Would you please tell us about Taking Up Space?
TAKING UP SPACE is the story of a seventh grade basketball player who is having a hard time feeling good about her body and herself. It's based on my experience overcoming struggles with body image, food, and self-worth. TAKING UP SPACE is also a book about friendship, first crushes, a YouTube cooking competition, and learning to value yourself. I hope it will help readers see that they matter, and that we all need and deserve empathy and support.
I completely agree.
What was the inspiration for the book?
I started writing TAKING UP SPACE when I was pregnant with my daughter. I felt like I was 11 and going through puberty all over again. Back then, I had felt trapped. I wanted to shrink myself, so I wouldn’t feel so different from my friends. So I’d feel more comfortable in my body. And so I could go back to before my body changed. Pregnancy triggered those feelings. And my self-esteem plummeted. Food started to take up all the space in my mind, again. In addition to therapy, I wrote down everything I was feeling. What I discovered in all those scribbles is that I was writing a book about how we learn to value ourselves. And how for many of us that journey is long and complicated and hard. In all those notes, I found TAKING UP SPACE.
Random Question! Where’s your favorite place to write?
Before Covid, I loved writing at a coffee shop in Brooklyn with my author friends. When I'm drafting a new book, I really thrive on the energy of people typing. Not as much when I'm editing and revising. But now that it's nice outside and also safe, I'm excited to write around other writers again.
If you can talk about it, what are you currently working on?
I can't say too much about my next project, other than it's a mystery and you're going to love it!
What are some books you’ve read and loved recently?
STARFISH by Lisa Fipps
FORCE OF FIRE by Sayantani DasGupta
THAT THING ABOUT BOLLYWOOD by Supriya Kelkar
ANCESTOR APPROVED: Intertribal Stories for Kids edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith
These are all excellent choices!
Thank you to Alyson Gerber for letting me interview her! :)
Author Bio: Alyson Gerber is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Braced and Focused published by Scholastic. Her third novel Taking Up Space will be in stores on May 18, 2021. She has an MFA from The New School in Writing for Children and lives in New York City with her family. Visit her at alysongerber.com and find her everywhere else @alysongerber.
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It makes me smile! : )