An Interview with Karol Silverstein

Karol Ruth Silverstein (she/her/disabled) is an award-winning children’s book author, public speaker, and disability advocate.

Intent on championing misfits, underdogs, and that weird kid nobody wants to sit next to at lunch (spoiler alert: she qualifies as all of the above), Karol is a passionate supporter of diversity in children’s books. Her debut young adult novel, Cursed (Charlesbridge Teen, 2019), was loosely drawn from her experience of being diagnosed with juvenile arthritis at thirteen. A funny, frank, and unsentimental take on the “sick kid” genre, Cursed won the Schneider Family Book Award in 2020.

Originally from Philadelphia, Karol now lives in West Hollywood, California, with two unmanageably fluffy cats.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

I’ve always been a storyteller. My collection of stuffed animals had names, familiar connections, romances, etc. – like a soap opera. I also read voraciously as a kid. After film school, I tried to be a screenwriter but only found minimal success. A friend suggested I adapt my family film script into a children’s novel and, in my exploration of the current kid-lit world, I found my way back home to this wonderful world of stories. In particular, reading FEED by M. T. Anderson, blew me away and made me want to be a part of what was happening in kid lit.

What inspired you to start writing this book?

My mentor, Holly Goldberg-Sloan, suggested I write a story drawn from my experience of getting sick as a young teen. I was reluctant because the “sick lit” I was aware of seemed sappy and inspirational. It didn’t mirror my experience at all. It took a long time to “hear” my main character’s voice and then an exceptionally long time to get a first draft written due to how raw and real the manuscript was. Thankfully, I eventually did, landed an agent, and ended up having a wonderful debut experience with my editor, Monica Perez, and publisher, Charlesbridge Teen.

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

Titles come to me one of two ways – the perfect title pops into my head right away or it’s utter torture trying to find something that works/fits. Luckily, CURSED was in that latter category. It has a double meaning because my main character both curses a lot and feels cursed. I worried that a publisher might want to change the title as it makes the book seem like it’s paranormal (it isn’t), but after briefly considering a title change, Charlesbridge decided including a reading line (like a movie poster tagline) on the cover would take care of any misinterpretations. Fun fact: I suggested having the reading line be like a medication warning, and my editor loved the idea so much, she took one of my samples verbatim.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

This is an easy question – as my main character Ricky is obsessed with Green Day’s album AMERICAN IDIOT, it has a built-in soundtrack. There are lots of other cool songs mentioned in the book, too.

Describe your dream book cover.

My dream cover for CURSED is actually the cover it ended up with! I suggested using the visual pain scale. After several different possibilities, some using the pain scale, others not – and none of which I particularly loved – we landed on the final cover that I honestly couldn’t have been more excited about. My book designer, Joyce White, did me a total solid with not only the jacket but an awesome printed case, too.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

My very first job was as a dog washer! I worked in retail here and there as a teenager and young adult. After film school, I worked in production offices for awhile and picked up extra money being a mystery shopper. I was a bookkeeper for 10+ years before “retiring” to write full-time.

Something my readers wouldn’t know about me is that I rode a unicycle as a kid.

What books did you read (for research or comfort) throughout your writing process?

I again am reading voraciously and predominantly children’s books – picture books through novels. I try to read anything and everything in the kid-lit world with disability representation and do my best to boost and uplift disabled voices. I remember reading Angie Thomas’ THE HATE U GIVE and loving the immediacy of first-person present tense, which inspired me to use the same in CURSED.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

I wrote a raw, snarky, angry book about a sick kid to let readers know that it’s okay – reasonable even – to feel angry when something Earth-shatteringly difficult happens to you. I think disabled and chronically ill people feel this unspoken obligation to be cheerful good sports and inspiring. The reality is – that’s not how we feel much of the time, especially when newly diagnosed. I want my readers to know that, whatever difficulties they’re experiencing, being angry and feeling lost is a normal human reaction, and that asking for help is…well, helpful!

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.