebody and somebody that you're very close to that you feel that comfort level with is such a gift, and especially if you're a new writer, if there is a writer that you -- another fellow friend that is a writer that you trust, perhaps writing together can give you that motivation to keep on going because you have somebody who's there to give you that feedback right away and that you can keep on going, but yeah, so those are -- there's definitely a lot of great positives of working with somebody to write a story. >> This has been such a wonderful experience and it would be absolutely horrible with most people, you know, you just have to pick your collaborator really carefully, and there are a lot of reasons for that. I think, you know, one of them for me is just the vulnerability of sharing your early work. I am, like, very private, especially about my first drafts and even my, like, second and third drafts, but to collaborate with somebody, you kind of have to let them in a little bit earlier in the process just so you can kind of bounce your chapters back and forth off each other, and for that, I think you need somebody who you [inaudible] and it needs to be somebody who will engage with your work, you know, just, you know, will not sugarcoat anything for you, like this is a book that we're writing together and we, you know, we will challenge each other's, you know, word choice sometimes. We will kind of be making changes to the story that affect each other's chapters, and we will be, you know kind of adjusting things together as we go. It's important to trust the other person, to be able to do that in a way that feels good to you. For any young people who may be watching this, first of all, I just want you to know, like, we see you and this is such a tough moment. This is a thing that, like, I never had to go through as a teen. The pandemic, a lot of the just, you know, the racism that is, you know, not at all subtle that is coming from -- directly from, you know, people in positions of power in this country, you know, the racism and Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and, you know, homophobia, trans -- all of it has been there. None of this is new, but the rock kind of got turned over and we can't unsee what's underneath it, so I just want to start by kind of validating kind of any feelings you might have in this moment. It's hard and, you know, everything you were doing to just get through your day is an act of courage in a way. You know, we appreciate your activism. We, you know, and I speak just in general for kind of adults, my generation, other, you know, other kind of younger millennials, and I would say I'm an ex-ennial, Gen X, Boomers, like we owe it to you to meet you there and not make you carry the burden of this activism on your own. And yeah, keep fighting, but do it indoors, social distance, wear a mask. And yeah, thanks for all you do. >> I would say to young people also to, if you're old enough and you're eligible, to vote. Please vote. It's coming up very soon. Every vote is going to matter. And even if you can't vote, you matter and your voice matters and that's something that we really tried to capture in this book is to show two teens who can't vote yet but who are affected directly by all the issues that are out there. And so we just hope that you can just hold on to hope and to know that your voice can matter. You can still do postcard campaigns. You can still call your senators. You can still do things. You can remind people to vote. You can take people to vote if you have a car and who need transportation. There's so much that we can do. And also, as difficult as things are, I really, really encourage you to hold on to hope and to find small moments of joy each day because this is a long haul. This is not a sprint. We are going to be going through this for some time, and so we have to take care of ourselves and find moments that are going to keep us going. We'll get through this. [ Music ]