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I’ve received a lot of mail this week. Most of it asking the same question: “Could you tell me what really happens at the end of Liar?”

I have already answered that questions on the Liar FAQ. But I’ll answer it again: No, I won’t tell you want really happens. You have to figure it out for yourself. You can do so in some excellent company over here.

There are other questions about Liar I totally will answer. But only if you ask them over here.

I’m also being asked about the Liar tour:

Details can be found here.

Scott and me are only doing one event together and it’s in New York City at the beginning of November and also includes the likes of Libba Bray and Suzanne Collins.

There’s a rumour that Maureen Johnson may be live tweeting my event in Memphis tomorrow. If you have a twitter account maybe you should start following her. If you’re not already, which I assume you are.

Almost done with my packing. Should I take the cowboy boots? Or are they a bit much for Tennessee?

If you’re busting to talk about Liar with other people who’ve read it this is the place for you. Here you can say whatever you want about the book without fear. Go forth, speak, theorise, argue, enjoy!

For those of you haven’t read it you really really really do not want to look at the comments below. Go here to see my arguments as to why you do not want to be spoiled. You should also avoid reviews.¹

Liar is a book that even people who normally ADORE spoilers have said they were very glad they weren’t spoiled before they read it. Like Tim Pratt for instance who said:

I’m one of those people who isn’t bothered by spoilers and sometimes seeks them out . . . but, yeah, Liar is much better unspoiled, I must admit. A real whiplash-inducing reading experience.

Listen to him and me. Read the book first and then come back here.

Are we clear?

Okay then: let the spoiler thread commence!

1. You should especially avoid the Horn Book review of Liar because it’s so outrageously spoilery I cried when I read it.

Yup, it’s finally here. Liar is now officially out in the world in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA! Is it just me or did that take FOREVER?

Also available for the first time today (officially) the audio books of Liar and How To Ditch Your Fairy. As well as the gorgeous US paperback of How To Ditch Your Fairy which as I may have mentioned multiple times is my favourite cover of all time. (Look to your left at the squashed fairy.)

If you can’t afford to buy new books right now, but are desperate to read Liar, I recommend getting your local library to buy a copy (if they haven’t already) or having a friend who owns a copy. That always worked for me.

Happy reading!

Pixelfish wants to know what a problem novel is. My own definition until fairly recently was: “a contemporary realist YA novel that I don’t like because it’s preachy and condescending and defines teenagers in terms of their ‘problems’ (which half the time I would not define that way) and most teenage readers hate.” (Here is a more useful definition.)

The problem with my definition, other than it’s way too personal, is that it’s not true. During the past few years of talking to teenage readers and school librarians I’ve learned how incredibly helpful many find problem novels. Readers told me over and over again that they were able to find someone like themselves in the main character dealing with abuse, with an alcoholic mother, a drug addicted father, or what have you. Librarians talked of being able to put the right book in the hands of a struggling teen, which not only got them reading, but every bit as important, gave them a way to talk about what was happening to them and thus get help.

When the reader finds the right problem novel for them it does a world of good. I am now for these novels even though I still find some of them overly preachy and boring. But, hey, what genre is a hundred per cent fantastic? None of them.

Also something has happened to the problem novel since I was a teenager. They’ve gotten so much better. Books like M. Sindy Felin’s Touching Snow, Coe Booth’s Tyrell, Varian Johnson’s My Life as a Rhombus touch on abuse, teen pregnancy, drug addiction, and an assortment of other “problems” and they are brilliant, moving, funny, touching, wonderful books that I highly recommend.

I still have a knee jerk reaction against them. What can I say? I have a deep fear of preaching. But I have come around so much that I would actually argue that my latest novel, Liar, is a problem novel.

What do youse lot think of them? I’m particularly interested in stories of how problem novels have helped you or your students.

My wonderful publisher and editor at Allen & Unwin, Jodie Webster, sent me this pic from her local bookshop in Melbourne, Fairfield Bookshop, (which you’ll be shocked to hear is in Fairfield). I suspect it will be the only time that the pile of my books is bigger than Stephenie Meyer’s! But, hey, I’ll take it while it lasts. Maybe the proximity will rub off on my sales. I can hope, right?

In other news we almost had a NZ winner of the Liar sightings contest. She even had to make them open up a box to get her Liar sighting. Fortunately for my readers in NZ, it was my sister, who’s working in Wellington for Weta.¹ Niki already gets enough free copies of my books so the contest is still open for New Zealanders. All you have do is take a photo of Liar in the wild. Either email it to me or link to it in a comment. Good luck!

1. Yes, she’s the glamorous one in the family.

The winner from the US of A, Carrie, found Liar at the Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts¹. Here it is:

Our Australian winner is Emma of Canberra who picked up her copy at her local Borders in Canberra. She reports that she found it on the “Borders Recommends shelf in YA. (Prominently displayed at eye level no less!)” And here is Emma with a copy of Liar:

Congrats to you both!

The Liar sightings contest is not over yet. Our New Zealand friends still have to claim a prize when they send photographic evidence of Liar in a Kiwi book shop. Sources at Allen & Unwin say it should start showing up there on the 25th of September.

So there you have it, if you’re keen to grab a copy of Liar in Australia, Canada and the US of A it should now be possible for you to do so.

1. Why, yes, I did have to look up out to spell that.

I’ve already talked about this a fair bit, basically pleading for people not to give any of the twists and turns of Liar. For the most part bloggers and reviewers for the trades have done exactly that.

I would like to thank them for being so amazing about not spoiling Liar. I’m really astonished by how considerate reviewers have been. Thank you!

Of course, inevitably, there are spoilers out there in the broad, wild intramanets. Not all reviewers feel the same way about spoilers that I do, which is absolutely their right. I cannot make anyone not spoil Liar I can merely request.¹

But I would like to explain once more why I think it’s important that those of you who have not read Liar should avoid the spoilers. There are a lot of them out there now. Your best policy is to avoid all reviews until you’ve read the book.

Here’s why:

Pretty much every reviewer so far has expressed pleasure at the unexpectedness of some of the book’s revelations. If you already know the spoilers that pleasure is taken from you.

Even friends of mine who don’t care about spoilers and actively seek out spoilers have told me that they’re really glad they read Liar unspoiled.

Knowing those revelations ahead of time will change the way you read the book. It will make you decide ahead of time that Liar is an x kind of book when if you had gone into it not knowing you may have decided it was a y kind of book. Or possibly both. Or some other thing altogether.

I deliberately wrote Liar to be read in more than one way. That way more than one reading would make sense and be sustained by the evidence. So if your friend tells you, “OMG! Wait till you get to page x and you find out y! And you discover it’s a z kind of book!” Your reading will be shaped by that particular interpretation of the book, which puts weight on the first revelation, but ignores the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth etc. ones.

Why, yes, Liar was a bugger to write. And, no, I have no plans to write any more books like it. From now on I’m only writing books where spoiling isn’t that big a deal. Like all my previous books.

One last thing: Yes, the Liar sightings contest is still going. Apparently Liar should start appearing in bookshops in Australia, New Zealand and the USA this week. First person to send me a picture of Liar in the wild for each country wins a prize. You can put a link to your picture in comments or email me. The Canadian prize has already been won.

1. The blog overlord, alas, only controls this blog with an iron fist.

I have created a Liar FAQ page on account of I’ve already gotten the same three questions many many times already and the book isn’t even officially out yet. If you have any more questions about the book feel free to ask them over there. And, yes, I have not answered the third questions in any detail that’s because I’m working on a whole post about it.

Some other questions I’ve gotten lately:

Q: Will you be posting a spoiler thread so that we can talk about Liar without having to be super careful about spoiling people?

A: Only one person has asked for this. If there seems to be a demand of more than one I’ll put up a Liar discussion post.

Q: Is your tour final? Is there any chance that other cities will be added?

A: It’s final, alas. Sorry!

Q: Will you be doing any new writing posts soon?

A: I have a number of writing posts in the works including one on writing dialogue and another on how Scrivener affected the writing of Liar. But I’m happy to listen to requests. Just check first to see if I’ve already covered it.

Q: Have there been any reviews of Liar yet?

A: There have been. You can find pull quotes and links to reviews here. I don’t blog reviews because I find it extremely dull. And if it bores me than I figure it will bore youse lot even worse.¹

I’m happy to answer any further questions. But if it’s a spoilery question about Liar take it over to the FAQ.

Hope you’re enjoying your Sunday. (Or early Monday morning if you’re back home in Oz.)

1. It’s blogging about reviews I find dull, not reading reviews.

Yesterday I shared the US trailer for Liar, today it’s time for the Australian Liar trailer:

Whatcha reckon? It’s difficult for me to say seeing as how that’s my words and my voice, and me and Scott shot some of the footage. I can say that I think the team at Allen & Unwin did an awesome job editing it all together. They’ve managed to make me sound smarter and more coherent than I actually am. Thank you.

Oh, and good news for those of you in Australia and New Zealand. I’ve been told that Liar’s official release day is 28 September but it will probably start appearing in book shops from 23 Sept in Oz and 25 Sept in NZ. I.e. in less than a week. Colour me excited.

Just found out that my US publisher, Bloomsbury, together with BookSpots has put together a trailer for Liar:

Pretty good, eh? It kind of reminds me of late 1950s/early 1960s film credits. Feel free to share the link far and wide.

Is it just me or is this the year when book trailers are everywhere? My favourites so far are Scott’s, Libba’s, Robin’s and Diana’s. I also love Lauren’s but it’s not live yet. Keep your eyes peeled.¹

What do you think about the whole book trailer thing?rty od

1. Or maybe don’t. Eyes peeled sounds so painful.

Because of the jacket change there was a wee bit of doubt that the US edition of Liar would be available on its scheduled release date of 29 September. I’m here to tell you that it most definitely will be available on that date. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it shows up in book shops ahead of schedule.

How do I know?

Because of this:

Yup, those are my author’s copies of Liar. They’re here and it’s only the beginning of September. I’d say we’re good to go.

Enough of youse lot are wondering what’s up with me not blogging every day that I am driven to offer an explanation for my blog silence of late. A brief explanation: travel, busy, knackered, bad sport karma.

I have many posts brewing or brewed. More on race, writing and publishing (here’s a few links to others. I’m especially loving the Writers Against Racism series on Amy Bowllan’s SLJ blog like this one with Ari of Reading in Color.); a complaint about Being Human (Why does the woman have to be a timid ghost? Wouldn’t it have been much more interesting if she was the werewolf or the vampire? Um, okay no need to write that post.); on re-reading Han Suyin’s A Mountain is Young; the long awaited stalker song post; a response to Sarah Rees Brennan’s wonderful essay on the way female characters get dumped on (hmmm, I think those last two posts may be connected); the art of writing dialogue, and many others.

Feel free to make requests for anything else you’d like me to blog about in the comments.

And for those who keep asking: both Liar and the paperback How To Ditch Your Fairy publish on 29 September. I.e. this very month! I happen to have two copies of HTDYF in its glorious paperback edition. So beautiful. Liar is also already a complete book with brand new dustjacket. I bet they will both start showing up in book shops around or even before the 29th.

Liar by Justine Larbalestier. Bloomsbury USA. October 2009. Reviewed from ARC. Copy from publisher.

The Plot: Micah is a senior in high school. She lies. She knows she has to stop; and on page one of Liar, she promises to tell you her whole story with no lies.

Micah tells you about herself, her school, Zach (the senior who just went missing), her family. And she tells you the truth. Except when she is lying. She cannot help herself; it's not just a bad habit, it's something she inherited. Her father, she tells us, is also a liar. And with the family illness that got passed down to her, she is almost forced to lie.

But reader... she'll tell you the truth. Or, at least, admit when she's lied. Or when she lies about the lie.

What is true? When can you believe a liar?

And what happened to Zach?

The Good:

Larbalestier creates such a sense of foreboding -- of impending doom -- that the reader can almost taste it. Something bad has happened. Something bad will happen. What is it? What secrets have turned Micah into such a liar? As Micah says, "Weaving lies is one thing; having them weave you is another."

Then, suddenly, half way through the book, Micah shares it. Her secret. The reason she lies. Suddenly, it makes sense. All the clues are there for the reader to figure it out. Finally, the reader can breathe easier. Now we know. We know and we can trust again. And the book shifts to mystery, a different type of suspense, the tone changing dramatically, as Micah tries to figure out what happened to Zach, and, now that she's being honest with us, her role in it.

Except.... is she telling the truth?

First person narrators aren't always unreliable. Sometimes, they are used to make something more immediate, to create a stronger connection between reader and story. At other times, such a narrator may not know the whole story, and the reader, wiser, more removed, is supposed to know more, see more, and to figure things out before the narrator. And sometimes...they play with us. They know the story. They decide what parts to tell us. Or not tell us.

Here, the narrator lies.

Micah lets us know, up front: Lies. Liar. And at the end of the book, the question for the reader becomes -- when do you believe Micah? When do you not? And what does that say about you?

Larbalestier's writing is brilliant; Micah's voice seduces us, tricks us, makes us want to believe in her, yet we are also afraid, unsure, uncertain. We know her; her school; her family. Or do we? Just how good a job does Larbalestier do? While I know Micah is manipulating me, the reader -- I never feel like Larbalestier, the author, is.

The wonder of this book, the beauty with how it is crafted, demands that you, as the reader, do not say "Rosebud was a sled" to people who haven't read this book. Wait until they are done; find a secure, sound proof room; and then talk away, about Liar and Micah and Zach.

Links:

Teaser
Twitter Review

The Original US Cover:

My post, Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover, pretty much sums up my opinion of the controversy. As a quick recap, the image to the left of a white teen was originally planned for the US cover. This created a lot of controversy (see my link above), and ended up being resolved by the publisher creating a new cover, the one you see at the top of this post.

I'll add this: I still believe there is a larger issue here. If publishers and bookstores truly believe that books with people of color on the cover (or books about people of color) don't sell, the easy way to counter that opinion is to buy, read, review, display, and book talk all books. It's a business; and if the sales and money show the publishers and bookstores a different reality, they'll believe it.





© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

In addition to my Melbourne Writers Festival events—first one is tomorrow with Scott and Isobelle Carmody *squee*—soon I’ll be off on my second US tour. Pretty, exciting, eh?

I just added a few events to the appearances page. So far I have events confirmed (or close to) for Phoenix, Nashville, Memphis, Austin, Seattle, Portland and New York City. I’m especially excited about those first three cities as I’ve never been to any of them before.

Also: Memphis = Gracelands = Justine hyperventilating. For those of who don’t know, yes, I am a daggy Elvis fan. Goes back to when I was very little.

There will be at least one or two more cities on my tour. I’ll let you know which ones as soon as I know. Here’s hoping it’s your city.

Just so you know, I don’t pick where I go. The wonderful publicists at Bloomsbury make those decisions and it largely depends on which book shops, libraries and schools want me to come to talk to them. It could be that I’m not going to your town because no one there asked my publisher to send me. So get mad at your local book shops, schools and libraries, not at me!¹

What will I be doing on tour? Talking about Liar, how I came to write it, my thoughts on lying, and the many other things that shaped the book. I’m also happy to talk about my earlier books, especially How To Ditch Your Fairy which comes out in its brand new shiny paperback edition at the same time as Liar debuts in hardcover. In fact, I’ll talk about whatever you want me to talk about. Last year, at one school event all they did was ask me about food. Oh, and to tell them vomit stories. I live to answer your questions.

Here’s hoping I’ll get to meet some more of you over the next few days and months. It’s my favourite part of touring.

1. Kidding! Book shops, schools and libraries never do anything wrong.

My last week in NYC I was invited to visit the studio where the audio book of Liar was being recorded. Even though I had a gazillion million things to do I made sure to get there. I’m so glad I did. It was an amazing experience.

I’d never had my prose read out loud by a talented actor like Channie Waites before. It was a revelation. I know it’s a cliche but she really did make my book come alive. Bits that I hadn’t realised were funny, she rendered funny. (In a good way!) It was strange and wonderful and gave me chills. And as you can see I’m really struggling to articulate how incredible it felt to listen to Micah brought to life.

Channie Waites in the booth behind the glass and Lisa Cahn reflected in the glass

Channie Waites in the booth and Jeffrey Kawalek doing his sound engineering thing

Let me instead talk about the nitty gritty. There were three people in the studio: Channie Waites in the recording booth, then the engineer, Jeffrey Kawalek, who’d call a halt to proceedings anytime he heard a P or T pop or the rustle of Channie’s clothing (those mics are crazy sensitive) who fiddled with knobs and dials and, lastly, Lisa Cahn, the producer, who would stop the recording to ask Channie to read it with more or less emphasis and so on. It was unbelievably hard to keep my mouth shut and not interrupt with my own suggestions, but I managed, and after a few minutes was able to relax and just enjoy hearing someone else’s interpretation of my book and my characters.

Channie Waites in the recording booth

Both Channie and Lisa had really interesting theories and questions about the book. I wrote Liar to be read in at least two different ways, but the responses I’m getting are showing me that there are way more than just two interpretations. I love hearing them all. Especially Channie’s and Lisa’s because they’d both read it very closely indeed. The finished recording is eight hours long but it takes at least double that to do the recording. That’s a long time to spend reading one book. I can’t wait to hear the whole thing.

The Liar recording was produced by Brilliance Audio and the How To Ditch Your Fairy one was produced by Bolinda Audio. Each will be available from the other company because of their cunning co-production. Liar will go on sale in each country at the same time as the print edition.

Yes, the new cover means that it is unlikely that Liar will be available in US and Canadian stores on the announced publication date of 29 September. I don’t know what the new pub date is but it will definitely be in October. As soon as I know I’ll pass it on.

There is no planned UK edition as UK rights have not sold. The English language editions, both to be published in October, are the Australian one published by Allen & Unwin and the North American version published by Bloomsbury.

There will also be an audio version read by the amazing Channie Waites (scroll down to see the photo of her) for Bolinda in Australia and Brilliance in the USA. I was able to sit in on part of the recording session and plan to blog about that incredible experience (with pictures) next week. (Short version: my work brought to life! OMG!)

If you prefer to read in languages other than English Liar will also be published in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Taiwan, and Turkey. I have no details yet on when those editions will appear.

I am hoping for a manga version, because I am always hoping for manga versions of my work. So far there has not been the faintest hint of a nibble in that direction for any of my books. Personally, I think How To Ditch Your Fairy would make the best manga series ever.

If you have any other questions fire away. I promise to answer them all even if it’s just to say, “Why are you asking me about stalactites? I don’t know anything about them. I can’t even remember if they’re the sticky up-y ones or the pointy down-y ones.”

'Sincerely, John Hughes' (a fitting tribute from former teenage fan and pen pal Alison Byrne Fields. Warning: you will get choked up reading this. Also MTV's Kurt Loder reflects on Hughes' legacy) (We'll Know When We Get There) (MTV News) - Pangea... Read the rest of this post

As reported in Publishers Weekly, Bloomsbury has replaced the controversial cover for Liar, even going through the trouble and expense of a new photo shoot. Victory is ours!

I’d like to thank the academy...

No, but really I would like to give a tip of the hat to many participants in this campaign.

First of all, us. Bloggers brought the issue out to the forefront with posts like that of Editorial Anonymous. As the controversy became known, bloggers wrote about the problem with support for the author’s honesty and distaste for publisher’s decision. Chasing Ray collected a long list of excerpts from blog posts to make it absolutely clear that this was, indeed, a Big Deal. Now, we’ve proven that bloggers matter — and quite a lot.

Justine Larbalestier wrote an amazingly honest and brave post about the cover, saying that she argued for a different representation but ultimately had no say in the decision. I was awed by her courage in speaking out, and appreciated her dilemma in challenging her own title and publisher. With the support she’s received, I know that she will enjoy a best-selling book that is true to her vision. I also suspect that she’ll be branded with a lifelong reputation for the greatest integrity.

Authors win a second look from publishers as a voice on book covers. I don’t expect a final say to be on the table for writers. Not at all. But I do think that publishers may listen a little bit harder when authors speak out about their covers, especially when it involves the color of the character’s skin, or say, a cover that by its very being affects the interpretation of the book to the point where it tears the narrative to shreds. Or something like that.

The victory also goes to authors and illustrators of color who have been fighting against racial bias in cover art for far too long. This particular battle was fought by many amazing book bloggers who focus on books with diversity, but I’m giving the win to Color Online. Through it all her voice was ever present and ever engaging, challenging us to write more, fight harder, and change sooner.

Many, many authors, illustrators, bloggers, and readers contributed their messages, opinions, and support. It made a difference, and hopefully one that will reach even farther than this one book.

As you’ve probably heard by now Liar is getting a new cover for its publication in October.¹ First Bloomsbury considered going with the Australian jacket of Liar and specifically with the black and red version you can see here because that would be the easiest thing to do. The design already exists after all and the window to make the change was very narrow.

However, given the paucity of black faces on YA covers, and the intensity of the debate around the original Liar cover, Bloomsbury felt really strongly that a more representative approach was needed. Rather than using a stock photo, Bloomsbury went the whole hog and did a photo shoot.

Here’s the result:

I am extremely happy to have a North American cover that is true to the book I wrote. I hope you like it as much as I do. I also hope we can prove (again) that it’s simply not true that a YA cover with a black face on the cover won’t sell. But let’s also put it to the test with books written by people of color. You don’t have to wait to grab your copy of Coe Booth’s Kendra² or any of the many fabulous books recommended by Color Online etc.

1. No, it’s not actually out yet.
2. Have I mentioned that I really love this book?

As you may have already discovered if you read Publisher’s Weekly’s “Children’s Bookshelf,” Bloomsbury is rejacketing the hardcover edition of Liar. My wish came true much sooner than I expected. Thank you to everyone who expressed your concerns. Thank you to Bloomsbury for listening.

As soon as the jacket is final, which should be soon, I’ll be posting it here. Yes, I was involved in the cover design process.

I am delighted that my post about the original Liar jacket got some traction. But everything I said there had been said many times before by authors and bloggers of colour. Whitewashing of covers, ghettoising of books by people of colour, and low expectations (reflected in the lack of marketing push behind to the majority of those books) are not new things. The problem is industry-wide.

I’m seeing signs that publishers are talking about these issues, and I’m more hopeful for change than I have been in a long time. However, as many people have been saying, we consumers have to play our part too. If you’ve never bought a book with someone who isn’t white on the cover go do so now. Start buying and reading books by people of colour. There are so many wonderful books being published right now, such as Coe Booth’s Kendra and M. Sindy Felin’s Touching Snow. Color Online is a wonderful place to find more suggestions as are all the blogs linked to in this paragraph.

Happy reading.

PS If you’re too broke to be able to buy any new books right now don’t forget about your local library. Or you could enter this contest to win A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott.

Today's Youth Advisory Board post is from Megan Reid who weighs in on the recent controversy sparked by the misleading cover chosen for the U.S. version of the dark YA novel Liar by Justine Larbalestier. As always, you can communicate directly with... Read the rest of this post

Comic-Con cont'd (a nice overview of what generated buzz and what fell short in San Diego last week. Also ReadWriteWeb takes a closer look at the "Avatar" toys integrated with augmented reality. And sci-fi blog i09 pans the pilot of The CW's... Read the rest of this post

How great that Young Adult Literature is being featured on Boing Boing. What a shame that it’s for Bloomsbury whitewashing the cover of Liar.

In Liar, the main character is black with short, “nappy” hair. The cover shows a white girl with long brown hair. It’s striking, but wrong. Though other options were presented, Bloomsbury prefers to use photos on their book — but apparently not of an African American. Author Justine Larbalestier wrote an amazingly honest and brave post about the cover, saying that she argued for a different representation but ultimately had no say in the decision. She’s heartbroken that the reader’s interpretation of the book is being affected, as Micah is a compulsive liar, and the cover is making it seem like even her self-identity is in question. The publishers gladly embraced that notion in Publishers Weekly. The problem with that interpretation is that it makes the book almost unreadable if we can’t hold onto anything as truth in the story. I know about the unreliable narrator concept, but the idea that every aspect of the book is subject to question is taking the idea too far. And wasn’t at all what the author intended.

I’ve read the book. The first time, I’ll admit that I didn’t think about the cover at all, and I enjoyed the story immensely. It’s an interesting and thought-provoking book that challenges the reader to interpret reality. I talked about the book with someone who wondered if the cover represented the character lying about her appearance — meaning that everything in the book could be a lie. So I read it again with that in mind and could barely get through it trying to find some solid ground to believe in.

My point here is that they messed with the wrong book, because the whitewashed cover is changing the interpretation of the story, and that’s a problem. It looks like they’ve also messed with the wrong author, give her strength. And one can hope that they’ve messed with the wrong community of authors, bloggers, librarians, and readers who can argue for racial equality on our book covers.

With today being Poetry Friday, let me share a very appropriate poem by Langston Hughes:

I, Too
I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
‘Eat in the kitchen,’
Then.

Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed —

I, too, am America.

In the last few weeks as people have started reading the US ARC of Liar they have also started asking why there is such a mismatch between how Micah describes herself and the cover image. Micah is black with nappy hair which she wears natural and short. As you can see that description does not match the US cover.

Many people have been asking me how I feel about the US cover, why I allowed such a cover to appear on a book of mine, and why I haven’t been speaking out about it.

Authors do not get final say on covers. Often they get no say at all.

As it happens I was consulted by Bloomsbury and let them know that I wanted a cover like the Australian cover, which I think is very true to the book.¹ I was lucky that my Australian publisher, Allen & Unwin, agreed with my vision and that the wonderful Bruno Herfst came up with such a perfect cover image.

I never wanted a girl’s face on the cover. Micah’s identity is unstable. She spends the book telling different version of herself. I wanted readers to be free to imagine her as they wanted. I have always imagined her looking quite a bit like Alana Beard,² which is why I was a bit offended by the reviewer, who in an otherwise lovely review, described Micah as ugly. She’s not!³

The US Liar cover went through many different versions. An early one, which I loved, had the word Liar written in human hair. Sales & Marketing did not think it would sell. Bloomsbury has had a lot of success with photos of girls on their covers and that’s what they wanted. Although not all of the early girl face covers were white, none showed girls who looked remotely like Micah.

I strongly objected to all of them. I lost.

I haven’t been speaking out publicly because to be the first person to do so would have been unprofessional. I have privately been campaigning for a different cover for the paperback. The response to the cover by those who haven’t read Liar has been overwhelmingly positive and I would have looked churlish if I started bagging it at every opportunity. I hoped that once people read Liar they would be as upset as I am with the cover. It would not have helped get the paperback changed if I was seen to be orchestrating that response. But now that this controversy has arisen I am much more optimistic about getting the cover changed. I am also starting to rethink what I want that cover to look like. I did want Bloomsbury to use the Australian cover, but I’m increasingly thinking that it’s important to have someone who looks like Micah on the front.

I want to make it clear that while I disagree with Bloomsbury about this cover I am otherwise very happy to be with them. They’ve given me space to write the books I want to write. My first book for them was a comic fairy book that crossed over into middle grade (How To Ditch Your Fairy). I followed that up with Liar, a dark psychological thriller that crosses over into adult. There are publishers who would freak. No one at Bloomsbury batted an eye. I have artistic freedom there, which is extraordinarily important to me. They are solidly behind my work and have promoted it at every level in ways I have never been promoted before.

Covers change how people read books

Liar is a book about a compulsive (possibly pathological) liar who is determined to stop lying but finds it much harder than she supposed. I worked very hard to make sure that the fundamentals of who Micah is were believable: that she’s a girl, that she’s a teenager, that she’s black, that she’s USian. One of the most upsetting impacts of the cover is that it’s led readers to question everything about Micah: If she doesn’t look anything like the girl on the cover maybe nothing she says is true. At which point the entire book, and all my hard work, crumbles.

No one in Australia has written to ask me if Micah is really black.

No one in Australia has said that they will not be buying Liar because “my teens would find the cover insulting.”

Both responses are heart breaking.

This cover did not happen in isolation.

Every year at every publishing house, intentionally and unintentionally, there are white-washed covers. Since I’ve told publishing friends how upset I am with my Liar cover, I have been hearing anecdotes from every single house about how hard it is to push through covers with people of colour on them. Editors have told me that their sales departments say black covers don’t sell. Sales reps have told me that many of their accounts won’t take books with black covers. Booksellers have told me that they can’t give away YAs with black covers. Authors have told me that their books with black covers are frequently not shelved in the same part of the library as other YA—they’re exiled to the Urban Fiction section—and many bookshops simply don’t stock them at all. How welcome is a black teen going to feel in the YA section when all the covers are white? Why would she pick up Liar when it has a cover that so explicitly excludes her?

The notion that “black books” don’t sell is pervasive at every level of publishing. Yet I have found few examples of books with a person of colour on the cover that have had the full weight of a publishing house behind them⁴ Until that happens more often we can’t know if it’s true that white people won’t buy books about people of colour. All we can say is that poorly publicised books with “black covers” don’t sell. The same is usually true of poorly publicised books with “white covers.”

Are the big publishing houses really only in the business of selling books to white people? That’s not a very sustainable model if true. Certainly the music industry has found that to be the case. Walk into a music store, online or offline, and compare the number of black faces you see on the covers there as opposed to what you see in most book stores. Doesn’t seem to effect white people buying music. The music industry stopped insisting on white washing decades ago. Talented artists like Fats Domino no longer needs Pat Boone to cover genius songs like “Ain’t That a Shame” in order to break into the white hit parade. (And ain’t that song title ironic?)

There is, in fact, a large audience for “black books” but they weren’t discovered until African American authors started self-publishing and selling their books on the subway and on the street and directly into schools. And, yet, the publishing industry still doesn’t seem to get it. Perhaps the whole “black books don’t sell” thing is a self-fulfilling prophecy?

I hope that the debate that’s arisen because of this cover will widen to encompass the whole industry. I hope it gets every publishing house thinking about how incredibly important representation is and that they are in a position to break down these assumptions. Publishing companies can make change. I really hope that the outrage the US cover of Liar has generated will go a long way to bringing an end to white washing covers. Maybe even to publishing and promoting more writers of color.

But never forget that publishers are in the business of making money. Consumers need to do what they can. When was the last time you bought a book with a person of colour on the front cover or asked your library to order one for you? If you were upset by the US cover of Liar go buy one right now. I’d like to recommend Coe Booth’s Kendra which is one of the best books I’ve read this year. Waiting on my to be read pile is Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger, which has been strongly recommended to me by many people.

Clearly we do not live in a post-racist society. But I’d like to think that the publishing world is better than those many anecdotes I’ve been hearing. But for that to happen, all of us—writers, editors, designers, sales reps, booksellers, reviewers, readers, and parents of readers—will have to do better.

1. I didn’t see the Australian cover until after the US cover was finalised.
2. Yes, another protag of mine who looks like a WNBA player. What can I say? I’m a fan.
3. If you’re interested, I imagine another character in the book, Sarah, as looking like a younger Rutina Wesley, who’s not a WNBA player.
4. And most of those were written by white people.