Farshore are thrilled to announce that The Poet X has been shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.
The Poet X, a powerful novel-in-verse by Elizabeth Acevedo, published to critical acclaim, with the New York Times bestseller winning almost every major literary award in the US including the 2018 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the 2018 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Fiction and Poetry, the 2019 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, and the 2019 Pura Belpré Author Award.
It is also currently nominated for the 2019 CILIP Carnegie Medal.
You can watch a short film from Waterstones on the books selected for the Older Fiction category to find out more.
Praise for The Poet X
‘I fell in love at slam poetry. This one will stay with you a long time.’
– Angie Thomas, bestselling author of The Hate U Give
‘Powerful, finely crafted verse . . . Readers will yearn to finish this verse novel in a single sitting, but its echoes will remain with them much longer.’
– Guardian
‘This was the type of book where “I’ll just do 50 pages” turned into finishing it in 2 reads. I felt very emotional, not just because the story and the words themselves were so beautiful but because I knew it was going to make so many teens who felt like no one cares about them or listens to them feel seen.’
– Tomi Adeyemi, bestselling author of The Children of Blood and Bone
‘Acevedo has amplified the voices of girls en el barrio who are equal parts goddess, saint, warrior, and hero.’
– Ibi Zoboi, author of American Street
‘Crackles with energy and snaps with authenticity and voice.’
– Justina Ireland, author of Dread Nation
About The Poet X
Xiomara has always kept her words to herself. When it comes to standing her ground in her Harlem neighbourhood, she lets her fists and her fierceness do the talking.
But X has secrets – her feelings for a boy in her bio class, and the notebook full of poems that she keeps under her bed. And a slam poetry club that will pull those secrets into the spotlight.
Because in spite of a world that might not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to stay silent.
The Poet X is a novel about finding your voice and standing up for what you believe in, no matter how hard it is to say. Brave, bold and beautifully written, it deals with issues of race, feminism and faith.
