Hold Your Square With Jason Reynolds

First Draft Episode #214: Jason Reynolds

Jason Reynolds is the New York Times bestselling author of the
Ghost series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, Lu), When I Was the Greatest,
The Boy in the Black Suit, As Brave As You, Miles Morales: Spider
Man, Long Way Down, For Every One, Look Both Ways, and co-author
of All American Boys (with Brendan Kiely, listen to his First
Draft interview here) and Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You
(with Ibram X. Kendi),. In January, Jason was named the seventh
National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2020-2021.
Links and Topics Mentioned In This Episode



Jason didn’t grow up writing prose, but he and all his
friends had rhyme books where they would write lyrics. They
wanted to be the next Nas, Slick Rick, Run DMC, Big Daddy
Kane, or Rakim.




Jason’s aunt would give him classic books as gifts, including
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and Little Women by
Louisa May Alcott




Bob Marley’s “Kaya,” Nina Simone’s “Four Women,” Tracy
Chapman’s “Fast Car” were hugely influential on Jason because
of the beauty of the lyrics




Jason teamed up with the artist and writer Jason Douglas
Griffin for an early book, My Name is Jason. Mine Too: Our
Story. Our Way.




Jason credits Joanna Cotler, author and artist, and then
publisher of her own imprint at HarperCollins, with teaching
him how to write narrative and gave him the mantra: “Your
intuition will take you farther than your education ever
will.”




Jacqueline Woodson (author of Brown Girl Dreaming, winner of
the National Book Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and
Newberry Honor winner), Rita Williams-Garcia (author of
Clayton Byrd Goes Underground, a National Book Award
finalist), and Walter Dean Myers (author of more than 100
books for young people, including Monster, winner of the
Printz Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and National Book
Award, and more) are people Jason considers predecessors to
his career.




Christopher Myers, writer, artist, and the son of Walter Dean
Myers, pressed Jason to return to writing, to carry on his
father’s legacy. At Christopher’s urging, Jason read The
Young Landlords by Walter Dean Myers (which the TV show 227
was based on)




Caitlyn Dlouhy, Vice President & Editorial Director of
Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, nurtured Jason’s career by focusing on
the integrity of his work




Laurie Halse Anderson (author of Speak and The Impossible
Knife of Memory), Eliot Schrefer (author of Threatened, a
National Book Award finalist), and Gene Luen Yang (author and
illustrator of American Born Chinese), and Jason also shouts
out Sharon Draper’s New York Times bestselling Stella by
Starlight




Jason references part of Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself:
“Unscrew the locks from the doors! Unscrew the doors
themselves from their jambs!”




Jason admires writers who use verse for all or many of their
books, specifically Kwame Alexander (poet and educator, and
New York Times bestselling author of The Crossover: A Novel,
winner of the Newbery Medal and a Coretta Scott King Honor)
and Ellen Hopkins (New York Times bestselling author of
Crank)




Alfred Hitchcock’s works (including Psycho and Rear Window),
and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining are examples of subtle ways
that framing and design can make a viewer feel uncomfortable.




Quincy Jones said about producing music, “I always say you
have to leave space for God to walk into the room.” That’s
how Jason feels about the appearance of poetry in text.




The first scene of Boyz ‘n the Hood shows one kid asking
another, “Do you want to see a dead body?”




Fresh Ink: An Anthology, edited by Lamar Giles (author of
Fake ID and Spin), and Black Enough: Stories of Being Young
& Black in America, edited by Ibi Zoboi (author of
American Street, a National Book Award finalist, and Pride)
are among the anthologies that Jason thinks are wonderful. He
wonders why we’ve moved away from the short story format for
younger readers.




The TV show High Maintenance is another example of vignette
storytelling that Jason was going for with Look Both Ways




Jason shouts out Jennifer Buehler, Ph.D., Associate Professor
at St. Louis University, Educational Studies who specializes
in young adult literature




Jason’s friend and co-author of All American Boys, Brendan
Keily (author of Tradition, listen to his First Draft episode
here), refers to the story under the story as “vertical
narrative”


I want to hear from you!

Have a question about writing or creativity for Sarah Enni or her
guests to answer? To leave a voicemail, call (818) 533-1998. You
can also email the podcast at
firstdraftwithsarahenni@gmail.com. 


Subscribe To First Draft with Sarah Enni


Every Tuesday, I speak to storytellers like Veronica Roth, #1 New
York Times bestselling author of Divergent; Linda Holmes, New
York Times bestselling author and host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy
Hour podcast; Jonny Sun, internet superstar, illustrator of
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight! and author and illustrator
of Everyone’s an Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too;  Michael
Dante  DiMartino, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender;
John August, screenwriter of Big Fish, Charlie’s Angels, and
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; or Rhett Miller, musician and
frontman for The Old 97s. Together, we take deep dives on their
careers and creative works.



Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s free!
Rate, Review, and Recommend

How do you like the show?


Please take a moment to rate and review First Draft with Sarah
Enni in Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to
podcasts. Your honest and positive review helps others discover
the show -- so thank you!


Is there someone you think would love this podcast as much as you
do? Please share this episode on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or
via carrier pigeon (maybe try a text or e-mail, come to think of
it). Just click the Share button at the bottom of this post!


Thanks again!