BOOKS Reporting Matthew Todd T
hirty-year-old Bronx-born Adam Silvera is one of the leading figures in Young Adult fiction, focusing as he does on gay-themed stories. His first book More
Happy Than Not was published in 2015 by Soho Teen and his second, History is All You Left Me, also became a big success. But it’s his tale of two young men spending their last day on Earth together, They Both Die at the End, which has been a smash UK hit, staying in the top 30 of the Amazon book charts for the best part of six months. It’s now in development to be made into an HBO series with “Star Wars” director J J Abrams producing. Also in the works is a film adaptation of Silvera and Love, Simon author Becky Albertelli’s collabora- tion, What if it’s Us (2018).
They Both Die at the End has been such a spectacular breakout success in the UK. I can’t remember that ever happening for a book like this. Congratulations. Why do you think that’s happened here, and how does it feel? What do you think about it has struck a chord with so many readers across the world? I’m really proud that a book about queer Latinos is succeeding at this level across the world right now. So much of this second, massive wave of success is thanks to so many heroes on BookTok, which is a subsection of TikTok dedicated to book lovers. I think aſter over a year in isolation and re-evaluating our lives, people have really connected with the story of discovering who you want to be, and the necessary risks to take them.
The title and concept of the book is so stunningly audacious. What made you call it that, and did you worry about the risk of giving away the ending as the title? For me the story has always been about the journey and not the destination. The title is clearly catchy, which is great for marketing, but you would be surprised how many people don’t believe the title is telling the truth!
Did you always know you wanted to be a writer and how did you go about it? What do you consider your biggest breaks to be?
I’ve been writing since I was 11 years old and it was in my late teen years that I was positive I wanted to pursue it as a career. I didn’t go to college or anything, I literally just wrote all the time and got beter and beter. I think my biggest break would be that I was publishing my stories about queer Puerto Ricans at a time when literary communities were advocating for more diverse stories. Otherwise it probably would’ve goten buried. It’s kind of overwhelming to someone like me, in my late forties, who never had books like this about gay or queer characters.
Author Interview Adam Silvera
New Yorker Adam Silvera, one of the breakout stars of YA
fiction in recent years , discusses They Both Die at the End
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