OLLIELAND: A Novel

For those of you who have been wondering about that novel I've been working on...well I finished the second draft last week and I'm shopping for an agent! It's called OLLIELAND. It's 352 pages. And I'm really excited about it. The following is a little sneak peek blurb:

Set in Madison, Wisconsin, OLLIELAND chronicles the senior year of 17 year old artist and afro-punk Olivia (Ollie) Johnson. Raised in the shadows of her mainstream, well adjusted siblings, Ollie is content to be nobody, especially at school. But when her parents go through a very public divorce and her mother enters into a relationship with a woman, Ollie is stripped of her anonymity. Attacked for her differences, celebrated for her talent, and forced into uncomfortable confrontations with friends and foes alike, Ollie must find her voice and figure out how to survive. The choices she makes will test the boundaries of her friendships and force her to assert her independence. Ollie must also come to terms with the reinvention of her family, all the while figuring out the next phase of her life, and pursuing romance with local rock star Wally X.

Few YA books have Afro-American protagonists, and those few are familiar tropes--slave-narrative period pieces or portraits of inner-city youth. Ollie isn’t a “Talented Tenth” Atlanta debutant in designer jeans, nor is she an impoverished teen mom. She’s not an athlete, nor college bound and definitely not a victim. Armed with a strong sense of self, impeccable taste in music, and an irreverent wit, Ollie is a spunky, engaging character, whose struggles with identity, family, love and friendship will resonate with readers of all ages.