It is my great pleasure to bring you an interview with author Natalia Sylvester. Natalia is known for her books Chasing the Sun, Everyone Knows You Go Home, and Running. Her latest novel Breathe and Count Back From Ten is about Verónica a teenage girl who has hip dysplasia. It’s the same condition that Natalia herself has, and today she joins us to talk about Breathe and Count Back From Ten, disability representation and writing stories about marginalised characters.

Hi Natalia, thank you for joining me today for GeekDis 2022! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Hi, Heather! Thank you so much for the warm welcome. I’m a Peruvian American author of novels for adults, young adults, and (soon, in 2024!) a forthcoming picture book. My work centers Latinx families and seeks to explore characters in all their wholeness and seemingly contradicting (but actually co-existing) dualities and realities.

This year your novel Breathe and Count Back from Ten about Verónica, a Peruvian‑American teen with hip dysplasia was released. What was your inspiration for the novel?

Like Vero, I was born with hip dysplasia and grew up in and out of surgeries, and as a disabled immigrant, I’ve always had a complicated relationship with what it means to “fit in.” Somewhere I always felt at home, though, is in the water. 

When I was younger, my family lived in Central Florida, close to Weeki Wachee, a natural springs where professional mermaids performed and danced underwater. I was fascinated by them. I dreamed of being a mermaid and so, in Breathe and Count Back from Ten, Vero gets to live out that dream. The book was inspired by my relationship with my body, my love of water and my desire to write a book about a disabled immigrant teen in all her wholeness. I didn’t want it to be a story that only centered her pain, because, although the world is often unkind to us, our lives do not exist solely through this outer lens of how non-disabled people see us. 

I wanted to embrace the parts of Vero that long and desire things: like a mermaid tail and freedom and first love. The more I dove into her story though, I realized I couldn’t write Vero’s truth without also writing her chronic pain, the hurt of ableism and infantilization, and the shame she internalizes about her body as a disabled, sexual being. All those things—her joy and her pain—co-exist. And I’m so glad for that, because writing Vero’s story helped me listen to my body in ways that were transformative. 

Many people, myself included, felt very seen by the fact that you wrote Vero’s story in this way. How has it been hearing people’s reaction to Breathe and Count Back from Ten?

It’s honestly meant the world. I don’t talk about this a lot—and maybe I will more when I’m ready to process it—but as joyful as it was to write this book, there were moments that were intensely difficult mentally and emotionally. The thing about ableism is that it tells us our stories don’t matter, that we should be silent about our experiences and needs so we’re not a “burden.” 

So I was writing this book and simultaneously, trying to battle those voices, and I know there are days I didn’t come away unscathed. Hearing that others feel seen in Vero’s story is healing, to be honest. It reminds me I was never alone, even in the hardest parts, and it takes away the power and hurt of those moments. 

You’ve mentioned before on Twitter that most people associate hip dysplasia with dogs and while writing Breathe and Count Back from Ten you found no other fiction books about the condition. What are your thoughts on disability representation?

Oh, there are so many! The thing is, as disabled creators, we all know why representation matters. I can say so many things about why it’s important, why it needs to be intersectional and happen at all levels of publishing and why we need more of it, etc. And these things are all true and worth repeating…but it’s too often placed solely on us to answer. Asked enough times, it starts to feel like it’s on us to justify our existence and need for representation. 

My thoughts on disability representation are that I want more non-disabled, non-marginalized people in power to answer for it.  What are their thoughts are on it? And if they don’t have any, why not? And if they’re not fighting for it with the same vigor (and intersectionality) as they purport to fight for other marginalized groups, why not? Where’s the action and accountability?

With the recent news about Barnes and Noble, intersectional books like Breathe and Count Back from Ten from marginalised authors are not going to be stocked in stores. Can you talk to us about this?

I shared on Twitter how hard it was for me to find Breathe and Count Back from Ten on shelves versus my previous YA, Running. I’m sure many books will face similar if not even more difficult challenges. It’s honestly devastating. Our books already face such uphill battles when it comes to being written in the first place, then published, then marketed. These new roadblocks in distribution are just another blow and I worry it’ll discourage disabled creators from even trying—I know because there were moments when it made me question if I should keep publishing, and I’m going on my fifth book. 

It’s worth mentioning that indie bookstores are doing so much to support Breathe, and they fill me with hope when I start to feel despair. Thanks to them and thanks to readers, my book is finding its way one person at a time through word of mouth. So ultimately I keep writing because of my readers. Because I know my books matter to them. 

But it also feels exploitative on the part of the “powers that be” in our industry—they know these are books of our hearts, books we write for our communities in hopes of a better and more just world—and we deserve better. Our readers deserve better. So whatever platform and privilege I have from being a published author, and in whatever spaces I find myself in, I’m not going to stop talking about it. 

You make a great point about the non-disabled people in power needing to step up. As readers, it sometimes feels as though our actions have little effect when something like this happens. From your perspective as an author what can readers do to get the attention of the people in power? 

Readers fill me with so much hope! A lot of this is things so many are already doing, for which I’m eternally grateful. 

It may sound cliche, but support books by disabled authors. The industry looks to sales numbers to see which books they’ll then support, so buying books by disabled authors is huge. There are also other ways to help that make a difference, though! Spreading the word about the books you love across multiple platforms—on your socials, across review sites (you can cut & paste the same review to Goodreads, The Storygraph and Amazon for example). Requesting that your library order it. If you’re part of a book club, suggesting a book you love to your club is such another great way to help it gain traction. 

These things make such a big difference to authors, because publishers usually pick a handful of titles to put their big marketing budget behind. So also be on the lookout for the titles by disabled authors that you’re not seeing get as much visibility. There’s such a lack of intersectionality in publishing, and I notice that when pushes for representation happen, sadly a lot of titles by BIPOC and LGBTQIA disabled authors don’t get the same level of support that titles by white, cishet disabled authors do. So it means a lot when readers push for those titles with the same enthusiasm that they would for a title that is lucky to be getting more visibility. And it’s not to take away from other books—there’s room for all of us.

You’re always one of my top recommendations when someone asks about disabled books. Who are some of your favourite disabled creators?

Oh, thank you so much for that! That means the world. 

Some of my favorite disabled creators are Jasminne Mendez, whose middle grade novel Aniana del Mar Jumps In, will be out next year, ire’ne lara silva, who writes beautiful prose and poetry that speaks to my soul, Lillie Lainoff for her amazing One For All but also her advocacy, Alice Wong, whose work and presence I am constantly learning and growing from (cannot wait to read Year of the Tiger!), Imani Barbarin, for her general badassery and an unapologetic energy that I aspire to, and Tee Franklin, who is so prolific and writes Betty & Veronica comics (the very first books I fell in love with!) and who’s also written a disabled character for the Spiderverse.

What can you tell us about what you’re working on next?

Mostly secret, hope-to-have-good-news-soon things! Fingers crossed. 

Thank you, Natalia, for taking the time to talk to us!

For my final giveaway of GeekDis I am giving away a copy of Natalia’s brilliant novel Breathe and Count Back From Ten. I’ve chosen this novel because it is one of the few novels in which I’ve felt seen as someone with chronic pain and a chronic illness that affects mobility. I have hypermobile ehlers-danlos syndrome and my symptoms first showed during my teen years. Books like Natalia’s didn’t exist back then and Breathe and Count Back From Ten deals with several important topics alongside authentic disability representation.

You can read more of my thoughts about Read my review for Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester in my review here.

I am giving one winner the chance to win a copy of Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester from The Book Depository.

To enter please use the Rafflecopter widget below or by clicking here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

By entering this giveaway, you are agreeing to the following terms and conditions:

1. This giveaway is open internationally to any country that The Book Depository delivers to for free (a list is available here).
2. The prize is for a hardback copy of Breathe and Count Back from Ten by Natalia Sylvester.
3. This giveaway is open until Friday 21st October 2022 and winners will only be contacted directly by email.
4. Participants must be over the age of 18.
5. Family members of Heather T of Just Geeking By are prohibited from taking part in any of the giveaways.
6. Shares to social media accounts must be PUBLIC and visible for entries to be seen and counted.
7. Therefore, private or locked social media accounts may not take part in any “share activities”.
8. Any discriminatory or ableist comment given towards the disabled community that is made as a part of any action while entering the competition will result in automatic rejection from all giveaways at Just Geeking By. This is because GeekDis is an event designed to spread awareness about disability representation, not hate.

For the full Terms and Conditions, please see here.

Thank you for reading my interview with author Natalia Sylvester! Please do take the time to check out Natalia’s website and her books on GoodReads. You can also follow Natalia on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

This giveaway is listed on:

• Loquax Competitions
• Competition Database

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