In 2011, Tahereh Mafi released her feelings into a book that she was terrified to publish. In 2019, she will release the fifth out of six books to the Shatter Me series; making it the 11th book she has published. Mafi has pushed the limits of YA literature, making it a more diverse genre with powerful characters that every reader wants to be.
Tahereh Mafi was born to immigrant parents in Connecticut and moved to Northern California at the age of 12. Juliette Ferrars, the main character in the Shatter Me series, walked into her mind while she was sitting at her desk at college drinking a cup of tea. In an interview with Seventeen Magazine when the book first came out, Mafi described Juliette as “the kind of person I’d like to be. I admire her for being able to hold onto her humanity in a world that has given her nothing to hope for.”
Tahereh Mafi writes the books she wishes she had when she was younger. After marrying fellow YA author Ransom Riggs, Mafi was inspired to write her second series, Furthermore. While Shatter Me tells the story of a girl with a lethal touch, Furthermore follows Alice, a girl with pale skin and milk-white hair, living in a world of vivid colors. The world brings Alice so much joy, just as Ransom lights up Tahereh’s world. She spoke openly about this in an interview with Ransom and Entertainment Weekly.
Mafi’s newest book, A Very Large Expanse of Sea, is the most honest thing she’s ever written. Set in post-9/11 America, the book focuses on hijab-wearing Muslim teen Shirin, who is based on Mafi herself. The novel includes things that Tahereh faced in her life after 9/11 – biogtry and Islamophobia. In a personal interview with the LA Times, Mafi says she always knew she had to write this book. “This is my story, the story I’ve been writing in my head for years…I don’t only think about being Muslim and Middle Eastern all day every day. I didn’t want my identity to be tied to my struggle. People of color are more than just our struggle, we also laugh, we also love, we also have complex, fulfilling lives. That was important for me.”
More and more in the YA world, we see books that authors are writing to represent people from all parts of the world, all walks of life. Authors such as Angie Thomas, Nicola Yoon, Jennifer Niven, and SO many more. The #OwnVoices movement is crucial to young adult books and publishing that causes us to ask the important questions. Are we discussing the diversity in books? Diversity in publishing houses? Diversity in authors and their characters? The bigger problem with YA books is that most kids don’t grow up reading diverse characters. Growing up on books such as A to Z Mysteries and Nancy Drew, diversity isn’t popular in elementary and middle school libraries. Most students start reading diverse YA books in high school when it’s required. Check out this link to NCTE on the importance of diverse literature for students.
Tahereh Mafi is writing those diverse books. She’s writing the characters she needed when she was younger and setting an example for a younger generation that doesn’t have the representation that they need. YA authors are using the platforms that they have to send out messages to kids who have never been exposed to the things they’ve never seen. There is a world outside of the literature they are reading; a diverse world with people who don’t look like them, act like them, or live lives like them.
You can visit Tahereh’s adorable website here. For a Buzzfeed list of 31 YA books with diverse authors/characters click here, it’s worth it. And to purchase any of Tahereh’s books (recommended), click here.