In 2019, we made it our goal is to work with as many debut authors as possible and to spread the word about their debut novels. It was such a success last year that we decided to continue the fun for years to come! Follow us this year as we pick the minds of the 2021 debuts and chat with them about their writing process and what it's like to be a new author. Also stay tuned for news of giveaways, Twitter chats, and more!
At the end of 2020, we Tweeted about wanting to discover more debut authors and their books. We ended up finding Emma Kress and her novel DANGEROUS PLAY, and we have been interested in it ever since! We are so excited to have Emma on the blog today to answer some of our questions!
***Content Warning: This book discusses sexual assault and rape culture.
Emma Kress loves writing about badass girls and her debut novel DANGEROUS PLAY (Macmillan, Summer 2021) is a fast-paced thriller about a team of field hockey players who refuse to accept the world as it is, and set out to change it. An educator of over 20 years, Emma was one of four finalists for New York State Teacher of the Year. She is a graduate of Vassar College, Columbia University’s Teachers College, and the Vermont College of Fine Arts’ Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program. Before teaching, Emma worked in social services helping survivors of sexual assault. Now, she lives with her family in Saratoga Springs, NY.
The Book Bratz: First of all, congratulations! How does it feel to be a debut author?
Emma: Wild. I consider myself to be a chemically-blessed, stable person and yet…I’m pretty sure I feel every emotion every day. It’s a wild thing to get to give this gift of holding a book I wrote in my hands to that 10-year-old self who so wanted to be a published author. All. The. Feels.
The Book Bratz: In your opinion, what's the best part of the writing process? What's the hardest?
Emma: The best part about writing is being IN the writing. I adore those days where you’re far enough into the project and you truly inhabit your characters and their world, allowing the rest of the world—especially this year—to fall away. It’s an incredible, magical experience that always leaves me feeling deeply fulfilled. Writing is deeply challenging so there are a lot of hard parts. I’ve always believed, however, that there’s great pleasure in aspiration—in engaging with a hard task. So, part of the fun is the hard. But I think one of the harder things for me that doesn’t really fall into the aspirational pleasure category, is the solitary piece. I don’t mean alone time—oh my goodness, I need and crave alone time, this year more than ever. Rather, I mean that it’s easy for self-doubt to creep in. While I’ve assembled an incredible support team in my editor, agent, critique partners, friends, and family, the problems are still yours and yours alone to solve.
The Book Bratz: Where did you get the idea for DANGEROUS PLAY?
Emma: I began writing Dangerous Play in 2014, before #MeToo. At the time, there were several wonderful YA books that explored the journeys of survivors of rape, but there weren’t any that addressed different sexual assault or rape culture. As a former sexual violence peer counselor and activist, this troubled me. I also began to notice that while there were some amazing books about girl athletes—particularly girls who were trying to find their way in male-dominated sports—there weren’t any books honoring that special friendship that comes from being on a sports team. Thankfully, now this has changed (see these wonderful 2021 debut novels featuring fierce, athletic girls: In the Same Boat, by Holly Green, and The Knockout, by Sajni Patel). But those two observations were percolating for a while. Then, while I was in the middle of writing something else entirely, this fierce team of field hockey players showed up demanding to be heard…so I listened.
The Book Bratz: Who was your favorite character to write? Who was the most difficult?
Emma: Well, I love the main character Zoe. She begins fierce on the field, but timid in life, and I loved following her journey as she tried to claim space in all areas of her life. Truly, I love every girl on the team. But probably the most fun to write was Aunt Jacks, a dear friend of Zoe’s mom. She’s irreverent and inappropriate, funny and feminist, and everything she said flowed so easily. Zoe’s mom might have been the hardest to write. There is a lot of nuance in their mother-daughter relationship and it took a lot of passes to communicate that properly to the reader.
The Book Bratz: What surprised you the most about the publishing process?
Emma: This goes back to your first question, but I don’t think I expected to feel so many emotions. I think I just expected joy. But it’s all so much more nuanced than that. It’s a deeply moving experience to have worked for this moment for so many years, to have dreamed of it for so many more. It’s also the first time this work that I’ve been doing mainly in seclusion for my whole life is finally getting into the world, which is scary and strange. And, to top it all off, I’m debuting in a pandemic. So yeah. There are a LOT of feels.
The Book Bratz: What do you hope that readers will take away from DANGEROUS PLAY?
Emma: I hope that this book finds the readers who need it. I hope this book helps them feel seen, heard, and empowered. My grand hope is that in ten years, rape culture and misogyny are gone and this reads like historical rather than contemporary fiction. But I also think power and powerlessness are enduring issues. I think even if we were to solve societal inequities (and wow there’s a lot to do there), there will likely always be individual feelings of powerlessness. In many ways, this book is a blueprint of hope for those moments of powerlessness.
The Book Bratz: Do you plan on returning to the world of DANGEROUS PLAY in the future, or do you have any other projects in mind? Can you tell us anything about them?
Emma: I feel really good about where I’ve left the team and characters of Dangerous Play. That said, I adore the team and it might be fun to tackle future books from the perspectives of different team members. As for what I’m working on right now—I can’t tell you much, but, like Dangerous Play, you can bet it’s feminist, funny, and fierce.
Title: Dangerous Play
Author: Emma Kress
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Publication Date: August 3rd, 2021
Summary: Zoe Alamandar has one goal: win the State Field Hockey Championships and earn a scholarship that will get her the hell out of Central New York. She and her co-captain Ava Cervantes have assembled a fierce team of dedicated girls who will work hard and play by the rules. But after Zoe is sexually assaulted at a party, she finds a new goal: make sure no girl feels unsafe again. Zoe and her teammates decide to stop playing by the rules and take justice into their own hands. Soon, their suburban town has a team of superheroes meting out punishments, but one night of vigilantism may cost Zoe her team, the championship, her scholarship, and her future.
Thank you so much to Emma for stopping by and answering our questions! We are super excited about DANGEROUS PLAY and can't wait for it to be out in the world on August 3rd!
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