Interview with William C. Morris Award finalist Adib Khorram: the Bitmoji edition.
It’s that time of year again! I love my William C. Morris Award family, and I’m so overjoyed to welcome finalist Adib Khorram into the fold. I am head over heels for Adib’s debut, DARIUS THE GREAT IS NOT OKAY. It’s about the most endearing tea-drinking, soccer-playing, half-white, half-Persian, fictional nerd you’ve ever met. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s one of my favorite books of all time - and outlets like TIME, Buzzfeed, Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, Cosmopolitan, the New York Times (and more) totally agree with me.
But the number one DARIUS fan? My Bitmoji. She’s actually kind of embarrassing about it. When I told her she’d be interviewing Adib’s bitmoji, she screamed. It was loud. I tried to talk her out of wearing her Adib fandom t-shirt to the interview, but.
Yeah.
So without further ado, let’s turn it over to the bitmojis!
Beckmoji: Huge congrats on being a finalist for the Morris Award! I’m ridiculously happy for you, and I can’t emphasize enough how well-deserved this is. Can you tell me about the moment you found out you were a finalist?
Adibmoji: I was actually doing the dishes when I got the phone call. I could tell it was [editor] Dana from my watch, so I dried off my hands and answered. And I’m kind of embarrassed to admit it but I kept washing dishes as we talked because I’m one of those people that doesn’t like to leave the dishes half-done; plus I had a school visit that afternoon so I wanted to finish them before I left. But we had a great chat and screamed together and it was awesome and wonderful and totally surprising.
Beckmoji: Darius has touched so many people’s hearts – I legit get DMs from people gushing about it, just because they know I’m a fan. I imagine it’s been the kind of year that can only truly be described in gifs. If you had to pick three that best capture your debut experience, what would they be?
Adibmoji: Debut year has been a whirlwind and amazing and I’ve been incredibly humbled by the response to Darius.
Adibmoji: Honestly a lot of the time it’s felt kind of surreal.
Adibmoji: But also it’s been an incredible amount of fun. I could not have predicted or asked for a better debut experience.
Beckmoji: Darius’s experience with depression hit so close to home for me, and I know I speak for many readers when I say that. What advice would you give to readers, especially teens like Darius, who may be living with depression?
Adibmoji: I always feel like advice is great when it works and terrible when it doesn’t. So instead I’d rather let readers know that even though it feels like depression can be this big, life-defining thing, it’s not. Depression is just one small part of their life, and not even the most interesting part.
Beckmoji: Darius’s friendship with Sohrab cuts so deep – their love for each other is palpable, and the rough moments between them are painfully real. I loved the exploration of all the ruptures and repairs that come with true friendship. What were your favorite moments to write about that friendship? What moments challenged you the most?
Adibmoji: I loved whenever I got the two of them on that rooftop and it felt like they were in their own little world. Those scenes were incredibly fulfilling to write. Probably the most challenging moment was the fight they have toward the end. I’ve never been great at writing fights, because I like it best when all my characters get along. So I had to dig really deep.
I feel like it’s human nature to lash out at the people we love most because we know (or at least hope) that they’re going to forgive us, and that’s what I was trying to get across. I hope I succeeded.
Beckmoji: I loved seeing Iran through the eyes of a biracial American kid with Persian/white roots. Were there any particular details that felt particularly important to include, either about Iran or about Darius's experience of being Persian?
Adibmoji: I really wanted to show that life is just life in Iran. So often other cultures get exoticized in media, and I wanted to push back against that. And, rather selfishly, I wanted to show Yazd, which is my dad’s hometown.
Beckmoji: I am a notorious exaggerator about crying during books - I actually rarely do – but I legit sobbed my eyes out near the end of Darius (it was during a conversation with his dad). Were there any parts of the book that made you emotional as you wrote them?
Adibmoji: The main ones were the scene where Darius says goodbye to his grandparents at the end, and the one with Darius and his dad on the rooftop. I came to the sobering realization during the writing process that I was closer in age to Darius’s parents than I was to Darius, and that really informed a lot of the scenes with his parents in general: I was thinking about what they were feeling, and what Darius was feeling, and what Darius thought they were feeling.
I once read that one of the characteristics of the teenage psyche is a tendency to react to the perceived motivations of the behavior, rather than the behavior itself, and that really stuck with me and informed Darius’s relationship with his dad.
Beckmoji: Are there any books that you would recommend for fans of Darius?
Adibmoji: The entire Simon-verse for starters! For readers seeking more Iranian-American stories, Arvin Ahmadi’s DOWN AND ACROSS, Abdi Nazemian’s THE AUTHENTICS, and literally anything by Sara Farizan (her latest is the stellar HERE TO STAY). Julian Winters’ RUNNING WITH LIONS for readers wanting a story about sports and inclusion and friends and love. For readers like Darius who love sci-fi and fantasy, Natalie C. Parker’s SEAFIRE, L. L. McKinney’s A BLADE SO BLACK, and Alex London’s BLACK WINGS BEATING. For cinnamon rolls dealing with family issues, it’s hard to beat Jandy Nelson’s I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN or Benjamin Aliré Saenz’s ARISTOTLE & DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE. And for all the nerds out there, keep your eyes peeled for Lana Wood Johnson’s 2019 debut, TECHNICALLY, YOU STARTED IT, a mistaken-identity romcom starring a pair of nerds who slowly fall in love over text messages.
And, because I can’t go five minutes without mentioning it, I am absolutely obsessed with Martha Wells’s THE MURDERBOT DIARIES, a series of adult sci-fi novellas that I’ve recommended to everyone in my life. They’re about a misanthropic cyborg who would rather watch soap operas but keeps getting forced into being a hero.
Beckmoji: What are three of your favorite moments from your whirlwind debut year?
Adibmoji: I’m kind of a weirdo and I love conventions, so going to BEA and being surrounded by ALL THE BOOKS was a real highlight. I also got to meet my agent and editor in real life for the first time; and you and I got to say hi again before we both got pulled in different directions; and I got to see New York City for the first time, which filled my theater-kid heart so full.
One time when we were in Austin for Texas Teen Book Festival, Heidi Heilig (author of FOR A MUSE OF FIRE, THE GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE, and THE SHIP BEYOND TIME, and an all-around amazing human being) led a group of us to the bat bridge to try and see the bats. But apparently we were too late in the season so we didn’t get to see the bat swarm. But we had a great adventure nonetheless.
After ALA, I had a late flight out, and Natalie C. Parker’s flight out got cancelled, so we ended up at the hotel bar after ALA, just talking about writing and family and our love of Star Trek.
One of the most amazing things about this whole journey has been all the friends I’ve made, especially with authors I admire. It’s kind of weird to go from being a fan to being a colleague, but it’s wonderful, too.
Beckmoji: And finally, please summarize Darius using only emojis.
Adibmoji:
In conclusion: should you buy this beautiful book and read it while drinking tea? Answer:
Huge thanks to Adib AND Adibmoji for giving such beautiful answers to these (fangirl ravings disguised as) questions.
