Journalist and founder of Dot Dot Dot, Laurie Segall, interviews Susan McPherson about her book and what it means to connect in the time of COVID.

“I’m a children’s and young adult book author, which means I am in a rare industry that’s largely dominated by women. YA is, as a genre, so mature in its intersectional feminism, and so writing within that framework gives authors interested in that incredible leeway to ask difficult questions, to play more with more risk.

“There will always be a market for books about exceptionally beautiful girls who are deadly with a sword or something, but it’s a real gift not to be limited to that tough girl trope as a market expectation. However, the real world is not our very niche corner of a niche industry, and so there’s this bizarre mismatch between the general world that bumps up against our work and those of us who are immersed within it. And it’s in the moments when that mismatch is most apparent that I feel like it’s possible anything I’ve written could have some minute value in the world; a girl will reach out and tell me she’s come out because of something I wrote. Or she’ll write to tell me that she’d been sexually assaulted, and my goofy book helped her feel like she could talk about it. And it makes me grateful for the many women who’ve made YA what it is. Without them neither myself nor the girls who’ve written to me would have found our place.”
– Maggie Tokuda-Hall

“As we watch our world facing even more incomprehensible atrocities, antisemitism and heartache right now, I’m constantly reminded of the great privilege and responsibility I have to be a Jewish Woman. I recently found out that my grandmother was quietly and courageously doing her part to help family members escape Nazi occupation in Eastern Europe. I think of all the untold stories of Jewish women that fought for our ancestors and who are the reason why we are all here today. With my work at Silver Screen Studios, I honor the many beautifully brave and courageous women that have lived through the unimaginable, standing tall and proud and who have allowed me to tell their stories for generations to come.”
– Tiffany Woolf