Debut You is an interview feature on Our Stories Matter blog. Debut authors, who have released or have upcoming releases in 2022, are given five questions to answer about themselves and their book. Currently, the questions are the same for all authors. We hope you enjoy getting to know Juliana Goodman and can offer your support. Go here for past Debut You features.
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Describe yourself in five words, then expound on one of them.
I would describe myself as creative, compassionate, resilient, courageous, and outspoken.
When I was younger, I was very quiet and shy, but as I got older, I decided I didn’t want to be one of those people who stands by and sees something wrong but doesn’t say anything, particularly when it comes to the treatment of Black people in white spaces. I’m very happy to have found my voice, and I intend to keep using it to help others!
Explain your book’s journey—how long did it take—from idea to publication?
Five years! I came up with the idea back in 2017. Social justice stories were trending in YA literature, and I wanted to add something to the conversation by writing a story depicting the murder of a young Black woman instead of a Black man. I drafted the novel in a month and then started querying agents. I did receive a few requests from agents but no offers of representation until early 2019. I signed with my agent, Patricia Nelson of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, and we spent a year polishing the manuscript for submission. I landed my book deal in March 2020. For the next two years, I worked with my editor, Kat Brzozowski, to revise and polish the manuscript even more. It’s been a long process! I don’t think I’ve ever worked on anything as long as I’ve worked on this book, and I feel I’m a much stronger writer for it.
Belief in oneself is important; besides you, who has been your cheerleader(s) throughout this process?
My best friend Audrey Gradzewicz. In the very beginning stages, before I had an editor or agent, I would send her chapters and ask her what she thought about certain scenes. I had just graduated from my MFA program, so I no longer had a community of writers to bounce ideas off. It’s really hard to revise your own work without any outside feedback, so Audrey being willing to be a second set of eyes for my manuscript was so helpful for me. She was also there to cheer me on through all the rejections. There have been so many times throughout this process that I’ve doubted myself, but my best friend has always been there to encourage me.
Understanding your audience is essential. What do you know for sure about the audience you are writing for?
My primary audience is Black girls who are still in the midst of discovering themselves and the space they want to hold in the world as individuals. They want to feel loved, protected, and valued, which can be hard for Black girls in America.
Tell us about your book.
The Black Girls Left Standing is about a sixteen-year-old girl named Beau whose older sister, Katia, is killed by an off-duty police officer. The only witness to the crime is Katia’s no-good boyfriend, Jordan, who has gone missing. To get justice for her sister, Beau and her best friend Sonnet start an anonymous Twitter account to gather clues about Jordan’s whereabouts. Along their journey, Beau starts to uncover things about Katia that make her question how well she really knew her sister.
YOU did it, congratulations! Your story is going to be read by children or teens, educators, parents, librarians, book bloggers, etc. How do you feel, and are there any other projects in the works—that you can discuss?
I feel incredibly grateful and honored to be able to see my childhood dream come to life. It’s an amazing feeling knowing that regardless of what happens next in my life, there’s always going to be a book out in the world with my name on it. It’s definitive proof that, hey, I was here! I really hope that the Black girls and women who read The Black Girls Left Standing will see themselves in it in some way and find comfort in knowing they’re not alone.
I have a second standalone novel slated for 2024, but it’s still in its early stages. But I’m also contributing a short story to the YA anthology Out of Our League, edited by Dahlia Adler and Jennifer Lacopelli. My story is about two Black girls who play on their high school basketball team together. They attend a summer basketball camp, but things get complicated when they must decide if they’re ready to be out in the open.
The Black Girls Left Standing
Juliana Goodman | Feiwel & Friends | June 28, 2022 | YA | Amazon | Bookshop
Juliana Goodman was born and raised in Blue Island, Illinois. She received her B.A. in English Literature from Western Illinois University and her MFA in Fiction Writing from Purdue University. Juliana has received several awards and scholarships for her writing and was a Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Arts Award Finalist. She’s had work published in Sigma Tau Delta’s Rectangle, Blackberry: a magazine, and FIYAH literary magazine. Juliana is a literary arts fellow with the Tulsa Artist Fellowship. In her free time, she enjoys watching horror films, reading the latest young adult novels, and hanging out with her pit bull, Artie Partie, and her cat, Pickle.
Connect with Juliana Goodman
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