>> Ebony LaDelle: [laughter] Yes. >> Jason Reynolds: What’s up? Y’all. Everybody good? Y'all all right? Listen, I swear, all the people right here, we know in real life, they have apparently come to heckle us. And it's. It's all good. This is a big room and it sounds great. It's really wild up here because of the acoustics. I'm trying not to be distracted. This is Jason Reynolds Presents. I'm going to give you just a quick a quick sort of overview of what that is. My name is Jason Reynolds. It is good to see so many of you. Welcome to the National Book Festival 2022. It is so good to be outside and be around human beings for sure. So this this thing came about Jason was presents is something that is. It's in the making, Right? And the basic premise is that I love a lot of people. I love a lot of writers. And I think that I have an obligation and an opportunity to to make space on a stage or to make space in the zeitgeist, in the landscape of literature, specifically children's literature for writers and artists who who deserve a bit of a bump. I think that it's a complicated industry. I think that it's a it's a it's a tough business. And I think that in order for us to be able to sustain and continue to grow and proliferate healthy, fruitful, interesting literature for our young people, we have to make sure that we're constantly making space for new voices and upcoming voices to to come in and contribute to that conversation. Right. So that's what Jason Reynolds presents is that's what I am presenting to you people that I care about, that I respect on the line, that I respect the storytellers, and that I respect as lovers of our children. Point blank, everybody with me. [Applause] All right. The other thing that I that I'm obligated to talk about is that I am the current national ambassador for Young People's literature. I would skip this part. I do love it, but I'm trying to get to the to the real meat and potatoes. But I am the national ambassador for Young People's literature. My term is almost is almost up. It has been an incredible three years. I have loved serving the country's children. I have loved serving the literary community. And I'm forever grateful and forever changed for being the ambassador in the time in which I was which was actually in the time of COVID, which was complicated and a necessary and welcome challenge that the ambassadorship as a whole, just for those of you who may not know, is a position granted upon you by the Library of Congress, in which my job is to serve as the person who is most encouraging and trying his best to perpetuate reading and writing amongst America's youth. It is no small task. It is not an award. It is a responsibility, and I hope it could be one of them at some point. And whoever is next, I can't wait to see who carries on this mantle. I'm forever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever grateful. All right. Now. And thank you, too, by the way, because I got to I got to thank the people. So thank you to the Library of Congress. Thank you to Simon and Schuster. Thank you to every child to read it. Thank you to the CBC, thank you to the MBF, thank you to everybody who was a part of that process. Okay, all that's done, we can get to it. Here's the thing. The other thing about Jason Reynolds Presents is that this is an awesome like family time. I know we got the National Book Award, I mean National Book Festival. I know this is like the main stage, but at the end of the day, as far as I'm concerned, people that I love my family is always on the main stage, right? So we don't have to keep it formal. It can be informal. It'll be a conversation amongst my folks here. I'm going to introduce them in my way. Which is not the way that they would introduce themselves and not the way the publishers would introduce them either. First up is is is my homie Ebony Ebony LaDelle, who this is her debut novel, Love Radio. [Applause] Ya’ll know Love radio. Shout out to Eb. If you don't know love radio, please go and read it. We will not spoil it today, even though it's You should have read it by now. But if you haven't. Please go get love radio. If you love black people, if you love love stories, if you love Detroit, if you love music, if you love a good romance, if you like to laugh, if you liked it, to get all the swoony, woo woo and all of that, this for you, you know what I mean? Blurb. You know I got swoony with I got you. Listen, that one. That one's for free. That one's for free. [Laughter] The other thing though, that people should know about Ebony and I don't know if she likes to talk about this part because she's moving on to another part of her career now. But Ebony, a lot of us in the industry also know Eb as a marketing guru who worked on the other side of the wall for a very long time. I met her at Simon and Schuster. She had a huge tenure at HarperCollins and was last at Penguin Random House. So Ebony is the reason why a lot of y'all even know about our books. And so it's cool to talk to her on this level. But the truth is, is that I owe her. All of us owe her a note of gratitude for working diligently to make sure black and brown voices get get a fair shot at being publicized like everybody else is. Right. Shout out to the great Eb. and Ebony Nervous, but our family, right? Y'all let her know that she good. Okay. [Applause] >> Jason Reynolds: All right. It's fine. Yeah, we got. [cross talk] We got to break. We got to break the ice. Bring it down a notch. You know what I mean? So we're good. That's what they. That's why we had it, thank God. And just so you know, they they are here to do this, but they also are some of the most important people in our industry, too. All these loud, shrill voices you're hearing are also the people who who do a very similar job that Ebony was doing. But they're doing it on a grassroots, on the ground level, really promoting our books. These are all the people that we love who are now called bookstore grandmas, but are really just family folk that we love, who really support us and make a space for us when sometimes the industry doesn't. So we want to make sure that we show them some love, too. Next up, little sorry. Little, little Cid. Yeah, little Cid, little homie. My loved one, someone who is has been close to me for a very, very, very long time. I want to tell you, I like to tell all these stories about you, but I'm not. You know what I mean? Her daddy is my home. Their daddy is my homeboy who I love, who I wish was here. My man. Big Dane. This is Candice Iloh. Let me tell you about Candice. [Applause] Yeah. Yeah. And for those of you who don't know who Candice is, Candice was a National Book Award finalist for a book they wrote called Everybody Looking. That is a master, a masterwork in in verse, a masterwork in narrative, a masterwork in sort of using time as a way to. To really unfold the totality and wholeness of a young person's life in a way that not many people have done. I mean, usually our stories are contained within a very tight sort of scope. Right. And what Candice did was take it and say, like, what if we were able to cover all like basically from from the fifth grade all the way to college in one book, which makes it for the industry? Like what? Where do we where do we put it? Where is it middle grade is it? And it's like, what's all the things, right? And so I want to make sure I give Candice their flowers for for first bucking, bucking the genres and pushing back against what people say we can and cannot do. Their newest book. Break this House, which, by the way, might be the most fire title in recent history. I love the title of this book, Break This House, which is an incredible book. We'll get into it in a second. But I really want you to if you don't know who Candace is, I really want you to do your Googles, really pay attention to what they're doing. We're talking about somebody who who cares about what's really happening on the page, but also what's really happening in our communities. Someone who is really working very hard to shine light on young people who just need to know that they exist in the world, who need to know that they that they are alive and that they do matter and that they are valued despite despite whatever identities they assume. Right. And despite the slivers of identities that we all assume. Right. And that we all take upon ourselves and that autonomy is our greatest gift of freedom to be who we actually want to be is actually perhaps the most valuable opportunity that we all have. And I believe personally that that Candace's work is the tuning fork in a spotlight for for that. And I think that's very, very, very important. Please get into it, ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Candace Iloh, [Applause] All right, so I got these questions. And then there'll be some follow up questions. Um. It's tricky because these are two very different books. We have. Do you consider your book a rom com? I heard people talking about your book like a rom com. Is that what you would say? >> Ebony LaDelle: Yeah, I would say rom com. >> Jason Reynolds: Ya got rom com. And then we've got contemporary sort of fiction that deals with. Separation that deals with addiction, that deals with relationship, that deals with home, the concept of home and family, all these other sorts of things. And also, by the way, Eb, I wouldn’t whittle it down to a Rom Com, actually. So let me also give you the same benefit in the same fairness to say that your book is about a lot more than romance. It's about this home, it's about aspiration, it's about figuring out ways where does one compartmentalize and put the pain in order to press forward? It's about friendship. It's about romance, it's about love. It's about like teenage things. It's about masculinity. All of these things are wrapped up in this particular book. My question to you both is do you approach I personally, Candice, to for you specifically, I don't see your book. I don't know if people would look at your book as a love story, but I look at your book as a love story and actually pause for a second before we get into it. I need you to pitch the books so that they know what we're talking about. Is that okay? I want to give you some context and then this will make sense. So we'll start with you, Eb. If you could just give this telephone book what exactly love radio is about in a rounded way, obviously. >> Ebony LaDelle: Hi, I'm Ebony LaDelle. I am the author. Hi. Hey. I'm the author of Love Radio. Love Radio is about two teenagers, Danny Ford, who is an aspiring writer. She wants to move to New York, has dreams of it, but she's kind of dealing with a traumatic experience that happened to her and how it's affecting herself and her friendships. And Prince Jones, who is a local Detroit DJ who gives love advice, he's kind of a hopeless romantic. He has a lot of pressures at home. He takes care of his mother who has M.S. and he has a younger brother and he's sort of the man of the house. He's been interested in Danielle for forever and he meets her at a library. It's a little rocky, the meet cute. And then he finally convinces her to go on three dates with him. And that's kind of when all the woo woo, as you put it, starts. I'm sorry, but yeah, it's a love story. It's a love story of Detroit, a family of friends, and they kind of like go through their own journeys of self love to come back together. >> Jason Reynolds: Word up. >> Candice Iloh: So Break this House is a story about loss and grieving. A 16 year old named Yamina Ocar is just hanging out, scrolling Facebook one day and she suddenly gets news that something terrible has happened to her mother and she is estranged from her mother, doesn't have a good relationship. All she knows is that when her parents divorced, her mom started acting weird and abusive. And so she is now given this challenge of like, am I going to keep acting like I've moved on or am I going to go back to my childhood home and figure out what happened to my mom? And in this journey, she figures out there's a big connection between what's happening to her city and what her mother chose to do, as in a response to her own trauma and her own pain. And so it's really a story about losing, about our losses and our family dysfunction being a lot bigger than we think and a lot more macro than we think. >> Jason Reynolds: So my first question is actually a question about love. Because because though the your novel is about exactly what obviously you say your novel is about. For me as a reader, it also felt like a love story in that there is a relationship between Yamina and her father that is rich and. And thick, like a thick kind of love between these two people on the page that I love to see, just because I love to see fathers in the story and I love to see fathers and daughters in the story. And I love to see sort of the relationship that comes from that and that it's a way for that to be shown as as healthy. Because that happens. Right. We'd be acting like it. Don't you know what I mean? I'm like, you know it is. I know a whole lot of really good fathers in the world. And but when you read the books, you're like, man, fathers really are not good at all, right? Everybody's daddy is trash in fiction. You know what I mean? But you do us all the you do us all a service by. By showing Yamina and her father at the same time. I also think that the only reason that we can never write about. About the tough stuff. Specifically the disappointments and the pain and the traumas of our lives is because it's also because of love, right? It's because of love, Right. And that and that the reason it hurts so bad is because I love this person. And for whatever reason, I feel maybe I feel broken or betrayed or ashamed or whatever it is, but it's because of my love for this person Eb. yours. Your love story is is, one might assume, to be a bit more straightforward. And so my question is just talk about love. Like your ideas around writing love in children's literature, what that is for you, why that's important for you, what your process was, what your point of view was when approaching your book with Love on the Mind. >> Candice Iloh: I can go. >> Jason Reynolds: You gonna do this the whole time. >> Ebony LaDelle: No, I just said no. >> Jason Reynolds: I just. I'm just saying I didn't know if you was gonna do [Crosstalk] it the whole time, but then I would have done, like the [Crosstalk] teachers do and call on you and be like. >> Jason Reynolds: And be like, Ebony, this is for you. You know what I mean? [Laughter] >> Candice Iloh: It's important for me in particular to show love on the page and a non surface way. I think I'm constantly writing about like home and family and identity, but I, I feel like the place that love has in my stories is in an action and the actions of adults apologizing to kids or adults admitting that they handled something wrong or an adult talking to another to a kid about like what is happening with an adult that they love. Like, I really I tell people all the time, it's really hard for me to write about romance, like write actual, like loving scenes that we would call loving. But I think that I write about love the way that I want to be shown love in action. And I think that we talk to kids so much about love yourself and, you know, like, don't let anybody do this or that to you. And I feel like we just need to expand the examples. So I think I think that's what I'm usually thinking of when I'm writing these stories is like, how is the love oozing from the behaviors of the characters? >> Jason Reynolds: That's what's up. Eb? >> Ebony LaDelle: So I recently was reading Robert Jones Jr's newsletter, and he was talking about a. A documentary that he watched with James Baldwin and how James said, Has everybody been in love? Like everybody can't possibly be in love because we would treat our children better, we would treat each other better. And that's kind of how I view writing romance, is that for me as an author, I'm trying to find a way to make society better. And I feel like the best way to make society better is through love. And so that's how I approach writing love radio. And so at first it was like, Oh, this is fun. I got a cute little item and write this love story. And then I was stuck at home during COVID and me and Candice both went to Howard literally around the same time. And so I have like these books that I used to read when I was in undergrad and I was stuck at home and I just started reading them because I wanted to go deeper, like, Well, why are my characters doing this? And that's when I realized that I wanted it to be deeper than just the romance between these two on the page. There are so many things around us that inform our love. There's family, there's friends, there's community, there are resources, there are access to resources to help us deal with our own individual traumas. And that is when the story sort of took this form, which people describe it as it's more than a love story. And I think that a love story should have all these things, especially when we're talking about a love story between two black teenagers that love looks different than like Casablanca, you know, or The Notebook. And I wanted to show a different I wanted to show a love from a different. >> Jason Reynolds: of all the story. You was like Casablanca, I’m like, we going all the way back to Casablanca. >> Ebony LaDelle: I mean, that was the first thing that came to my mind. >> Candice Iloh: The point had a point. [Crosstalk] Yeah, that's exactly. That's the fact. >> Ebony LaDelle: But. You know, that's like something you automatically think of, like, why don't we have I mean, I have these black love stories in my head like that. But the point is, why is it that those are the only love stories that, you know, represent love in the way that is universal? >> Jason Reynolds: Can I tell you, it's when I first read Love Radio, I think it was such an interesting experience because because you realize how rarely in Y.A. you read about two black kids loving each other. Like there's a weird trope, and this will probably get me in trouble, but it is what it is. This wouldn't be the first time. There's a weird trope, at least for there's a stretch that was like the stretch where like, people were like, This is no slight shout out to the homies, but there's a stretch where people were like, Look, all of the love relationships in children's literature, specifically in Y.A., were interracial, right? Which is fine. And also black kids be loving each other, right? And it's weird to just never see it. It's like I don't understand why this little black boy can't love this little black girl. And they just be happy. Like, I don't know. Like, it's it's it seems so small, but it's such a revolutionary act to put it in a book these days. I think it's a really powerful thing in an effort to sort of make an an effort, I think, to sort of make a more palatable world. We forget that, like, black people can love black people and that that could be all right. You know what I mean? So shout out to you. That being said, though, my second question is actually the other part of that, which is. Candace in your in your story. There are moments that are complicated, and I really hate this question because it gets asked to us all the time. So I'm going to try to phrase it in a different way and you know where I'm going with this. And there is in the midst of this beautiful love story, there is this other thing looming that we learn about. For those of you who I don't want to spoil it, but read the story. Dany Go through something and it's and it has suppressed it and it's trying to figure out how to reckon and grapple with this other thing that has happened that that is not as swoony woo woo as the other parts of her story. And it's affecting the way that she interacts. It's affecting the way that she's even her process of getting into college. It's sort of becoming a bit of a bit of a wall for her, and so she's going to have to process it. She can't run from it forever. Same way with Yamina, right? It's like, I can't run from this thing. I'm going to run toward it and sort of reckon and grapple with what might be lurking behind this curtain. What everybody likes to say about these kinds of stories, though, is that the moment you put a complicated moment in the story, it becomes like, Oh, it's trauma, it's trauma, it's trauma, it's trauma, it's trauma. And people are starting to and this is something that I'm dealing with, obviously, this is something that bothers me. And so people are starting to use the concept of trauma to dismiss complex novels. Right. And to my question to you, because I don't see your novels as traumatic. I don't see that just your stories as traumatic. I see your stories as stories about human beings. And so my question to you both is, in the midst of you writing this beautiful love story, in the midst of you writing this really complicated family, family tale, how does one strike balance in the narrative to make sure that it feels human and not and not sort of caricatured, which is complicated. Writers really struggle with it. How do you walk the line to say like like, could it have been that that. Danny really just was like, Yo, I really am just solid. My life is great. I'm going to college. I'm about to fall in love. This is fire. Everything is cool. Detroit Popin’ and everything is fine. [Laughter] I could have been right and could have been like, Yamina, been like, Oh, I love my daddy. And I don't know what's going on with my mother, but it's not really important because I love my daddy and we're going to stay in Brooklyn. Just be happy in that, right? But because it's like, well, now we have to complicate it. Some of this being divisive, the novel, right. Things have to happen in novels, right? But the moment we do something like this, people are like black people in pain again. And it's like, huh, That's a little shortsighted and dismissive of of the complexities of our lives and our stories. And so can you just talk a bit about that for both of you? How do you balance it? >> Ebony LaDelle: So you mentioned earlier I worked in publishing. Yes. One of the things that I hated was the phrase issue book. That was a big marketing hook back in the day. And it implied and I started to notice that all the issue books were books by authors of color. And so it made me question, Okay, who's dubbing this an issue book? Because it's not me, you know, when I'm trying to explain a book and they're like, Oh, this is issues book. I'm like, Yeah, but it's no, it's it's the experience, It's the Asian-American experience. It's not an issues book, you know, or it's a black experience. It's not an issues book. When I think of romance, it's the same thing what you were talking about, about having these complicated stories and then making it trauma. I wanted to write a story that just showed the complexities of being a black person falling in love, and it is completely different. A lot of the things that I added into the story, like the traumatic issue that Danny sort of deals with, is a very there's a very grave statistic about it, and it's like one in four girls, one in four African American girls before 18 experienced this. And so how can I not put something like this? I went back and forth with myself about whether or not I wanted to put it in the story. But I felt like because I personally knew so many girls growing up who had the same experience, I couldn't not write about something like this and not talk about how it affects a relationship, any sort of romantic relationship >> Jason Reynolds: for sure. >> Ebony LaDelle: And then the same thing with Prince. Like I'm from Detroit. I can't talk about Detroit and not talk about the disparities of the city. You know, it's not fair. But at the same time, I wanted to show that, like, yes, we experience all these things and yet we can love. And yet through all this, you know, all the burdens, all the obstacles that we face, we're able to have a really beautiful, sweet, tender love story. And that's I think it just speaks to the love of like the community, like, you know, I'm a product of black love. And my parents instilled in me like pride in the culture. And I think it kind of just carried me throughout my entire career, whether it was being a marketer or being an author. And so I just want to show that in a story like the love that our community gives to the culture, to each other, and to like to romantic partners, no doubt. >> Candice Iloh: Um hmm. I don't. I don't think that I intentionally try to strike a balance. I just I think I think about issues and problems and trauma in the way that I see them in regular life where one second you could be like crying with your friends and the next minute somebody says something ridiculous and you're laughing with the tears running down your face. And so that has made me. Approach stories in a similar way where it's just like I use humor a lot. Like there's just been many experiences that I've had where good and bad things are happening at the same time. And I think that I want to just see that more in stories like the complexity of. I don't know the complexity of like for example, in Break This House, Yamina is essentially being invited back to the family reunion that somehow she missed the invite. And in the process she learns this some some more news about her mother via the invite. And I wanted to show in this story at points where you're like, you're back in your hometown. You know, I don't know if everybody has family reunions, but I know in black culture with family reunions, every one to two years, you see all these people that are supposed to be really important to you. And it's so complex, like. And one moment you're at the cards table with your friend, your cousins, and you're laughing and you have these jokes that have been going on for like ten years. And then on the other side of the yard, you're seeing this uncle that is inappropriate whenever you see him. And so I feel like I, I, I approach this balance of like the hard stuff and the soft stuff and the mundane stuff in the way that I just feel like that's life. That's literally how life is constantly moving and working. I'm constantly like when I'm people watching, I'm seeing like all of these things happen at the same time. And I just yeah, it's dialogue, it's humor, It is the conversations that are happening concurrently that I think are just hilarious about life, like how you know something, as you know, I just being a black person and seeing how I have noticed a lot of my family members deal with grief, using humor and like cracking jokes at the wake and cracking jokes Like, it just I don't know. I don't think I try to do it. I just think about like, including everything. Like, there are just so many things that are happening at the same time. And it's it would be wild for me to only focus on that one dark spot. >> Jason Reynolds: Yeah, I've decided that all of I'm just going to start calling all our books adventure novels for lots of reasons. Number one, because I think our lives is for real, like an adventure, but also because I realized in, like, adventure novels, like they could just kill, like fifty people and then never be labeled a problem novel or issues. But they could just murder, they could just mowed down dragons, could come in and eat like fourty people, right? It could be page after page of bloodshed. And no one will call it an issues book. No one will call it a problem novel. No one will say it's trauma porn. No one will say any of this. They'll just call it an adventure novel and it'll be fire and make movies of it. And television. Right. So from here on out, we just write adventure novel. I mean, you heard it here first, man. Make sure you I take that with you. [cross talk] Black people write adventure novels. [Laughter] That's it, period. I'm so sick of it. [Laughter] Let's let's shift gears for a second. I want to talk a bit about music in different ways. In your story, music is at the forefront. Our boy Prince, by the way. Do you know who? Prince Jones. Do you know that? Do you know that the name Prince Jones has, like, another kind of weight to it? You know this. Prince Jonas. His name was right. I don't know if it's the proper it's the appropriate place to say it. You should. But look up who Prince Jones was. Anybody? Is anybody from here? Does anybody know anybody who was from here know who Prince Jones was? Some some folks in the back. Okay. Basically Prince. Well, I will say it actually, because we should lift his name up. Shout out to the brother, Prince Jones. Prince Jones was a young man who was followed. This was when was this air? Like maybe fifteen, fifteen years ago. fifteen, twenty years. two thousand. The year two thousand. twenty two. twenty two years ago. Yikes. I'm like, whoa. It was that long ago because it seems like yesterday Prince Joneswas a young black man who was who was followed home by a police officer and murdered by this cop in his driveway of his own house. And it was a huge thing in this. And this happened here in this area, and it was a huge thing. So when I saw the name Prince, it was immediately like, whoa, that's intense. You probably didn't. >> Ebony LaDelle: I didn’t know that. >> Jason Reynolds: It's totally fine. But, you know, it is what it is. You know what I mean? It's okay. Sound to Prince Jones, though. God bless the dead. My question is about music and your story is at the forefront because Prince is a is a radio DJ love advice, which is, by the way, a brilliant sort of plot line. Right. And it's in Detroit, which is I hope we all know, basically one of the hubs of of music, especially black music, but also rock and roll and punk music and a lot of other musics. So I wanted to talk a bit about the effects that music has had, not just on your life, but on the writing of the book, like thinking about music in that way. And Candice, I want you to think about musicality. Right. I know you. Obviously. I know your work. I know your thing. I know your style. I know all of that. And so talk a bit about musicality and the language, especially knowing that you come from you're sort of your first discipline is in poetry and then the value of that. And just talk a bit about both of those things. >> Ebony Ladelle: Yeah. so... >> Jason Reynolds: you're going first, you're doing it, you're killing it. >> Ebony LaDelle: I'm trying. >> Jason Reynolds: I'm just proud of you. [Crosstalk] You really you really hit it off Fine. [Crosstalk] >> Ebony LaDelle: Okay. [Laughter] So, Prince Jones, it's so interesting you say that. I did not know that when I thought of Prince as a character. I actually thought I was like, I want him tall. I want him dark skin. I want him to look like someone. >> Jason Reynolds: Oh... [Laughter] >> Ebony LaDelle: Oh, God. I want. Him. [Laughter] No, I want no drama. >> Jason Reynolds: We're good. [cross talk] >> Ebony LaDelle: I want him to look like someone that looked intimidating to. >> Jason Reynolds: Not like me. >> Ebony LaDelle: A normal person that walks down the street. But who is this very sweet, tender, wonderful, loving boy because he is still a boy. And the reason how music came into play and him being a relationship expert is I was trying to figure out like the platform that he was going to give, like relationship advice. And I kept thinking of waking up in Detroit with my mother, driving to work school and listening to like all the radio stations. So in Detroit it was Mason in the morning. And then y'all know, like Ricky Smiley, Donnie Simpson, and like all the national syndicated shows and everything that they would have. And I was like, It would be really dope if Prince actually gave good love advice on the radio instead of the crap that we would hear. And so once that happened, that is when I realized, okay, I can't I have to write about Detroit because I'm literally pulling this from my childhood. And that is when all of the music and all of my inspiration started to flow. I also wanted to show, because the book is for, you know, romance readers for females mostly. And we love a good love story. I wanted to show how music and writing influences love just in the way that a romance book would. And also, realistically, I have never dated a guy who understood me being a book nerd. Like they're like, Wait, what? [Crosstalk] They ain't going to no bookstores. They're not. No, not like that happening. [Crosstalk] >> Jason Reynolds: Who are these men? >>Ebony LaDelle: Who you talking about? Not like that. Look, >> Jason Reynolds: that means you wrote it. So then you really wrote it for. [Crosstalk] >> Ebony LaDelle: Me right. [Crosstalk] >> Jason Reynolds: Here. And listen, that mean for all the boys and fellows? And she wrote it for us so that we can learn how to do this, right? >> Ebony LaDelle: That's right... >> Candice Iloh: everybody. [Laughter] >> Ebony LaDelle: But yeah, so I wanted to show a boy that's really trying to, like, understand what this girl wants and what they need and what they love. And he sort of uses music as a way to bridge them together. So that was very important to me. And, you know, like you said, Motown, like, birthed this country's musical sound. And so I wanted to also pay homage to all of the people who came before us and also people who are here now. And so, like even hometown heroes, I wanted to make sure I included in the story. So. >> Candice Iloh: I just sort of really I think deep down, I want everything to sound as good as a poem. And so I really. [Laughter] So break this house is my first actual prose, my foray into prose fiction. And I was very concerned that I wouldn't know how to write fiction and that I wouldn't know how to write like a really powerful sentence, the way that I would do a stanza or a line break or whatever. And for me, the musicality are, I guess music comes in with me having to read everything out loud, like, that's how I know that the paragraph is done. That's how I know the chapter is done. When it sounds like it's done to me and I and I owe that to poetry. I owe that to being a student and a scholar of poetry since I was I think it was like nineteen years old, sophomore at Howard. I started going to open mics and a lot of the the the poets that came into these open mics, they rhymed and they had a rhythm. They had a cadence to the way that they said their poems. And I just feel like I want that's just the experience I want to have with writing. And so I am always thinking about what does it sound like to the reader? Like there's going to be readers like me who read a lot of things out loud, like sound plays a big part in how an experience feels to us. And so I think it's a big part of writing and it just is. I don't know. I think it's I've been trained to kind of like hear it and to think about it. >> Jason Reynolds: Yeah, yeah. I've got time for two more questions before we open it up to the audience. So be thinking about your questions because we come and all of y'all our mouths better. Had some questions. All this had something to say, you know? [Laughter] So this part, this question is actually what I actually want you all to do is to offer each other a piece of advice. Ebony This is your foray into. Into the fiction world. But you are averse and astute in the marketing world, specifically book marketing, specifically children's book marketing, even even even more accurately. And so that's always the hardest part for us. For those of you don't know, it's really hard to write the book, right? Like, that's really like, that's a mountain. But then after you write the book, you try and figure out how to get people to realize that you climb the mountain. And it's really difficult sometimes because no one seems to be looking up at the fact that you're standing on the top of a mountain, right? And so there are other people there for us like Ebony to make sure that people know that we have, in fact, traversed up what is what almost seems impossible sometimes. And we would love for you to see that and to take part in that and to and to recognize that this is for you. I climb the mountain for you. Right. And so I want you to. What advice would you give Candice as she continues to matriculate through her through their career, excuse me, candidates, particularly through their career, what advice would you give them? [Laughter] >> Jason Reynolds: Now I know what it's like. You heard You heard that she was like, Uh... >> Ebony LaDelle: This is a very hard question. I don't think I'm going to have the best answer, but I'm going. >> Jason Reynolds: it's all good. It's going to be better than what we know. [Laughter] >> Ebony LaDelle: No pressure. Honestly, I. I think so much of what I had to learn. So the first half of my career really was just me listening, because I don't know if you have been following this DOJ trial. I'm not going to get into it, but there's a lot that. >> Jason Reynolds: Ya’ll edit that part out, Ruben. [Laughter] >> Ebony LaDelle: There's a lot that goes on in publishing that is that is a lot. There's a lot that you have to sort of you have to fight for. Like I was always on the inside fighting for something, even if nobody knew what it was. And it really is a matter of my opinion versus someone else's. I'm not saying it's always like that. There are times where there's data and facts and all that stuff, but it really is the opinion of what I think works for a particular market, what I think will sell, what I think this is versus what they feel. And a lot of people have, you know, they have the best intent, but they might not understand our actual live experience. One of the things that I love to say when I would be on a marketing panel and they ask me like, How do you market to authors of color? I'm like, Who are your friends? You know? And I'm not trying to be funny. I'm serious. So much of what I learned was through people around me. And if your circle does not show that, then how are you going to know? And so I would just say, stick to your guns. If there's something that you really feel passionate about, that you feel like they're really getting wrong. There is nothing wrong with speaking on it. And I know that may sound silly, but I do think sometimes even me knowing the other side, it's hard sometimes for me to advocate for myself and push back when I feel like, Oh, but they're the experts. They're the experts. They're supposed to know, you know, like you're the expert, too. You've been studying poetry for years. You were at Howard. She was they were passing out chat books, you know, around like, you know what I mean to the students at Howard? Like, you know, how to hand sell your work. And so that is something to always remember. I would. >> Jason Reynolds: Say. I got to give you a shout out, Candice, because Candice and I'm giving you a shout out also to to also put some fire on your publisher. Respectfully. [Laughter] Respectfully. It is what it is, right? We all we got. It is what it is. So it is what it is. This is the reason why they don't give people like me microphones. But I want to say I want to say that I that I want to take my hat off to my friend. Because you organize your own tour and you raise money for your own tour. And you hit the road and promote it. Break this House on your own volition, on your own dime, with your own community. [Applause] And I think and I think it's important to know and I think it's important to say that allowed, because I think people don't know that for a lot of us, the resources aren't always there the way people think they are. And so I do want people to hear that, and I do want them to hear that, too. Like, no, they made it happen regardless. Let's let's try to do better next time for them. Right? Because they matter. Their stories matter. Their stories work, quote unquote. And so it's important that we make sure that we that we push that a little bit. For you, the question I want you to give Eb a bit of advice, and we're going to have to write another novel. Right. This is the this the wild part about being in the industry like you. You get that first one out and you really feel like a weight was lifted off your shoulder for like 16 and a half minutes. [Laughter] Right. A good a good 16 and a half minutes. You're like, woo! And then it get real dark for you because you realize in this moment, like, oh, they they're going to be expecting something else. I got to have another one. I had my whole life to write this one, and I got like fifteen months to write another one. I know it's cool, but we've been there. But. But this is why I'm asking Candace. Candace, who is now, has now got on the other side of the wall of the sophomore year of their sophomore novel. What advice, Candace, do you have for Abe as she approaches herself? Herself, one of them as I'm getting it all in in. Hmm. >> Candice Iloh: So I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing at all. [Laughter] >> Jason Reynolds: This was a terrible idea >> Candice Iloh: But I do. But I think I'm going to recycle advice that was given to me by you. Which you. In so many words, you know, Jason told me not to, like, get caught up. He would just be like, Put your advance in the bank and keep writing, like. This is really I don't know. It was just really sobering after everybody looking came out and just having such a great debut to realize like like it's sobering for people to immediately be like, you know, what's next? What are you writing next? >> Jason Reynolds: It's also unfair. >> Candice Iloh: It's so much and it's just it feels like and also you said to me that I'll probably just be not taking breaks and be working my first ten years, and that's what I've done. >> Jason Reynolds: Yeah, that's terrible. I probably should not have said that. It is. That's what I did and it almost killed me. I want to take that back. >> Candice Iloh: You want to take it back? But it happened to me. So I just really want you to, like. I don't know, like. My advice is to just get into your creative bag. Like, don't be like me and spend too much time in doubt. Like, just like you've done one already. Just start believing in your your ideas just the same way. Like I'm me. I wrote this, so I'm going to write this and then I'm gonna write this and I'll write this. And I think that I personally got into my head a lot just because everybody looking meant a lot to me. Break this House means a lot to me, and a lot of times people cannot see all that's going on and all that you put into it. And so I just feel like. I don't know if you can whatever it is that that you can use to access that place, that will just get you into this, like, creative bag. Like, just go live there if you can as soon as possible. >> Jason Reynolds: No doubt. And that's for all of you. I, by the way. All right. It's always writers in the room. It's always people who want to write. You know what I mean? That's for everybody is fine. Fine. You find your bag. You know what I mean? It's staying there. My last question is the question I've asked a gazillion people I've asked candidates this before, but Eb I've never asked you this. But I've asked whoever I talked to in this space this particular question. My belief is that between the ages of ten and twelve is the first time that our lives explode. Typically, that's usually when when we realize that, that the world is real. And so my question my question to you both. If you could look back on your ten year old self and you could think that ten year old self for something, what would it be? Because I also firmly believe that it is that moment that sort of makes us who we are. I really feel like at fourty I'm still just whoever ten year old Jason was. I just look a little different. I put on Grown-Up clothes, but I don't know if I've ever. I'm still that that. That's the kid that writes the books. That's the kid that comes here and laughs and jokes, which that's like. It's that kid that I'm doing my best to hold on to, actually. And so if you could look back ten between between ten and twelve, what would you thank ten to twelve year old Ebony for? >> Ebony LaDelle: I'm going first because I know you. You had to answer to this. Oh. [Crosstalk] >> Jason Reynolds: You've been doing so well. I can. [Crosstalk] We can defer. You Can we can. We can defer on this one. Candice, Candice, you're ten to twelve years old. So what would you thank ten to twelve year old Candice for? >> Candice Iloh: I am really grateful to ten year old Candice for staying weird Like, worried. I've been a loner my whole life, and it's just when I look back on high school and everybody I knew back then and stuff like that, it's obvious that like me being myself and me being strange and off in my own world really paid off in a lot of ways because it just. Our paths are differing and I really am grateful to ten year old me who, like, just didn't fall victim to just trying to be popular and trying to do what everybody else was doing. Because I think being weird and having my own ideas just really makes me a creative adult. And so I'm glad that, like, I didn't give up on my weird self like that, that that part of me that people made fun of and that I was oftentimes like, laughed at for. That's the part that's like most instrumental in my career right now. And so what people appreciate in me. And so I'm glad that ten year old me didn't think that, like they needed to change. >> Jason Reynolds: Shout out to the weirdos. Eb? [Applause] >> Jason Reynolds: Eb? Ebony LaDelle: So I was a pretty quiet kid. I didn't cause a lot of trouble, but when I did not think something was fair, I would not let it go. Like it was very strange. It was like a flip with switch. And I'd be like, Why? And really, a lot of times it was adults, me forcing adults to give me logic. And I think I was able to get a lot out of adults because they're like, Yo ebony, she borderline. She should get in trouble right now. But also she doesn't usually do this. So like, let's give her the benefit of doubt. And so I would get a lot out of people, but sometimes I would do things and I'm like, Oh, did I push it too far? And I realized that that was something that I carried on into my adulthood. So when I worked in publishing and I felt like something didn't seem right, I would question it until someone gave me an answer. And I realized that it was more of me finding my voice and speaking out when I felt like it was important and it was the insight that I needed to have a career and also become a writer. And so I'm just thankful to Ebony continually saying that's not fair. When she thought it was. >> Jason Reynolds: Shout out to those with constitutions. Word up. [Applause] All right. It's time for some questions. Q and A. We got microphones here in and hear. Make your way to the aisles. We got about twelve. Thank you very much. You all want it. [Laughter] Thank you so much. We have twelve minutes. Exactly. Let's make it happen. We'll try to get as many as we can. There are so many of you lining up, which makes me very happy. All right. Am I calling on folks? Is that what's happening? Got you. We'll start on this at. >> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: Hi. I had a question about once again, love. So someone once told me that, like, this specific love trope is overused a lot. Mainly like the. Boy meets girl, they fall in love kind of thing. And so when you were talking about love in your books, it was the cameras approaching me like, it's going to eat me. But oh, gosh. But there there were like you talked about the different love types that weren't exactly shown in media. So what were some of the main tropes or I guess tropes because that isn't really fit, but what were some of the main like concepts that you think need to be included in more media and aren't shown enough? And why is. That? >> Ebony LaDelle: So one of the first things I wanted to show was a black girl. Getting wooed like that was really important for me. [Applause] And so a lot of people, they they love Prince like, they're like, Oh, Prince is, my favorite character, Danny, is that's my homie, because Danny is me in a lot of ways. And I wanted to show a character on the page that was not necessarily likable. Like black women have to be so many things. We can't be too aggressive. We can't have the smile. We have to do this. And I wanted to show a character that is not giving you all that from the beginning. And yet you are still finding a prince who comes to her and is trying to woo her. So that was important because I don't think I think black girls are always the side characters were never or never getting main character energy. We're never being wooed. So yeah, that was really big for me. And also there are so many black movies that I watched growing up that were my rom coms, that were the romance books that I never got to read. And I wanted to pay homage to those because so much of the, I guess, slow build that I wanted to write in Love radio was inspired by the love. Jones by the love and basketball by all these movies that I used to watch. For anyone who's read the first chapter, that is actually literally me and my mother growing up, she would be watching these romance movies. I'd be looking at her like, Yo, we're doing this. It's Thursday. We just saw this movie two days ago. And then I would be sitting on the couch watching it with her. So clearly I was into it too. So yeah, those are some of the ways that. >> Jason Reynolds: You good. >> Candice Iloh: Yeah, that was her question. >> Jason Reynolds: Absolutely. Yeah. Yep. >> Ebony LaDelle: Thank you. >> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: Hi. My name is Lauren. I'm a senior in high school and an aspiring writer. And I guess, Mr. Reynolds, you said a little bit about grappling with. I have a written. Down. You said about grappling with trying to find balance in work and avoiding it from becoming a caricature. So I guess my question is, in a world where artists are always trying to relate with their audience, what is your advice for making sure that stays authentic and doesn't get drowned in that? I want to speak to. You, not through you. >> Jason Reynolds: Yeah, you know, I think. It's such a good question. My theory about writing has in the way that I the way that I approach writing in general is that it has everything to like. The audience thing is a real thing. I'm not one of these people who say, I write, I write for myself. I know a lot of us do. I know this is the thing. I get it and I understand it. But because I write for children, I have to be aware of children. And I, to be honest, like I'm writing for children. So I have to think about them. Right. That being said, though, I think that your ability to be good at the thing and and covering all your bases has everything to do with your ability to to know yourself. Writing is about like it's about how well you know yourself and the process of writing will change you every single time. And so when we're thinking about like, how do I not speak to them, the real question is how do you relate to you? Can you be honest with you? That's the hardest part about writing, right? When you hear all those voices in your head because nobody is around you when you're doing it. Most of the time, I think that most of the answer to this question really has to do with like you knowing you well enough, because that's really what human beings connect to. I'm a person, right? And so the more Candace knows Candace, the more I can connect to Candace, because that thing resonates because we're both made of the same stuff. Right. So the more you know, you, the more your audience will recognize the truth in the thing that you do. You feel me? Think about it that way. It's more meditative than just like, how do I make a thing that they're going to like? You know, it's more like, how can I be me at all times in this space, trusting that they're going to see that and connect to it despite who they might be. Feel me. Yeah. >> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: Thank you. >> Jason Reynolds:No doubt. We got time for, like, two more. We're going to try and make it. Sorry. Ready? >> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: Yes. >> Jason Reynolds: All right. >> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: Hi. My name is Barb. I am a middle school writing teacher. We brought three busloads of kids shout out to Benton Middle School, Hampton Middle School. [Applause] I want to say I love what you guys said. A couple of things. Candace said she has to read it out loud to know the paragraph is done. I've heard kids say, How long does this have to be? And my standard answer is, is how long do you need it to be? So I wrote your words down because I'm going to put that on my wall. And then Ebony said something about writing what you're passionate about. I love that. I love that idea. I love to be able to share that with middle school writers. Jason we we know your books. We we used your videos during the COVID closure with the Library of Congress. So thank you so much for giving us a connection so that kids could write through that pandemic. My question really is when a kid comes and they're stuck, there's writer's block, because I know you do this for a living. How do I how do I help them pull out out of this? I think this is advice that we all could use. But specifically because you talked about how you're basically your middle school self, even as a grownup. And so my my middle school self was also an aspiring writer. And you come up with those blocks. What's your best advice? >> jason Reynolds: Yeah. >> Candice Iloh: Can I take this? And it's my favorite question. >> Jason Reynolds: This is it. Go for it. >> Candice Iloh: So I think what it sounds like you're talking about writer's block, and I feel my advice is that you give yourself permission to write terribly. >> Jason Reynolds: Yeah. >> Candice Iloh: Like writer's block is nothing to me. It's nothing but you being afraid to write something badly. And I feel like your rough draft is. It's inevitable. So you have to put the bad thing down so that you can. You can make it as good as you can. And so it's really just like getting past this idea that whatever I put down has to actually be good. It doesn't have to be. I don't you're the you're the person who measures if it's good or not, you're the person who decides if you're done or not. And I feel like it's really important to at the beginning of your writing process, just to be like, let me just get it out. Like we'll worry about if it's good or not later on. >> Jason Reynolds: And the reason why it's complicated in us, in your situation specifically with your young people, is this is the tricky part about grades, right? And so what has to happen is you're going to have to create space where we figure out ways where that isn't in the equation and they can just have a moment to express themselves, no matter how good or bad it might be. >> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: I love that. Thank you. [Applause] >> Jason Reynolds: All right. We got five minutes. So we're going to be going bouncing back and forth. Yep. >> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: Hi, my name is Lauren. I'm thirteen in one of my favorite books is Look Both [Crosstalk] Ways by Jason Reynolds. So I would like to ask, what was your favorite book as a young person? [Applause] >> Jason Reynolds: I just want you I know Lauren is thirteen. This don't make her feel good. You feel me? You are playing her out in front of everybody. [Laughter] [Crosstalk] This is a good question. So, Lauren, here's the thing. I, I really would love to tell you a good answer. Unfortunately, when I was thirteen, there were no books that I was reading. It just it just wasn't a part of my life. I am curious, though, because it may have been different for for ya’lls, so I can't. Unfortunately for me, there were no books I didn't have. I could have I didn't even know this was a thing, you know, unfortunately. And so you're already smarter than I am. do ya’ll have an answer? >>Ebony LaDelle: Answer. I do. So mine was the skin I am in. >> Jason Reynolds: About the Sharon Flake, the great Sharon G. Flake. >> Ebony LaDelle: You are the intro for the I wrote it. >> Jason Reynolds: I did write the intro. [Crosstalk] >> Ebony LaDelle: I read that. >> Jason Reynolds: Have you read that, Lauren? >> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: No, I haven't. >> Jason Reynolds: I still fire. It's been out for 20 some years. Still fire. Sharon G. Flake. The skin. I'm there. >> Ebony Reynolds: Yeah. So that book changed my life because I would go to from Detroit. I went to the library, the local library, and that was the first book after, you know, Goosebumps and Boxcar Children and all this stuff I was reading where I saw a girl on the cover that looked like a carbon copy of me this. Girl had brown skin. She had almond shaped eyes, she had a button nose, and I was like, I don't even know what this book is about, but I'm gonna pick it up and read it. And so picking it up and reading it and it's essentially a book about finding your own confidence and self esteem. It changed me, so I'm very grateful. >> Jason Reynolds: A massive. >> Ebony LaDelle: Book. Yeah. >> Jason Reynolds: You got something? >> Candice Iloh: I also was not reading like that as a teenager, but my favorite children's book was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. [Applause] I love writing about food. >> Jason Reynolds: No doubt. All right. We're good. Lauren. Yes. >> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: Thank you so much. >> Jason Reynolds: We got time. We're going to you're going to be the last one only because you're a young person. Your last one. I'm so sorry for the folk behind you. [cross talk] Who is that? You're not getting your question asked. Come on, young brother. Let's do it. Let's hear it. >> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: Okay. So my name is James. I actually go with this person right here in the bus. Shout out to Benton in middle school. >> Jason Reynolds: Shout out to Benton middle school. >> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: Main question. Any advice you would give to young, inspiring writers? >> Jason Reynolds: All right. Good question. To end on. Thank you. >> Candice Iloh: Oh, no. [Indistinguishable] I mean, newbies. >> Ebony LaDelle: Okay, so since I'm the the newest one in the crew to be a writer, I would say that one of the things I did to make sure that I kept writing was I just wrote. I just wrote it. I just wrote the thing. I think for years I was so stuck on like Candace was saying, having it be bad, having someone judge me, especially because I was also in publishing and reading all this great work and I was sort of getting in my head and psyching myself out. But the beauty of writing in Word or whatever you write in is you can just delete it and start new. So just just get it out. >> Jason Reynolds: Mm hmm. >> Candice Iloh: Try. Just try, like, the ideas that you have, that pop pop up that seem insignificant or seem silly or like they're never going to come through. Like, you have no idea where that idea might lead you. So just take your ideas seriously. >> Jason Reynolds: And all I have is think of it like every other Art iIt’s art. Right. Ain't no right way to dance. Ain't no right way to paint. Right. It's art. And so you can do whatever you want to do with it. All right. We have one and one half minutes. You got you got a quick one. You ready? Let's do it. >> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: Hi. My name is Cameron, and I'm eleven years old. >> Jason Reynolds: Shout out to Cam. >> MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: Thank you. So oftentimes, like in school when you're writing, almost like when they have you write short stories or like, almost like a book report or essay, they say like, okay, start with like a mountain. So like, this is the beginning. This is the climax. This is the middle of the climax. This is like how it's going to end. So when you write your stories, do you think of it like this is what's going to happen and I'm going to like, write everything that I put on paper? Or am I going to write like, freely? >> Jason Reynolds: This is such a this is going to be different for everybody. I'll tell you this. When's the last time you thought about walking? You know how you take steps every day, but do you ever think about, like, it's my right foot going in front of my left foot and then my left foot going in front of my right foot? Does that ever cross? It doesn't, right? It's not a thing. No, not exactly. But I say, yeah, it's not a thing, right? When you get older, it becomes a thing, not a thing. [Laughter] I was like, Isn't that a thing? So for me, so for me, writing feels more like that. Where I learned the mountain technique, right? Exposition, rising action, Climax, Falling action. Right. I learned that too. But I don't think about that ever. I just be walking. I know how to walk, so I'm just going to walk. And that feels better for me. >> Candice Iloh: But I want to add that it's easier to do that once you learn that exactly like I a lot of my writing teachers, they said learn the rules so that you can break the rules. >> Jason Reynolds: I was one of her writing teachers. Their writing teachers. They won't be trying to say that. But it was. I was. >> Candice Iloh: I mean Yes, I said. >> Jason Reynolds: just don't know why you don't give me my like, give me my flowers. I was one of them teachers. >> Candice Iloh: because, I mean, Jason. Okay. [Laughter] He is a great teacher. >> Jason Reynolds: I was like, Oh. >> Candice Iloh: My teacher is including Jason have been like, learn, learn the way that most people do it or learn kind of like the tool. So that way you decide how you want to rearrange the tools because some of your favorite books don't follow those rules, like the magic in a book doesn't come from the structure. It comes from you like doing something in between it. >> Jason Reynolds: Yeah. >> Ebony LaDelle: Okay, so I'm going to this. This is not how I write right now because I'm still new, so I'm nervous. Okay? So I like to have a skeleton, Like I like to have those major beats. But one of the things that I really enjoy doing is like getting a poster board and writing out all my random ideas and kind of like, like a puzzle piece, putting them in the story. So for me, it's helpful to get everything out, like I'm sort of purging and then I'm organizing like how I want the story to form and then I write. And that's honestly when I break the most rules because I had an idea of where I wanted to go. But then I get inspired and go in a different direction. >>Jason Reynolds: All of that. Works. >>MEMBER OF AUDIENCE: Thank you so much. >> Jason Reynolds: Hey, thank you. Thank all of you. We got we can't do it. I got to be respectful of the people. [Laughter] How do we feel about audiobooks? How do you feel [cross talk] about audiobooks? Audiobooks are the best. We all love audio. We all love audiobooks. They are amazing. >> Ebony LaDelle: Yeah, I'm glad they. >> Jason Reynolds: Exist and they count as reading. And they count. And they count as reading. [Cheers] Did I get it all right? [Laughter] Yeah. I have a good one. Peace Out. [Applause]