Interview with YA author Dr. Seema Yasmin

​We are thrilled to interview Dr. Seema Yasmin for our blog today! Read below about her YA book, Unbecoming. 

​KLiC: What was your inspiration for Unbecoming? 

SY: Unbecoming is my debut novel which I started to write in 2019. It was inspired by the move to make abortion either impossible to access or outright unconstitutional. This was before Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, but of course, the writing was on the wall. My mind was traveling into the future to imagine what life is like for two Dallas teens trying to figure out friendship, faith and family when trying to get an abortion in a post-abortion world. Once I had that idea, the character of Laylah came to me in an instant and I could not get her out of my mind. She was earnest and hard-headed and getting in her own way in terms of letting friends and family in to give her the care and support she needed. Her bestie, Noor, then sprung alive and I could not get the two of them out of my head. It's wild to think the book is entering the world at the same time that the potential next president of the United States is talking about conducting surveillance on pregnant people to make sure pregnancies are not ended (something mentioned in the novel) and when Florida just banned abortions after six weeks. Wild. But even though some are calling the book prophetic, it was so clear in 2019 that this was where we were headed. This was my attempt at what writers do: working out our fears on paper.
 
KLiC: Please tell us about your writing process. How long did it take you to write and sell Unbecoming? 

SY: When I began writing it in 2019, I was writing by hand into a notebook. I had no idea how to write a novel or if this one could be any good. I wrote about twenty thousand words and then I left it. Because I didn't know what to do. Then I scribbled down - in the same notebook - a list of my fears. Top of the list was that my agent, Lilly, would say it was terrible. So I shared the pages with Lilly, and she loved it. That was a relief, but I still didn't know how to write the damn thing! I left it alone and went on my way to an artist's retreat for Asian American writers with Kundiman. It was there, in workshops and deep conversations with veteran novelists, that I let myself dream about finishing the novel. When the icon Shawn Wong told me that he had sold his novel, American Knees, on pages (meaning he hadn't finished it), I thought "Ah ha!" That's what I need to do because then I'll have two things that I need: a deadline (I'm trained as a journalist), and an editor to help me craft the rest of the story. Around that the same time, Roe v. Wade was overturned and Lilly was asking where the novel was. "Your speculative dystopia is becoming our reality!" she said. I had just published my first YA non-fiction book in the fall of 2022, What the Fact?! Finding The Truth In All the Noise, so the novel - which felt urgent - was mentioned to the same team at Simon and Schuster. I'm told it's rare to sell a novel on pages, but Lilly is a magician and the team at Simon and Schuster are amazing. The deadline and invaluable editorial input made Unbecoming possible. 
 
KLiC: What’s next for you? 

SY: My debut short story collection is out just in time for Halloween. It's called Djinnology, and it's a haunted collection of spooky tales about mysterious creatures from the Muslim world. I'm excited about that entering the world, and I'm thrilled to continue touring with my debut picture book, The ABCs of Queer History, which came out in April. I'm also working on a couple of screenplays as I consider which project to dive into next. 
 
KLiC: Is there anything else you want readers to know about you or your book(s)? 

SY: I'm inspired by Toni Morrison when she said “If you find a book that you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." Unbecoming, The ABCs of Queer History, Djinnology, all of my books essentially, are books that I wanted to read. I'm delighted that I get to play with words and tell these stories. And I'm intrigued for what's yet to come. 

​Unbecoming releases July 9th. Pre-order here. 

​Dr. Seema Yasmin is an Emmy-award winning journalist, author, medical doctor and professor. She trained in medicine at the University of Cambridge and in journalism at the University of Toronto.