This interview with Renée Watson was originally broadcast in June 2019

It seems fitting to re-release this chat with author, activist, and teacher Renée Watson in the wake of George Floyd's murder and Black Lives Matter protests across the world. We spoke to Renée while she was touring Australia  for the release of Watch Us Rise (which she co-wrote with Ellen Hagan). 

In this chat, we discuss:

• How young people engage with politics and art
• The experience of co-writing a novel with a friend (and getting immediate feedback on writing)
• Poetry and getting young people invested in it as an art form
• Cancel culture: when to give people grace and when to cut them out
• The experience of representing diverse characters on book covers
• Making art as resistance to oppression

Books mentioned:

• Watch Us Rise by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan
• What Momma Left Me by Renée Watson
• The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
• One Last Word by Nikki Grimes
• Hold Your Own by Kate Tempest

Follow Renée: http://www.reneewatson.net/

Chat to us on Instagram: @betterwordspod