Interview: Cynthia Leitich Smith
SARAH STEINBACHER: Last year you edited the young adult book, LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN: INTERTRIBAL STORIES, which was a Printz Award winner, an AIYLA winner, and a 2025 Kirkus Best Book. In its starred review, Booklist said, “A mixture of award-winning authors and new voices use this liminal space in surprising and inventive ways, creating a microcosm of the interconnectedness of modern Indigenous life, one in which community and family, past and present, encourage its young visitors to inhabit their truest selves as they look toward the future.” How did you approach editing this collaborative book?
CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH: The legendary authors worked together on worldbuilding, using an online message board, texts, phone calls, and in-person meet ups. Once the stories came in, I looked for overlaps in the timeline and setting—when characters from one story could potentially interact with characters for another and matched the respective authors to revise with that possibility in mind. From there, the story-order fell into place, and I was able to focus on smaller nods and the nuts-and-bolts of assembling the ancillary elements like the author bios, story notes, and tribal language glossaries.
SARAH STEINBACHER: You previously edited another middle grade book, ANCESTER APPROVED: INTERTRIBAL STORIES FOR KIDS. Kirkus called it “a groundbreaking Indigenous anthology for young people” (starred review). How did the two projects differ in your experience?
CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH: While some team members overlapped, the second book had a more seasoned group of contributors, and our central setting element for ANCESTOR APPROVED was a realistic powwow while our central setting element for LEGENDARY FRYBREAD DRIVE-IN was accessible through portals in an Indigenized liminal space.
SARAH STEINBACHER: HARVEST HOUSE, your young adult companion novel to HEARTS UNBROKEN, “is well-paced and suspenseful, raising thoughtful questions about the intersections of urban legend, cultural trauma, and genre tropes” (Booklist). It’s “part coming-of-age tale, part social justice story, and part paranormal thriller” (School Library Connection, starred review). What inspiration did you draw from when writing the paranormal elements of the story?
CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH: In my more mainstream books, I have a long history of writing the paranormal. I’ve published the TANTALIZE gothic fantasy series and the FERAL trilogy, which are set in the same universe, which includes ghosts. That said, for a long time I’ve wanted to write a story about a real ghost inhabiting a Halloween haunted house, the kind of place you might go for fun scare to celebrate the scary season. That allowed me to incorporate a number of real dynamics that impact Native teens and create a sort of Indigenous “Scooby Doo” story with elements of humor and joy, albeit one that touches on some serious themes.
SARAH STEINBACHER: In HARVEST HOUSE, you intertwine “thoughtful conversation surrounding the racism faced by Indigenous teenagers with a convincing ghost story to craft a spine-tingling, edge-of-the-seat chiller” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Horn Book noted that it also centers “the plight of missing Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people, and the lack of police, media, and governmental support in searching for them.” Kirkus added that the depicted racism was “handled with delicacy and distinct realism.” Why is it important for children and teens to read books that showcase the microaggressions and systemic racism Indigenous people experience?
CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH: For Indigenous young readers, I want to remind them that they are heroes of their own life stories and that they have the power, especially in community, to raise their voices and create positive change. For non-Native readers, fictional characters can help to raise awareness and humanize statistics. To achieve all that, it’s important for both that the characters be three dimensional with a full range of emotions.
SARAH STEINBACHER: Your middle grade fantasy adventure book, SISTERS OF THE NEVERSEA, “is less a retelling [of Peter Pan] and more a rebuttal, critiquing the problematic aspects of the classic—often quite overtly—and the consequences of such harmful influences are explored over the course of much action, adventure, and magical island exploration” (Booklist, starred review). What was your experience partnering with We Need Diverse Books on this project? And what’s your favorite part of this retelling?
CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH: We Need Diverse Books is in partnership with Heartdrum, an Indigenous-focused imprint at HarperChildren’s, so all of the Heartdrum books have that WNDB connection.
I view SISTERS OF THE NEVERSEA as an extension and reimagination of Barrie’s PETER PAN. It’s set in modern times and centered on the characters who are girls or Indigenous. The co-protagonists are Wendy Darling and Lily Rogers (inspired by Tiger Lily) who’re stepsisters living in Tulsa (prior to their departure to Neverland). Other significant characters include a Belle (AKA Tinker Bell) and a young mermaid.
What I loved most about it was writing about chosen sisterhood, creating a plausible reason for Native kids to be on the island, and adding layers to the pirates, fairies, merfolk, and talking animals who appear in the cast.
SARAH STEINBACHER: Your middle grade road trop adventure story, ON A WING AND A TEAR, is “a unique and noteworthy tale that weaves together past and present with humor through stellar, multilayered writing” (Kirkus, starred review). Publishers Weekly added, “combining humor, suspense, and a quiet reverence for one’s ancestry, Smith examines how the power of community can affect emotional and physical healing, and the strength it takes to do both” (starred review). It “explores intergenerational grief and other difficult subjects yet is still jampacked with joy and humor” (Horn Book). How do you find the balance between heavy (but necessary) topics and the lighter voice common in middle grade stories?
CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH: The story touches on removal or the Trail of Tears, the forced relocation of southeastern tribal citizens from their ancestral lands to Indian Territory, which is now Oklahoma. But the setting is modern day and the focus is on returning to those lands, those ancestors—on coming home in the biggest way. So, there’s an element of celebration albeit bitter sweet, and framing that at the end of a road trip with Grampa involving talking animals, nefarious v-loggers, and Big Foot invites humor and hijinks of the highest order.
SARAH STEINBACHER: Your middle grade graphic novel, BLUE STARS: THE VICE PRINCIPAL PROBLEM, “accessibly highlights the importance of youth involvement in local politics” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Kirkus said, “readers will come away inspired to raise their own voices and take action to create positive, peaceful change in their communities” (starred review). Why is political activism important for young children? And what was your experience partnering with co-author, Kekla Magoon, and illustrator, Molly Murakami, on this project?
CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH: Children have been at the heart of most successful political movements, and that’s still true today. Of course, that’s both because of their inherent heroism and also the fact that they’re key members of their larger communities. Kids and teens are directly impacted by political decisions. They have the power to illuminate what’s important to them and why.
Kekla and I didn’t work directly with Molly as production goes through our editor and her art director and the publishing house, but we are thrilled and grateful with how she brough Maya and Riley to life on the page. We all did, however, get to celebrate the launch of book one in the series together at an independent bookstore in Molly’s hometown, which was thrilling.
As for writing the manuscript, Kekla and I met in person in Savannah, Georgia; Montpelier, Vermont; New Orleans, Louisiana; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Austin, Texas; to write together. Sometimes we added days onto an event on the author-speaker circuit, and sometimes we went to visit each other’s homes. She’s an incredibly skilled writer, and particularly strong at writing action scenes. I loved our in-person, back-and-forth brainstorming sessions, though during the pandemic, we had to default to phone calls with a shared Google doc on our respective scenes.
SARAH STEINBACHER: Your picture book, FIREFLY SEASON, is “a glowing tribute to family across distance and lineage” (Kirkus) and “a familial narrative filled with longing, love, and the blessing of found sisterhood” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). The book explores universal themes of friendship, change, and found family through an Indigenous girl and her new neighbor whose family is from India. How do multicultural friendship stories help young children?
CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH: Cross-cultural friendship stories validate children’s openness to embracing people who are both alike and different from themselves in a myriad of ways. More specifically, this is another story of found sisterhood, only this one is for the littlest readers. So many children’s books have touched on the historic relationship between Native people and colonizers or settlers. But there is also contemporary dynamic of our connection to recent immigrant families, especially those who are people of color.
SARAH STEINBACHER: In your newest picture book, HERE COME THE AUNTIES!, “a wealth of aunties contribute to an Indigenous child’s day-to-day in this lovingly communal picture book portrait” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). It’s “thoughtful and heartwarming,” (Booklist), “a raucous and rousing profile of aunties” (School Library Journal, starred review), and “a rapturous reflection on community worth holding close to one’s heart” (Kirkus, starred review). How did your childhood familial memories help shape this story?
CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH: I was (and still am) blessed by strong relationships to aunties. They’re the backbone of families and a safe port for young people who may be reluctant to confide in their parents or guardians. Aunties—be they by family ties or honorary—are the unsung heroes of good times and bad, a key ingredient for fun, and balm for mental health.
SARAH STEINBACHER: Your companion book, HERE COME THE GRANDMAS!, launches on 9/8/26. What threads did you incorporate from the AUNTIES book and what new things can we look forward to in GRANDMAS?
CYNTHIA LEITICH SMITH: The “here comes” refrain is repeated as well as the idea of strong, loving women who offer and receive support from the young ones in their lives. The concept of “grandma” connotes an Elder status in the way that “auntie” doesn’t necessarily and that plays into character building, plus there are more young protagonists in the second book. In both cases, we made an effort to convey the wide span of age ranges and push back against any ageist stereotypes that might’ve limited the truth of their awesomeness.
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*****Order Cynthia’s newest book HERE COME THE AUNTIES! here, available now.*****
*****Pre-order Cynthia’s next book HERE COME THE GRANDMAS! here, available 9/8/26.*****
