Sonia Patel's Blog, page 2
November 11, 2024
Honored to be a guest on this podcast! Check it out, I promise it's thought-provoking!
October 1, 2024
September 10, 2024
NERD DAILY INTERVIEW!
The full interview is here! Check it out!
September 9, 2024
YA BOOKS CENTRAL AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Honored to have been interviewed by YA Books Central! Check out the interview here!
August 29, 2024
CHECK IT OUT!
Check out my essay in Publishers Weekly!
August 12, 2024
HONORED THAT MY ESSAY IS INCLUDED IN THIS GROUNDBREAKING NEW ANTHOLOGY: JUST YA
AMAZING NEWS! A groundbreaking new YA anthology (grateful that my essay LETTER FROM YOUR NEW PSYCHIATRIST is included) will be live on September 2nd, and FREE off the Open OkState site. The paperback will eventually be available anywhere books are sold for the cost of printing and any bookseller mark-up. Thank you Sarah Donovon, editor, for your hard work and dedication on this incredible project!
From the introduction:
“JUST YA: SHORT POEMS, STORIES, & ESSAYS is a collection of open licensed,
non-revenue seeking literature about inclusive, affirming, justice-oriented
ways of being and the incredible capacity of youth.
The texts here are short so that they can be read and studied in one
class period. They are online so that teachers and students can freely print
and share the texts. Authors explore topics that can be in conversation
with/against canonical texts typically taught in high school classrooms.
This offers a rationale for teachers to bring in youth-focused texts to
update their curriculum and shift their framing with contemporary
perspectives. This collection is organized in themes around identity, love,
land, world, and futures (see Table 1.) that we see in conversation with the
required canonical texts and youth interests. And the forms are selected to
inspire student writing in a variety of forms, including creative fiction and
nonfiction.”
August 5, 2024
In PEOPLE Magazine!
In PEOPLE mag! Always grateful and honored to have my short story in THIS young adult anthology, and this made me teary: “Rock star librarian” & author John Schu said, “I’m not exaggerating when I write that this collection of stories by 16 extraordinary authors will save lives. It breaks down stereotypes. It is extraordinary. “
March 15, 2024
GITA DESAI IS NOT HERE TO SHUT UP drops 9.10.24...until then, enjoy the official GITA playlist!
Songs in order of play/mention in GITA!
December 15, 2023
A DIFFERENT BEAST
My heart hammered in my chest when I read this Buckminster Fuller quote: “What can I do that isn’t going to get done unless I do it, just because of who I am?” GITA, definitely GITA—the first YA fiction about the realistic beginnings of the fallout of prolonged, repeated childhood sexual trauma, an entirely different beast than the fallout of circumscribed sexual trauma. A different beast I’ve spent 20 years helping many of my patients begin to tame (it’s always a lifelong task). A different beast I’ve endured, survived, and still tame daily. A different beast that needs to be exposed in the YA world, the way Judith Herman first exposed it in all of its biological complexity in the nonfiction world in her seminal book TRAUMA AND RECOVERY:
Herman, Judith. Trauma and Recovery. New York: Basic Books, 1997. Page 119.
December 11, 2023
COVER REVEAL!
A cover so destined to be iconic & so perfect for my überrealistic novel dropping 9/10/24 from Penguin Teen! ⚡Read an excerpt now HERE and crank Nirvana’s “Love Buzz” (Gita listens to it in chapter 6!) to feel the vibe of this game-changer novel about a silenced 18-year-old Gujarati-American girl—incognizant of the unspeakable in her childhood—whose mute language becomes repetition, chaos, and secrets, and she’ll continue to downward spiral unless she figures out how to rip off her family’s proverbial muzzle of chup-re (shut up)…⚡Pre-order here: Gita Desai Is Not Here to Shut Up, Penguin Teen Thank you Kristin Boyle for the striking cover design and Fatima Baig for the gorgeous cover illustration!Thank you to my fantastic agent Victoria Wells Arms and my incredible editor Rosie Ahmed!Thank you to everyone at Penguin Teen who’ve helped make this novel a reality!
