NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Two leading young adult authors have a seven-figure deal to write a pair of novels centered on Black, queer characters.
FSG Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan Children鈥檚 Publishing Group, announced Wednesday that George M. Johnson and Leah Johnson (no relation) will write two romantic comedies, starting in 2025 with 鈥淭here's Always Next Year.鈥� The story is set around New Year's Day and tells of two cousins looking to get their lives, romantic and otherwise, back in order.
鈥淭here is an African proverb that states 鈥業f you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together.鈥� That is what the collaboration experience has been with Leah Johnson. As Black queer people, we are much more powerful when we combine our writing, creativity, and world build as authors together,鈥� George M. Johnson said in a statement.
鈥淚f the book is even half as fun to read as it was to write, then brace yourself,鈥� Leah Johnson said. 鈥淎s books about queer folks continue to face bannings and challenges across the country, writing a book that鈥檚 rooted in joy about the way we love one another feels like a liberatory act.鈥�
George M. Johnson is the author of 鈥淎ll Boys Aren't Blue,鈥� a bestselling 鈥渕emoir-manifesto鈥� from 2020 that has also appeared on the American Library Association's annual list of books most frequently challenged by community members or banned. Leah Johnson's 鈥淵ou Should See Me In a Crown鈥� also was released in 2020 and the following year was Reese Witherspoon's first choice for her Young Adult Book Club. Time magazine has listed it as among the 100 best young adult books of all time.
鈥淢y hope is that by continuing to put this type of work out in the world, and being loud and visible queer authors, we can affirm to young people everywhere that their stories do now, and will always, matter," Leah Johnson said in a statement.
The Associated Press
