Bestselling Author Jason Reynolds on His Books Being Banned: ‘It Feels Insulting’ (Exclusive)

Recipient of honors such as a Newbery Honor, an NAACP Image Award, and named the 2020-2022 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, bestselling author Jason Reynolds, 39, has become a key voice for young readers. His books for youth and middle grades, which include All American boyswritten with Brendan Kiely, Stamp: Racism, Antiracism and Youwritten with Ibram X. Kendi and recent Miles Morales: Suspended ranging from novels to nonfiction to adaptations inspired by comic books. Now Reynolds is entering the world of picture books. In his debut picture book, It was a party for Langston, out now, the writer pays tribute to the titular poet and activist. Featuring illustrations by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey, the book takes readers to Harlem, to a celebration at the Schomburg Center for the Study of Black Culture, where those influenced by Hughes gather to recognize their literary hero.

‘It Was a Party for Langston’ by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey.

Reynolds spoke with PEOPLE about his connection to Hughes, seeing writers as people and why book bans are “devastating” to him. Read the conversation below.

Can you remember the first time you met Langston Hughes? When I was in high school. I was asked to recite “Me too.” I remember being in the living room at my mother’s house and practicing reciting that poem. I remember practicing [and] my mother asks me what I think the song is about. What does it mean to be a “darker brother”? What does it mean to be dismissed when company comes? When you were in high school, were you one of the black kids or the only black kid in your class? I grew up in a neighborhood where everyone was black [in Oxon Hill, Maryland.] I was definitely one of the many, many black kids. You had your lectures in February, your lessons in February, but there wasn’t much talk about the concepts around the “darker brother”. All these terms we use to basically talk about black people in the service of primarily white people. I am forced to come to grips with something that I later find out is very close to my family. My grandmother was a housewife. My mother went with my grandmother to clean houses and with my grandmother to clean houses. It’s a very real thing.

Langston Hughes.

Hulton Archive/Getty

What did his work mean to you? By then I had already discovered poetry, but [was also] reading rap lyrics at home and hooking up. I realize at a very young age that these things are very much the same, that they are talked about differently and contextualized differently and sensationalized in different ways. But as far as I’m concerned, in my ten-year-old brain, those things are exactly the same. Tupac’s “Dear Mama” and Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son” could very well be an answer to each other.

You start digging into the works of Langston Hughes and you realize, man, this is the best way to start a life of letters. To write something that seems simple, you have to be extremely talented. On the totem pole of my ancestors, I choose him to be there.

As for the visual inspiration for the book, there you have it [Amiri] Baraka i [Maya] Angelou is dancing. What did you think when you saw that picture? Seeing them together and seeing them dancing, I knew right away that she was special. There were several moments in my life when I realized that writers and poets are ordinary people and become ordinary people. I think there was a moment in the nineties where we all felt that esotericism was the way to go, and that if you cloaked yourself in mysticism, this was the way to become a serious writer. If you wrap yourself in a bad mood, then this [is] the way it should be taken seriously. I remember once when I was 22 years old I walked into the Prada store on Broadway in New York. I didn’t have the money for it, I was just curious to see what was going on there, and I saw Saul Williams shopping. He was then the king of young bohemians, and he was buying high fashion. I thought to myself, “Oh, look what we can do.” I don’t have to be special. They can be in all ways and in any way. I can dance and I can go shopping and I can eat a hamburger if I feel like it. I can wear Jordans if I feel like it .. I can cut my hair and shave my beard. I can do whatever I want if I feel like it, because writers are only human beings.

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Jason Reynolds.

Rob Kim/Getty

That photo is not just a celebration of our collective hero [Hughes], but also a celebration that the hero was only human. A man who loved to laugh and dance, which he often wrote about. He loved music and laughter and love and all that the human experience gives us if we are happy.

There’s a section in the book where you talk about Langston Hughes. You say he is facing censorship and people are trying to divide his words. We’re in a time right now where a lot of people are trying to ban books, and many of those books are by black authors and center black characters. As a writer, how do you combat this? That’s always tricky. I try to make myself available to people who are actually on the front lines. [The] the people who actually do most of this work are teachers and librarians. People with day jobs go to work and fight this thing whose life is on the line.

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We are in a time where many people are banning books, including some of yours. How does that make you feel? It seems offensive. . . and maddening. That offends me. You think I would write something that I consider inappropriate or that I consider harmful or unsafe for the most vulnerable and human among us? Absolutely not. I’d like to believe that I was part of creating a new generation of readers: literate young people, people who care about stories, people who care about their own stories and the stories of the people around them. People who are excited to know that they can do it too, much like I felt when I read Langston Hughes. I really sincerely believe this.This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

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Source: HIS Education