Q&A with Adib Khorram, author of "The Breakup Lists"

Hello from somewhere outside of Philly 🚆

I’m on a train speeding away from Philadelphia, where I spent just shy of 48 hours this weekend. I trekked over to PA from NYC on Friday while my parents road tripped up from SC, and we spent yesterday wandering around, taking pictures of the city, eating delicious food, and just hanging out. It was good! I really enjoyed the time with them, and it was fun to explore a new city.

In the rest of my life, I’m in the waiting room — at least three big decisions are likely to come at me this week, and if a single one of them is in my favor, it could be life-changing. I’m so stressed, I am metaphorically bouncing off the walls of my enclosure screaming crying throwing up kicking my feet sobbing. Every emotion has rattled through me this past week. I’m so ready to know. I’m so terrified to know.

This week’s newsletter is a Q&A with the one and only Adib Khorram, an Iranian-American author of queer stories for young adults and, soon, adults. Read on for more!

Welcome to the interview 🗣️

ADIB KHORRAM is the author of DARIUS THE GREAT IS NOT OKAY, which earned the William C. Morris Debut Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature, and a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor, as well as a multitude of other honors and accolades. His followup, DARIUS THE GREAT DESERVES BETTER, received three starred reviews, was an Indie Bestseller, and received a Stonewall Honor. His latest novel, KISS & TELL, received four starred reviews. His debut picture book, SEVEN SPECIAL SOMETHINGS: A NOWRUZ STORY was released in 2021. When he isn’t writing, you can find him learning to do a Lutz jump, practicing his handstands, or steeping a cup of oolong. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where people don’t usually talk about themselves in the third person.You can find him on Twitter (@adibkhorram), Instagram (@adibkhorram), or on the web at adibkhorram.com.

I have loved every one of Adib’s books that I’ve read, devouring Darius the Great Is Not Okay over long graveyard-shift nights off and crying at how seen I felt by the depression storyline. I read Kiss & Tell and swooned and raged at the true portrayal of some of the shitty things we do and say to and about queer celebrities, especially young ones. And I’m eagerly anticipating getting to read The Breakup Lists, Adib’s latest YA that follows Jackson, a high school boy who cheers up his sister after every break-up by writing lists of all the things wrong with her ex, and his romance with Liam. Go ahead and order The Breakup Lists now and then read our Q&A, conducted over email!

Karis Rogerson: What is your current favorite tea, and why?

Adib Khorram: I’m still on a big Phoenix Mountain Oolong kick. I love the complex slate and peach flavors, and I love breaking out my gaiwan and taking the time to brew it properly.

KR: Why do you write — what drives you to create and tell stories?

AK: The rent! I know that sounds kind of glib, but I’m six years into a career as a writer now, and though I love what I do, it is a job to me1. I think creating is an essential part of being human—this is my way right now. Tomorrow it might be my guitar!

KR: What is your favorite thing about your latest novel?

AK: My favorite thing is probably a side character named Braden Campos. He’s a bisexual himbo that occasionally peppers his speech with Latin phrases. And he’s just an all-around good guy, but kind of goofy. He makes me smile every time he comes on the scene!

KR: Was there a craft technique you used in this novel that you hadn’t before, and what was it like implementing that?

AK: I’m always searching for something to make my character’s voice stand out, and this time around, it ended up being strike-throughs. Jackson’s constantly self-censoring himself, and though it started out as a way of making jokes, I realized it touched on something much deeper—namely, the way that BIPOC and disabled and queer folks have to file off their rougher edges to move through the world2. So I accidentally made it deep!

KR: What brought you joy during the process of writing and publishing The Breakup Lists?

AK: Literally everything. This book draws so much on my own youth as a Theatre Kid, and it was rather self-indulgent to write.

KR: What drew you to writing for young people, and why do you continue to do so?

AK: Young people—particularly teens—are so fascinating to me. It’s a time of life when you’re confronting so many things for the first time, and where you’re educated enough to really think about them, but you’re still young and don’t have the experience that older folks do. You’re still building your framework of context. And I think that’s a really exciting time of life to explore.

KR: Is there something about The Breakup Lists that may surprise readers, and what is it?

AK: Hmm...I don’t know honestly. There are a few scenes that readers will either be expecting, if they’re familiar with romcom tropes, or will be shocked by, if they’re new to this genre.

KR: Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

AK: The most important thing for any artist, authors included, is separating your sense of self-worth from your work. If you have a hole in your heart, I promise, being a writer won’t fill it, no matter how successful you are.3

KR: Can you share 1-3 books you’ve read and loved recently, with a short blurb as to why you loved them?

AK: I recently reread Rafe: A Buff Male Nanny by Rebekah Weatherspoon, an adult romance that’s exactly what it says on the cover. It’s one of my favorite romances and one I return to often, because it’s so smart and sexy and unabashedly itself.

I also really loved Parisa Akbari’s debut Just Another Epic Love Poem, which was queer and Iranian and beautiful!

And of course I adore everything Julian Winters writes, and Prince of the Palisades4 does not miss. It is helping heal the void in my life from the Young Royals series finale.

KR: That’s all for today’s Q&A with Adib Khorram. Adib, thank you SO much for taking the time to answer these questions. Everyone else — go buy The Breakup Lists!

Alla prossima 👋

I feel so deeply unqualified to speak on world events. I am not a politician nor a poli-sci major nor a pundit nor even a terribly smart world citizen. But my god, things have been so scary for so long now. Israel has been bombarding Gaza relentlessly for over six months now, and on April 1 they also bombed an Iranian embassy in Syria. When Iran retaliated yesterday, so many Western world leaders got up in arms about it.

Here’s the thing: Israel and other American allies are not the only ones with the right to defend themselves. It is, frankly, hypocritical to assert that Israel should defend itself from a defense that Iran sent after they were attacked. And I’m not here to defend war from anyone. War is horrific.

I’m out of words. I’ll share this tweet that I twote yesterday cause it sums up how I feel. Cowards and hypocrites run our countries.

Free Palestine. Free Sudan. Free Congo. Free every nation and individual who is living under oppressive imperial regimes. We are not free til all of us are free.

That is all.

— Karis xoxo