Tell us a little bit about your new release, Like It Never Happened.
It’s about a sixteen-year-old girl who uses theater to escape an old, unearned reputation. It’s about the bond she forms with her fellow thespians, most of whom never know when to stop acting. It’s about sexuality, and trying to pinpoint the moment you go from appreciating someone’s friendship to wanting to kiss them.
What advice would you give your teenage self?
You are neither repulsive nor irresistible. I know it’s hard to fathom being something in between, but you are. So is everybody.
What fictional literary world would you most like to visit?
The beach town featured in so many of Sarah Dessen’s novels. Where everyone has a troubling but realistic secret and loves to eat fried pickles.
You wouldn’t be caught dead where?
On a cruise.
What is the one movie that you can quote the most?
The Big Lebowski.
Which book from your childhood or teenage years has stuck with you as an adult?
JUST AS LONG AS WE’RE TOGETHER and HERE’S TO YOU, RACHEL ROBINSON by Judy Blume. I think about those girls all the time.
What’s your favorite video on YouTube?
This one, wherein a small child grasps the concept of mortality. She is, understandably, pretty upset.
What’s on your writing desk?
Right now? My laptop, a legal pad, a plate covered in toast crumbs, a copy of my own book, a copy of AQUARIUM by David Vann, and a coffee cup sitting on a coaster I stole from the White Eagle Saloon in 2011. That’s all.
What’s your favorite line from Like It Never Happened?
“I could imagine Mary and Nadine in our family’s old Volkswagen, winding up Mount Scott Road, bravely choosing each other.”
Do you have a favorite local bookstore we can give a shoutout to?
Type Books, on Queen West in Toronto!
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
No, but my dog is so rambunctious, so unconcerned with his own safety, that I’m pretty sure his motto is “Three legs and a spare!”
Emily Adrian is the author of the new book Like it Never happened.
Connect with Emily
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Stereotypes, sexuality, and destructive rumors collide in this smart YA novel for fans of Sara Zarr’s Story of a Girl, Siobhan Vivian’s The List, and E. Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks.
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