Sarah Dessen is one of my all-time favorite YA authors. Each new release has been one I’ve awaited eagerly and one that I’ve then read as soon as I could get my hands on it.
It’s been a while, though, since Dessen has published a novel. Her last book release was The Rest of the Story in 2019. After reliably publishing a book every year or every other year, the seven year wait for her next release felt unbelievably long–especially amid a world turned upside down with a global pandemic and the rise of authoritarianism, among other things.
But Sarah Dessen is back this month with her latest book, Change of Plans. It follows Finley, whose always gone along with the plans her boyfriend’s laid down. She’s not compliant, but rather, she’s just been content to let someone she cares about be who leads her forward. But there’s been a change in her summer plans, and now Finley will be spending several months at a beach house owned by her long-estranged mother and mother’s family. Meeting all of these new people and falling into a routine in the small town, including working at her aunt’s diner and discovering what it is to feel crush-like feelings again, causes her to reevaluate everything.
It’s everything one comes to expect from Dessen: well-rendered and complex characters, a memorable setting, teen jobs, and a sense of comfort. I read this one in nearly a single sitting because as soon as I was sucked into this world, the more I needed to be there.
What I love about Dessen’s work is that is fights against everything that people who don’t read it see it as. It’s not romance, even though it is absolutely about love and romantic feelings. It’s not “chick lit,” even though girls are always central to these stories (and that term hasn’t been in popular use for decades, but it’s still leveraged as a criticism of stories like hers). It’s not genre nor literary, but rather skirts a line between the two. Dessen’s books feel like a rewatch of Now & Then, full of long summer days, family drama, friendship and romantic ups and downs, tinged with nostalgia that doesn’t feel cheap or manipulative.
I’m thrilled to share an interview with Sarah Dessen this week. She’s been doing YA for three decades now (!) and her insights about her work and teen literature more broadly are deeply appreciated.
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This is your first book since 2019. What have you been up to over the last several years?
The truth is I was always writing. But other things—-the pandemic, being between
publishers, changes in what was selling in the YA market—combined to make it so long between releases. That said, it was really hard, feeling like I hit a dead end after so many years of a successful career. But with experience comes perspective, and I think maybe I needed that. It’s made me really grateful for a new book and the chance to do all this again.
One of the things readers love about your work–self included–is that each book feels like falling back into a familiar, almost nostalgic, place. The characters and stories you write are all different and yet they all feel so connected, too. Can you talk a bit to writing books that evoke comfort and nostalgia while also being wholly contemporary?
I think part of it is that my books tend to focus on that one time in your life as a teen when everything changes. Sometimes it’s a summer, others a school year. There are just certain things—the push and pull with parents, navigating friendships, falling in love or getting your heart broken—that are universal. Whether it’s happening to you right now or it was many years ago, there’s just this feeling you never forget, a sweet spot of memory. I try to tap into that, as best as I am able.
Your stories center girls, and your stories give so many of those girls really interesting jobs. Finley, your main character from Change of Plans, works at her aunt’s diner for the summer. But you’ve had characters working in a catering business (The Truth About Forever), the wedding industry (Once and For All), a clothing boutique (Along For The Ride), and more. I’d love it if you’d talk about some of the summer jobs you have worked and/or wish you’d worked and where or how they’ve inspired the work your fictional girls have had. Taking it one step further, can you talk about the role that teen jobs have in helping young people come into themselves and navigate their worlds, especially for teen girls?
Working was a big part of my teen experience. I did filing work at UNC-Chapel Hill, pouring through piles of paper. I sold children’s shoes at a local mall, where I regularly crumbled under the pressure of a sock-selling quota. And I worked as a nanny, driving kids to piano lessons and overseeing homework. I think working is one of the best ways to learn how to deal with adults who are not your parents as well as the wider world in general. On the page, jobs create a community for a narrator, as well as give room to have fun with secondary characters. I worked in a restaurant for years, and I’m still drawing from that material. Seriously!
How have you seen the YA world grow and change since you’ve been publishing? How have YA readers changed? You published your first YA book, That Summer, in 1996–30 years ago!
It does NOT seem that long! At the same time, however, I have seen so many trends: vampires, dystopian/apocalyptic and now romantasy. In my experience, the pendulum does swing back to stories about real life eventually. I’ve had a lot of publishers reach out to me with ideas for genre books I could do, pitches of what they think I should try. But contemporary fiction is what I do, so I’ve remained true to that. I’m happy here.
Because your stories have centered girls, it can be easy for people to write them off. Over the years, your work has been categorized as “romance,” an all-too-common label that speaks to how people perceive the genre as one thing and how people perceive work that includes a love story–even if there’s not necessarily a Happily Ever After—as another. Do you think that this perception has changed over the course of your career? Do you find yourself needing to fight against this as you write and promote your work OR do you see it as an opportunity to lean in?
I do think romance as a genre has come a long way over the last few years. Back at the beginning of my career it was all bare-chested men on horseback, billowing hair, that kind of thing. Now it can mean anything from dragons to hockey players. And love, in all its forms, will forever be one of our shared common denominators. I used to get annoyed sometimes at my books being labeled romance or chick-lit, especially when men YA writers were usually shelved under fiction. But the truth is, my books are love stories. They’re also about a lot of other things. At this point, though, I’m not splitting hairs. I’m just glad people are still reading my work.
What keeps you excited about YA literature three decades into your career?
It’s just the beginning of so many good stories. Those years as a teen, when everything is new and you’re navigating the world for the first time: there’s nothing quite like it as subject matter. I think the best part of the market between now and when I started is the diversity of voices available. It’s not just one story about one type of teen anymore. And since so many adolescents find solace in stories they can relate to, that’s huge. Everyone has a story. Why shouldn’t you get to read it?
Which of your books do you wish more readers would pick up and/or where would you recommend readers who haven’t yet discovered your stories begin? These may be two different answers, and that’s okay!
I’d choose This Lullaby or The Truth About Forever as books to start with. They just showcase what I’m trying to do really well, I think. As far as a book I wish more people would read, I’d have to say Dreamland. It’s the darkest of my books, in a category by itself, but I’m really proud of it. It’s another kind of love story, one that’s more about yourself than someone else.
What are some of your favorite YA books by other writers from the backlist that you think more readers should pick up? What YA is on your radar as titles you want readers to get excited about this year or into next?
I’ll always recommend Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, which remains so powerful. I also love Gayle Forman’s If I Stay: that one always gets me in the gut. As far as new books, I really loved Angela Velez’s new one, Tangled Roots and Wild Dreams. Next up on my TBR pile is Beth is Dead by Katie Bernet. Reimagined classic with a twist? I’m so in.
Change of Plans is available now wherever books are sold or lent.
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English (United States) ·