In honor of Juneteenth, this special edition of our Q&A series focuses on the outstanding literary works of Jason Reynolds. The visceral tales of this #1 New York Times bestselling author beautifully capture what it is to be Black in America right now.

Putting pen to paper every day to practice his craft, Jason Reynolds has written over a dozen books for young people, including “Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks,” “All American Boys,” “Long Way Down,” and “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You.” It was rap that first inspired Reynolds to begin writing poetry at nine years old. He focused on prose for approximately the next two decades before exploring young adult novels.

Based in Washington DC, the gifted wordsmith has been the recipient of a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and an NAACP Image Award, among several other accolades. Now, at the top of his game, Reynolds is the current National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, an initiative of the Library of Congress. He has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, CBS This Morning, and Good Morning America. Jason is also on faculty at Lesley University for the Writing for Young People MFA Program. If writing is his sport, his words are “slam dunks.” 

You can check out more of their work here on Creatively and @hellocreatively on Instagram. 

What is the first creative project you remember? 

I don’t know if I’d call it a project, but I’d say the first piece of creative expression was when my grandmother died. I was ten years old and I saw my mother cry for the first time. It was chemically changing. I used to study rap lyrics and read liner notes, so I just mimicked whatever I was reading at the time and wrote some lyrics for my mom. She printed it in the funeral program and that was the first time I was made aware that creative expression, my words and language, had power. That was the beginning of this whole journey.

• Describe your aesthetic in three words. 

Black, sophisticated, and authentic.

What was the most fulfilling collaboration you’ve worked on?

This last one I did with my homeboy Jason Griffin, “Ain’t Burned All The Bright.” It’s a special one because it requires an awful lot of vulnerability to trust somebody, to trust anybody else, to deal with what we’re all dealing with over the last few years as it pertains to our racial dynamics. Working with this dude who has been a friend of mine since I was 17, while acknowledging the fact that he’s a White man who is a part of this conversation, was an interesting and important experience for the both of us. We’ve been through it all together—we’ve gotten into those nasty conversations trying to suss out what it all means, and I think that’s necessary. We’re not going to run from any of it. We just lean into the discomfort of it all to figure out where we stand, and I think that’s healthy.

What’s one creative project that taught you something fundamental about yourself?

That’s tough because they all do. When you work as a writer, the complicated part is that it requires such solitude, such silence, and the issue with being silent is that you can’t run away from yourself. All of those voices can no longer be distracted like we’re able to do in our everyday lives. And because there is no band, no troop, just you, I think it’s impossible to not be changed every single time. You’re literally dealing with your stuff in order to make the thing that you’re making. You’re forced to sit with your insecurities, your fears, your doubts, and your lies—all of that just sits with you as you get this thing out. That’s what I love about writing! It’s a gauntlet every time, but it’s the most beautiful experience in the world on the other end.

Do you think creativity is something you’re born with, or something you’re taught?

I actually think creativity is something you’re born with and that it’s taught out of you because I think creativity is rooted in curiosity, and I’ve never known a child who was not curious about the world. And if curiosity is what breeds imagination, then it’s the muzzling of curiosity that kills said imagination. A lot of that comes from schools, parents, adults, and neighborhoods who say that a child can’t ask “inappropriate” questions. You tell a child they can’t ask questions, then you kill a child’s curiosity. If you kill a child’s curiosity, then you kill a child’s imagination, which then kills their creativity. So, they have it already, we as a society educate them out of it.

What’s the last dream you had?

I should say something wild, but honestly, I can’t remember.

One hundred years from now, what do you hope people write about your work?

That he tried his best and worked at a level that made everybody feel like he was magic. That’s it! I was fortunate to grow up in a time where the people that we admired still felt magical. Michael Jackson was a magician. Michael Jordan was a magician. We thought these people could really fly, and I miss that. So, when my time is up, I hope someone has that same feeling about me.

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