Let me introduce you to Sharon Flake.
And it’s no wonder, after all Flake is the kind of woman who exudes confidant grace, commanding attention wherever she goes. With a down-to-earth, speak-the-truth aura about her, she invites her readers to witness worlds where insecurities are laid bare and vulnerability is replaced with trust. From her genuine smile to her heart-felt concern for her readers, there is no doubt Sharon Flake is passionate about what she does and the people she influences.
Lately her world has been expanding as more and more fans jump on the Sharon Flake bandwagon. Side shot followings are beginning to take her tales and run with them, such as the “Lovin’ the Skin I’m In” movement. This group takes the book’s heroine, Maleeka Madison, a dark-skinned girl dealing with life’s pressures and struggling with her own inner sense of worth, and gives young students an outlet to talk about their own inner battles in a safe and loving atmosphere. This was Flake’s goal from the beginning, a dream literally realized. Flake’s rip-your-heart-out-and-lay-it-bare-on-the-table approach to writing has connected her with this audience which so many authors today wash their hands of: the motley young adult crew. But Flake’s novels go one step further. By unreservedly tackling these difficult issues, Flake’s novels expand beyond traditional readers and catch hold of another audience libraries have long been in mortal combat with: their nemesis the anti-reading clan. Flake says one of the best parts of her job is hearing how her works “grab a hold of young people to the point that they want to read in ways that they may not always have read.”
Not only is Flake bringing in new readers to the literary world, but according to her there may be another need her novels are filling: the need for African American authors in young adult fiction. Flake states, “…the reality is if black people didn’t read white books we wouldn’t be reading very much cause no matter how many black books people think they see, when you look at the millions of books that are out there, there aren’t that many, and for African American teens, there are hardly any at all. …so if teens of color want to read, and they don’t read books by white authors, they really are going to be in trouble, cause there really aren’t many out there who tell their stories.” Flake argues this is a need which has long been over-looked. “I think there are not nearly enough black writers who do young-adult books. Our kids go to bookstores, and they don’t find anything.”
Flake’s latest creation, “You Don’t Even Know Me”, released last month, follows the short story pattern of “Who Am I Without Him?” This brave step into a dormant writing category did not faze Flake who, when questioned about short stories being a dying trend, replied, “I tend to follow my gut when I write things, not trends.” And no one can argue with her philosophy after seeing the success of both books.
Perhaps the appeal is in Flake’s ability to separate herself from the title “adult” and take on the mantle of her teen-hood years. Writing with uncanny clarity, Flake takes the readers to the sources behind the issues, and through stories of real people in real situations unlocks the pent up confusion and frustration and brings about long-needed direction.
Of particular notice is Flake’s fluid shape-shifting between narrating from a girl’s perspective, and also from a boy’s. Both are convincing. One of the primary points of connection Flake uses is in voicing, she says, “…when people hear the voice of the characters in the books they feel like they are speaking to them and speaking their truth.” “Bang!”, the story of a young boy whose younger brother’s death on the streets causes him to begin questioning the world around him is Flake’s first time writing from a boy‘s perspective.
Her books aren’t fairy tales. Ingrained with themes of growing up in the midst of adversity, Flake depictions of inner-city life draw on her own experience living in Pittsburgh, PA. Though her characters aren’t based on any specific circumstances from her childhood, Flake says, “…as an African American, I grieve, as many of us do, for what is happening to our boys in regards to violence and murder. So it is not such a big leap to take their hurt and give it a face.” Flake’s confidence in writing was hard earned. Originally she started school to be a pediatrician and switched to English after recognizing she didn’t have the desire or drive to complete an MD, “You would not want me to be your doctor!” Flake says, laughing. But the road to being published has been rocky at best. While working full time in public relations and helping foster children, Flake began writing short stories and articles, submitting them to various publishers, and being rejected every time. What kept her going is her love for children, “For whatever reason,” Flake states knowingly, “I think God wanted me to be a writer. I’m a writer in spite of myself because as scared as I’ve felt, I think I have a heart for the kids.” When her first published novel, “The Skin I’m In” exploded in bookstores it was the turning moment Flake had been waiting for.
Reaction to Flake’s novels has been wide and varied, and not always from the audience Flake had in mind when she wrote them. “I was in a white shopping mall when my book “The Skin I’m In” first came out, which is about a dark skinned girl that gets picked on, and [a white boy] said, “that’s my story” and at first I thought, what? Yeah, a white guy a white mall, what is he talking about? And that was my first kinda light bulb moment, that this book was bigger than kids who looked like me… And then I got an e-mail from a twenty-four year old Japanese woman… who said she wanted to translate this for her college thesis and I said, what’s the connection between you and this thirteen year old black girl, and she said, “I was picked on” and she said there was a big connection… It’s opened my eyes up.” While some authors reach for suspense or romance as their go-to tools, Flake’s focus is less about the means of getting there, but rather the destination she has in mind - the change happening in her readers through her novels. With the comfortable setting of story-telling Flake establishes a channel through which she reaches her hand to connect with her readers and pull them forward, challenging them to new heights of maturity and self-awareness leading to personal breakthrough. Trickling between the subtleties and nuances of her writing is Flake’s own sense of inner strength which floods with deceptive simplicity into the starved hearts of youth.
