Interview with Newbery Award Winner & NYT Bestselling Author, Jasmine Warga

Photo by Lillian Warga

We are thrilled to interview Jasmine Warga on our blog today! Read more about her writing process and upcoming middle grade book.
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What’s the one thing you want children to take away from your book?

I want kids to know that they deserve to be loved exactly as they are. One of the threads that runs through all my books is the power of self-acceptance, and learning how to embrace the parts of yourself that might make you feel different. I always share with kids that the things I was most insecure about myself as a kid are now some of my favorite things about adult me. I also hope that The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan specifically makes kids understand that if they are struggling with anxiety, they aren't alone. And, of course, I hope it makes them curious about the beauty of the natural world and feel inspired to want to take good care of the Earth and all of its creatures. 

Do you have any tips for pre-published authors?

Stay curious! Stay wondrous! Don't worry so much about trends. What excites you? That is what is going to excite your future readers. Writing is a magic trick. You have to believe in it to get anyone else to, and the best way to do that is to be fully in love and obsessed with the stories you are telling. Write like you won't ever be published. And strangely enough, I feel like that's the kind of writing that gets published. For anyone who is reading this that is pre-published, I can't wait to read your story! 

Is there anything you want readers to know about you or your book(s)?

I'm interested in expanding our definition of what a "diverse" book is. I want to uplift books and stories told by creators of all backgrounds, and understand that their backgrounds inform their writing even if they aren't directly writing about their identity. I always say that all of my books, at their core, are about home and finding belonging. This is because of my own family's history. And this is true whether I'm writing about a refugee girl from Syria, a Mars rover, or a cheetah. And lastly, I'd just like to say I'm so grateful to anyone who reads my books. I always think of stories as a shared dream between a writer and reader, and I'm beyond grateful when people decide to share in that dream with me. 

Jasmine Warga is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan, A Rover’s Story, The Shape of Thunder, and A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall. Her book Other Words for Home received a Newbery Honor and Walter Honor, among numerous other awards. Here We Are Now and My Heart and Other Black Holes, her novels for teens, have been translated into over twenty-five languages. She lives in the Chicago area with her family.