Follow The Fear: An interview with Elizabeth Acevedo Author of ‘The Poet X’

For the past year, the young adult novel The Poet X has been showing up and standing out. This book is a revelation in content and form. The Poet X is a novel that smushes you in the face all the way back to high school. People said the movie Eighth Grade gave them middle school flashbacks, well nothing made me feel all the anguish, the boy crush, not understanding my body, trying to understand what is life feels than The Poet X. The best part is it is written in poetry prose, honestly my favorite style of writing. The composition so clever, the characters well rounded, the world real and engulfing. Xiomara is a mix of all the selves I was trying to figure out in high school and every young woman’s internal journey. The exciting part is, my dear friend Elizabeth Acevedo wrote it! From our days kicking it at The Brotherhood Sister Sol reading our poetry on Friday nights to writing top ten New York Times Bestsellers, I have been honored to see her rise. It was my pleasure to interview Elizabeth on her novel The Poet X and her journey into full time author and performer. Stay in for the full ride and read til the end — she drops some real insightful gems on following her fears to her true path and taking the big risks to rise to her power. At the same time sharing details on the inner workings behind her writing.

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