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Leah Johnson
@byleahjohnson
Writer. Midwesterner. Owner . MG: ELLIE ENGLE SAVES HERSELF (out now!). YA: YOU SHOULD SEE ME IN A CROWN + RISE TO THE SUN.
Leah Johnson’s Tweets
Y'all gotta quit lying to young writers and telling them they need to write everyday. Nah, y'all need to go watch a movie. Listen to folklore. Talk to your friends. That's what's going to make the work sing. I think we forget that being a human is central to being an artist too.
Y’all hate red states so much but refuse to acknowledge the gerrymandering and voter suppression that keeps us red. Democratic voters out here aren’t stupid or backwoods. We’re in the trenches, we’re your comrades. Don’t ignore the work. twitter.com/Dr_Crater/stat
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What’s left to say? We go to church, we get shot. Children go to school, they get shot. Folks go grocery shopping, they get shot. Mass shootings are a constant threat to a mundane life. We could be better and do better by one another, and yet.
The Joshua Jackson and Jodie Turner Smith J Crew holiday campaign is actually the only thing that matters to me right now please don’t speak to me unless it is in reference to these photos thanks in advance
People talking about “decolonize your bookshelves” but visiting Hawaii in the middle of a pandemic spreading disease despite the fact that native Hawaiians keep begging folks not to come—sounds like a lot more than your shelves need to be divorced from colonizer thinking tbh
James Patterson has a net worth of over 700 million dollars meanwhile BIPOC in publishing are still struggling to pay their rent and working for well under a living wage but please tell me again how racism is hurting older white men in the industry
Writers: WHEN PEOPLE TELL YOU TO PUT THIRTY PERCENT OF YOUR INCOME AWAY FOR TAXES LISTEN TO THEM I BEG OF YOU
When I was a poor, black girl in Indiana, my mom used to scrape together whatever money she could so that I could buy something, anything, from the book fair.
Next year, my novel about a poor, black, queer girl from Indiana is being published by Scholastic. We made it, Ma.
I hand delivered my contract for CROWN three years ago because I was terrified that if I mailed it something would go wrong and I'd lose my deal and my tiny advance (which I needed to survive). Today I received my first royalty check and paid off my student loans. Yes I'm crying.
I don’t wanna get too emo about Lil Nas X on main but I really love this kid. So many queer folks, young and old, need to see what he’s doing to know it’s possible to be an out Black queer person and still have joy and success and freedom. I need to see it, still. Abundance.
People always wanna shame adults for reading YA but I reread Judy Moody yesterday for the first time since third grade and you know what?? It’s still a certified banger!!!! I think we should actually be reading books YOUNGER than YA!!! Heal that inner child w chapter books honey
When I began writing CROWN, I was still ashamed of and silent about my queerness. But this book is a lesson in radical joy and honesty—a story about a Black girl learning to own her identities, boldly, without fear.
Thank you for showing me the way, Liz. Welcome to the world.
Y’all gotta stop saying every homophobic person is secretly gay. I get it haha we’ve been making the same joke since middle school but it’s not funny. It’s shortsighted. It’s small. It robs the perpetrator of responsibility. Some people are cruel because they’re cruel. That’s it.
I hate watching y’all only push Black books when Black folks are murdered by the police. It’s dehumanizing in a way I don’t even have the language to articulate. Our lives and our stories are worthy even when videos detailing our brutalization aren’t dominating your TL. Enough.
The first Percy Jackson book came out when I was in 5th grade. I'm in my late 20s now. Imagine how unhinged it would be at my big age to complain that the new actors they've cast don't look the way I imagined they would when I still ate chocolate milk and square pizza for lunch.
I'm not trying to get too earnest on the timeline but y'all gotta understand like my mom used to scrape PENNIES together to give me money to be able to buy a new book a few times a year. Now my whole family gets to eat because I write stories for a living. I'm beyond grateful.
I’m always confused when I hear people say “YA is my guilty pleasure.” I want to ask “What is guilty about it?” Because for so many of us the work that is being done in YA is still life-changing, life-saving, even into our adulthoods. I’ll never feel guilty for loving that.
Found out my book is under investigation by the Oklahoma Attorney General for being "obscene." So if you think less curse words or kissing or references to drinking or drugs are going to keep queer books from being banned, they won't. To them, obscenity is inherent to queerness.
Who is gonna tell these writers and producers that surrounding your white girl MC with people of color sidekicks and love interests doesn’t solve the problem of racism because all of your Black and brown characters still only exist to be in service of whiteness
Not even five years ago I didn't want to come out for fear of persecution and alienation from my family and my faith. Now, my mom is a state representative, currently one room over, working on drafting a bill to ban conversion therapy in the state of Indiana. It does get better.
Dylan O’Brien finally did a Buzzfeed Thirst Tweets video and I’m absolutely sick and disgusted by the tweets they chose. There is so much filth—an abundance of years worth of truly godless content—about this man on here. And they chose the tamest tweets of all time. Shame!!!!!
Y'all, I have no words.
I dreamt up a middle grade novel about discovering your queerness, literal Black girl magic and what it means to become your own hero, and it's been sold at auction to Disney Hyperion! Can't wait for this adventure 😭🌱✨
ELLIE ENGLE SAVES HERSELF. 2023.
Some of the people confused about the resurgence of The Hunger Games must not remember the cultural impact. Like the three finger Mockingjay salute became a literal symbol of revolutions around the world and in Thailand people were arrested for using it in silent protest
I’m so excited to be able to (FINALLY) announce that CROWN has been selected as the first ever YA pick! I’m honored that Liz’s story resonated with Reese THEE Witherspoon (aka my white queen), and can’t wait to watch this book reach a whole new set of readers 👑
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I’m so thrilled to introduce my very first Young Adult book pick for @ReesesBookClub, You Should See Me in a Crown by #LeahJohnson. 
Join is this month in reading this super funny, joyful story that’ll have you reliving your high school prom days! 
Join is this month in reading this super funny, joyful story that’ll have you reliving your high school prom days! 
PSA: Your distinction between "high art" and "low art" is probably rooted in racism, sexism, classism and flavorlessness
Too many of y’all got the idea that just because the occasional banned book hits the bestseller list that it means book banning is widely profitable for authors and let me tell you that for most of us book banning just ends our careers
One thing about Colman Domingo? He’s not gone allow one crumb to remain on a red carpet okay
Okay, let me get this straight. Not only did you all manage to get YOU SHOULD SEE ME IN A CROWN trending in New York this morning, but you guys managed to sell out AMAZON??? I’m speechless. I’m grateful. Y’all really said gay rights and I love that for us
JUST WATCHED THE SERIES FINALE OF ARTHUR AND HE GREW TO BECOME A GRAPHIC NOVELIST AND IM SO EMO RN OMG
Black authors don't owe you characters that make you comfortable or plots that pander to whiteness. We don't owe you palatable love interests or "relatable" conflicts. If Black authors success depended on white people's ability to imagine us a whole people, we'd never publish.
Me refusing to express even a modicum of sympathy for Trump voters after living in abject terror and debilitating hopelessness for the past four years:
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Intellectually, I know there are a lot of people who don't believe books about queer kids are actually appropriate for children. But sometimes I get a letter from a parent like this one that reminds me of that fact and it's such a shock to the system that it physically pains me.
When I wrote Crown I was closeted, working three jobs to pay bills, and writing like it could save my life. It came out a year ago today and right now I'm out, working on my [# redacted] book, as a full-time writer. This book changed everything for me. Thank y'all for reading.
It’s clear to me that a lot of people who talk about what is and is not a life-changing amount of money have never been poor because if they had they would know that you don’t need six figures to feel like impossible things have suddenly become possible
Someone recently told my mom that they stopped watching Drag Race when they were pregnant even though it was one of their favorite shows because they "didn't want their son to catch any of those vibes" and I just have to say STRAIGHT PEOPLE ARE UNWELL
Look, I don’t know if publishing is actually becoming more diverse or if white guilt is at an all-time high or what. But what I do know is my queer Black girl rom-com has been translated into six languages, and just got another foreign deal today. Something is shifting.
I'm not apologizing for late responses on texts/DMs/emails anymore because this is just my new normal! I'm perpetually overwhelmed! Seeing your message pop up sent me into an anxiety spiral! I had to get back to you when I could do so without screaming into the void! Thank you!
Do famous white women authors not know that they actually very much have the option to sit on their thrones of money in their castles made of diamonds and just.............. not speak
AMAZON IS NOT A LIBRARY. YOU SHOULDN'T BUY BOOKS JUST TO RETURN THEM. JUST DOWNLOAD LIBBY.
If you are the billionaire daughter of one of the single greatest advocates against keeping our planet from descending into climate apocalypse, I’m not interested in how hard it was to be a little rich girl that no one wanted to take seriously as a writer during your MFA
This election is scary but you know what? I cast a ballot that had my moms name on it, and tomorrow at this time she’ll likely be named state rep in the district where just over a decade ago we wondered how we were going to afford dinner every night. That’s cause for celebration.
This is your periodic reminder NOT TO TAG AUTHORS IN BAD REVIEWS OF THEIR BOOKS OMG WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS ITS SO UNNECESSARY
I genuinely believe you should unabashedly stan the corny stuff you love in public mostly because you’re never too old to nerd out but also because I have gotten so many cool opportunities just because I put my boring obsessions out into the world and the right person saw it
Y'all, queer is not a bad word. So if I use queer to describe myself, or my characters, please trust that I'm doing it intentionally. There's no need to parse any further, or to try and assign labels past that. Queerness is a full lived experience. An academic study. Full stop.
This is an almost comedically bad take but all I’m gonna say is from bestsellers and award-winners to sleeper hits and quiet releases, a lot of your faves started out by reading and writing fanfiction. Some of my ao3 bookmarks would body your literary fictions darlings. Stop it.
Rich people are not smarter than you. They don’t work harder than you do. These people are angry because the stock market is a game of chess where only they are allowed to see the entire board. When you’re able to see all the pieces, you see how rigged it is.
Being afraid of how people will receive your work while writing it is the quickest way to never finish a project. Write the thing that feels true and urgent to you, and figure everything else out later.
Well, folks, it’s official: You’re looking at the next state representative for Indiana House District 92 as she addresses the state Democratic party for the first time! We have to stan a civil service legend, y’all 😭😭😭 Congratulations, !
Republicans thought it was fun and games until it was them hiding under desks like children in a school shooting
It’s not embarrassing to be seen trying. It’s not embarrassing to be seen trying. It’s not embarrassing to be seen trying. It’s not embarrassing to be seen trying. It’s not embarrassing to be seen trying. It’s not embarrassing to be seen trying. It’s not embarrassing to be seen t
Something I noticed even before I became an author was the way interviews with marginalized writers often skew towards identity rather than craft. I gotta be honest, y’all. It’s tired. I promise we can talk about more than systemic inequality. I personally love em dash discourse!
There’s this quote in Between the World and Me where Ta-Nehisi Coates writes that Black Americans, specifically those enslaved, “were not bricks in your road, and their lives were not chapters in your redemptive history. They were people turned to fuel for the American machine.”
I miss the days where entire series were written by an author (or authors) that we never saw. Like yes girl churn out those books and refuse to give us interviews/exclusive sneak peeks/insights into your personal life!! Who needs a corporeal form when you’re keeping us FED
Today was my first time seeing my book at a Barnes & Noble (the B&N that I practically lived in before I left Indy, no less), so of course I had to go and take my rite of passage photos. Yes, I am still very emotional about it thank you for asking.
Y’all love Black women when it’s convenient. Y’all buy Black books when it’s hot. Y’all support Black authors when it’s the wave.
If you love Black women like you claim you do, defend Black women. You want to be an ally, show up for Black women. Always. That’s how this works.
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I’m sick of watching all my friends who spend their lives making art going broke trying to navigate freelance tax rates while gazillionaires who do nothing but destroy the planet and exploit poor folks pay pennies. We gotta protect ourselves y’all. This system ain’t for us.
I’m stunned. The fact that I can now say I have a Stonewall Honor Book is truly surreal. The journey to here—being out and proud with a novel about a queer Black girl from Indiana—wasn’t easy, but my God, it was so, so worth it. Thank you and for this honor.
Days ago, I woke up crying because writing Black fiction in the face such clear hatred towards my people and my life in the real world felt fruitless—not nearly enough. Today, I woke up to this. Thank you all for the reminder that Black joy, Black triumph, will always matter.
Today is Juneteenth. Interested in reparations? There are many places to start, but might I suggest channeling white guilt into buying my queer Black girl prom-com? It’s great! And every purchase gets me one step closer to my queer Midwestern farm dreams: bit.ly/38PN0Fi
One day, and one day SOON, y'all are gonna have to learn that people's identities belong to them and them alone. Just because someone's job means they must be public-facing, doesn't mean they are under any obligation to share the intimate details of their private lives with you.
The unimaginable cruelty of doing this on the anniversary of the Pulse shooting—in the middle of Pride—is the entire point. These people thrive on this particular type of violence.
They kill us and get incentivized. There is no reforming a system like this. Burn it down.
To the TSA agent at Hartsfield-Jackson that just snatched my wig out of my bag and shook it out for all god and country to see: I’LL SEE YOU IN HELL!!!!!!!
All I can think about after watching Sadie Sink (a BABY!) in that role is how predatory that age gap really was and instead of empathizing with Taylor or acknowledging that particular type of harm in that era all folks wanted to do was get their jokes off about her dating history
My favorite kind of person is the kind who can’t sing but posts singing videos anyway—who can’t cook but posts pics of meals they made anyway. Like yes queen! Keep that content coming! Do stuff badly just bc it makes you happy!!! Tell me about it!! Make hobbies mediocre again!!!
Replying to
There’s nothing cute about queer books being removed from shelves. It’s not some backhanded compliment that means we’re doing something right. It just means people hate us enough to say our stories are too indecent for children to read. I’m not happy about that. I’m sad af.
To everyone who saw a novel about an anxious, queer Black girl from Indiana and said her story was worth reading and uplifting: thank you. This was made possible by each of you.
Black stories matter. Black stories deserve space. And when one of us wins, we all win. Let’s go.
I'm revisiting teen fiction from the early aughts for ~research~ and look say what you will but Sarah Dessen and Meg Cabot knew the recipe. These books remain hits that stick like grits and that's simply a fact
I don’t ever want another JKR apologist to say “separate the art from the artist” in my presence again
Do you ever lose sleep at night thinking about how Peeta was ready to pop some lethal berries in his mouth and end it all just because the girl he threw bread at once in elementary school told him to or are you normal
Woke up this morning and yesterday wasn't a dream. I really did write a book that TIME said was one of the best of all time. I'm not well. I'm in shambles. I'll never recover.
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This is a self callout btw! I've averaged around 6k words a day for the past week (lots of deadlines! lots of projects!) and I am intellectually depleted. My work suffers when my work is all I do. But past that, my body and my spirit suffer. I can't come secondary to my job.
The Supreme Court isn't legitimate and yet they've dismantled more civil rights in the past week alone than at any other point in my life. This is a stark reminder that the law isn't a construct of justice, it's a construct of power—especially that which was obtained nefariously.
The last time I felt like everyone else's careers were moving while I stood still, sad bc I didn't have a new deal to announce, I wrote 10k words of a speculative middle grade in one sitting and we sold it for seven figures so what I'm saying is sometimes envy is good for you
We’ve really lost the plot as a community if demanding that creators out themselves is the arbiter of good or valid queer representation
You thanking Black women for putting this country on our backs again is empty. You want to thank Black women? Support Black women. Listen to Black women. Stop expecting Black women to do your work. You want to thank Black women? Get your people to show up the way we always do.
I just saw a thread where a mother described allowing their child to vent to them as "emotional labor" and "reinforcing the gender paradigm" and like.......... if you aren't prepared to be emotionally available to your children then literally what are you there for
When people critique OwnVoices work with "It wasn't authentic enough" my question is always "Authentic to who?" Are you interested in the actual lived experience of these characters in the world or are you interested in the experience that you've projected onto them?
A lot of you all still aren't ready to face the fact that there is no such thing as a "good cop" because no cop can be good while upholding a violent, racist, wholly amoral system. This isn't a failure of policing. This is policing doing exactly as it was designed to do.
☀️COVER REVEAL☀️
To the hopelessly hopeful Black girls recovering from heartbreak; to the anxious Black girls afraid of the future but eager to greet it; to the pink-haired Black girls fronting pop punk bands: this one is for you.
I’m not even trying to stan, okay. These are simply facts: Jordan Fisher is literally top tier talent??? Like this guy truly has unmatched does-it-all-and-does-it-flawlessly triple threat starpower???? Like he should be the most sought after young rom-com lead in the game?????
My book has been out for less than a week and the number of homophobic/racist tweets and messages I’ve gotten so far is astounding. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, and it will likely get worse as time goes on, but wow. This one from a former friend was the most hurtful, though:
A lot of weird reactions to Elliot Page disclosing his previous relationships with other actors like that’s not half of the draw for most celebrity memoirs
People sometimes call the ending of my first book predictable and I’m never quite sure how I’m supposed to respond to that. Like yes it’s a rom-com the two girls are going to get together at the end it says it right there on the tin
White writers who insist on writing poc MCs and believe that their research and intentions should save them from backlash are being willfully obtuse at this point. Y’all know the deal and you insist on taking up space anyway. Writers of color can tell our own stories. Full stop.
In ten years y'all gone have Tr*mp on the late night circuit with a quirky little nickname giggling about his new glassblowing hobby
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I would’ve deleted Facebook a long time ago but I can’t resist posting about my book specifically to spite the one mean girl from high school who I’m still FB friends with that told my friend “Leah’s not even that good of a writer. She’ll never be able to do it professionally.”
For the sake of my sanity, I have to get off of here, but to all of the white folks shocked by the pay gaps in publishing: buy Black works year-round, not just when we’re being murdered by the police on camera. Amplify Black voices even when it’s inconvenient. Help close the gap.
This has been one of the worst years in history for book banning, but they can’t ban us or our stories. Which is why I’m so excited to announce that IM OPENING A FREAKING BOOKSTORE!!!! will Indy’s only banned bookstore and I’m so excited to bring it to life 😭😭😭
Being a writer is strange and difficult sometimes but you should finish that book you’re writing because one day you’ll be on a panel with an author who changed your life and you’ll get to tell them you’re only here because their books made you feel seen when nothing else did
I wrote the entire first draft of CROWN at a coffeeshop across the street from the after work, and would stop by every night to look at the shelf my book would one day be on. Today, they have thirty signed copies in stock. Feeling very grateful, very full.
Actors are more than roles they play, but so many of us are here today because watching Naya Rivera on screen gave us a vision of what could be possible for queer Black and brown girls in small towns everywhere. Thank you for taking songs and telling our stories, Naya. Rest well.
The secret to publishing—and listen closely because this is what a few years in the game have taught me and it’s too good to ignore—is that there is no hard and fast rule for how to build a career. That’s it. Tell stories and be decent. Full stop. Everything else is debatable.
if Nora Roberts drags me within an inch of my life do NOT prosecute her she caught ME slipping and I will apologize and do better
I can’t lie, whatever is in the water at Olivia Rodrigo’s studio is liquid gold because the kid has got it
I feel about masks/vaccines now the way I felt about gun control after Newtown: Americans have seen the worst of what this country’s negligence has wrought and decided mass death is still an acceptable price to pay for the myth of individual freedom. The selfishness is the point.
I promised myself I would get the ultimate reward if I just powered through my last round of revisions, and here she is! Meet Jessie Lou: my new four-year-old lab/beagle mix! Y’all might as well brace yourselves now because this account is about to be full pupdates 24/7 🥰🐾😍
I haven't seen nearly enough talk about the fact that Ethan Hawke complimented Oscar Isaac's kilt during a red carpet interview the other night and without missing a beat Oscar said "Thanks, baby" and went right back to his interview. A moment most pleasing to me in my career