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ENTRY TYPE: new
WORK TITLE: I Am the Swarm
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.hayleychewins.com/
CITY: Johannesburg
STATE:
COUNTRY: South Africa
NATIONALITY:
LAST VOLUME:
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PERSONAL
Married; children: one daughter.
EDUCATION:MA, Bath Spa University.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Singer-songwriter and author. Member of music group Eight Thousand Birds.
AWARDS:Gold Winner for Juvenile Fiction, Foreword Indies, 2020, for the The Sisters of Straygarden Place.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
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Hayley Chewins is a writer and singer-songwriter who grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, and is now based in Johannesburg. She earned an MA in writing for young people from Bath Spa University, and she is a member of the alt-pop band Eight Thousand Birds. She started writing novels in the late 2010s, and her first two works were geared toward late middle-grade and early YA readers.
Twelve-year-old Delphernia is the protagonist of the fantasy novel The Turnaway Girls. She has been kept in a cloister where she and other turnaway girls make music into gold, but no one knows that Delphernia’s singing can create life. When a new Master arrives at the cloister, she is able to leave, but then she is trapped between the sinister Custodian of the island and a strange Childer-Queen. The story is told from Delphernia’s perspective.
Critics were enchanted by Chewins’s debut. A reviewer in Publishers Weekly wrote, “Entwining themes of rebellion, freedom, identity, and finding one’s destiny are at the center of this lovely tale.” They called the novel “unusual” and “beautiful.” A writer in Kirkus Reviews described the story as a “tale of music, magic, and self-discovery.” They predicted that readers will be “utterly mesmerized.”
The Sisters of Straygarden Place is another novel about girls who have been kept trapped against their will. In this narrative, the three Ballastian sisters have been left behind in Straygarden Place by their parents and warned to never leave the house or even go onto the grass. Instead, the house takes care of the sisters and even keeps them company, and each girl has a small black dog who literally enters the girl’s brain when she needs comfort. When the eldest sister, Winnow, decides to rebel and go out onto the grass, she starts to deteriorate physically and emotionally, and younger sisters Mayhap and Pavonine have to deal with the fallout.
“Superb, spooky, and unforgettable,” wrote a contributor in Kirkus Reviews. They called Chewins’s prose “exquisite” and the novel’s themes “eerie” and “heart-wrenching.” Writing in ForeWord, Vivian Turnbull praised the book’s “elegant” prose and the “touching lessons regarding the power of family bonds.” Turnbull called the overall effect “poetic,” particularly Chewins’s “effective similes.” Deirdre F. Baker, in Horn Book, particularly enjoyed the setting of the house, writing that it is “pure confection and provides the sparkle to the imagining.” Baker also noted the “abundant similes.”
With I Am the Swarm, Chewins turned to writing in verse and focused specifically on a YA audience. Again, the protagonists are a family of women, the Strands. Each of them is able to do magic, and the magic always manifests when they turn fifteen. Nell, however, sees the magic as a kind of curse. Her mother’s age changes every day, which denies Nell the stable mother she needs. Nell’s older sister Mora is obsessed with the music inside her blood. Nell does her best to repress her emotions, but then her magic turns out to be insects that represent those hidden feelings, and Nell has to decide what to do when she can no longer hide how she feels.
Again, reviewers were impressed at both the story’s creativity and Chewins’s poetic writing. Tami Orendain, in BookPage, wrote, “This book is sure to resonate with those seeking thoughtful speculative fiction.” Orendain called the poetry “intense” in the way it “dives deep into the adolescent experience.” She lauded how the book “packs a range of emotional experiences into smooth, simple verses.” Eboni Njoku, in Horn Book, praised Chewins for how the book “sets a gradual pace that allows readers to immerse themselves in Nell’s complex reality.” Njoku also appreciated the “vividly and fluidly written verse.” A writer in Kirkus Reviews agreed, calling it a “beautiful, introspective slow burn of a book.” They described the poetry as “delicate, sparse, almost fragile” and “richly literary.”
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BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
BookPage, April, 2025, Tami Orendain, review of I Am the Swarm, p. 27.
ForeWord, June 27, 2020, Vivian Turnbull, review of The Sisters of Straygarden Place.
Horn Book, November-December, 2020, Deirdre F. Baker, review of The Sisters of Straygarden Place, p. 96; May-June, 2025, Eboni Njoku, review of I Am the Swarm, pp. 83+.
Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2018, review of The Turnaway Girls; June 1, 2020, review of The Sisters of Straygarden Place; January 15, 2025, review of I Am the Swarm.
Publishers Weekly, November 27, 2018, review of The Turnaway Girls, p. 56.
ONLINE
Fresh Fiction, https://blog.freshfiction.com/ (March 26, 2025), author interview.
Hayley Chewins website, https://www.hayleychewins.com/ (August 5, 2025).
Into the Forest Dark, https://intotheforestdark.wordpress.com/ (May 14, 2020), Elliott Blackwell, author interview.
Mindy McGinnis, https://www.mindymcginnis.com/ (October 12, 2020), Mindy McGinnis, author interview.
Pine Reads Review, https://www.pinereadsreview.com/ (April 26, 2019), Alessandra De Zubeldia, author interview.
Hayley Chewins is an award-winning author and a published poet. Her debut novel, THE TURNAWAY GIRLS (Candlewick, 2018), received starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly, and was named a Kirkus Best Book of 2018 as well as a 2019 Amelia Bloomer List pick. Her second novel, THE SISTERS OF STRAYGARDEN PLACE (Candlewick, 2020), also received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, and was chosen as the 2020 Foreword Indies Gold Winner for Juvenile Fiction and an Amazon Best Book of the Month. Hayley is also the author of LOKI: SEASON ONE NOVEL (Marvel Press, 2023), a middle grade novelization of Marvel's LOKI television show starring Tom Hiddleston. Her YA debut, I AM THE SWARM (Viking, 2025), has received four starred reviews. Hayley lives with her family in Johannesburg, South Africa. When she isn't writing books, she sings and writes music for her alt-pop band, EIGHT THOUSAND BIRDS. Her literary agent is Patricia Nelson at Looking Glass Literary & Media.
Interview with Hayley Chewins
April 26, 2019 PRR Staff 0 Comments
About the Author: Hayley Chewins is the author of THE TURNAWAY GIRLS, which was chosen by Kirkus as one of the best books of 2018, and by the ALA as one of the best feminist books for young readers. She studied classical voice for a year before switching to a degree in English and Italian, dabbling in law, and completing an MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University. Hayley lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, with her husband and a very small poodle. Her next book, THE SISTERS OF STRAYGARDEN PLACE, is forthcoming from Candlewick Press in the Fall of 2020.
Find Hayley Chewins on the following platforms:
Link
Twitter
A huge thank you to Hayley Chewins for taking the time to talk with us about her YA novel, The Turnaway Girls. Check it out!
Alessandra De Zubeldia: The world you created in The Turnaway Girls transported me to a completely different reality, a place of magic, wonder, and darkness. What were your sources of creative inspiration for constructing this fantastical world in which music can produce gold and birds can be brought to life from stone?
Hayley Chewins: I listened to a lot of music throughout the drafting and revising process—artists like Agnes Obel and Susanne Sundfør—and the climate of Blightsend is inspired by a place I visit every year with my family, which is in the middle of nowhere in the Western Cape, South Africa. But so much of the worldbuilding and magic came from the language itself. I thought of the term “turnaway girl” before I knew what a turnaway girl was. Same with “tongue-fruit” and “cloisterwing.” I love language and I really believe it’s a living thing. I don’t think of the act of worldbuilding as primary, with the language superimposed upon it. Instead, the landscape—and its magic—spring from the language. Of course, many books inspired me, mostly unconsciously. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is one. Jane Eyre, too. And The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley. And Skellig by David Almond.
AD: Delphernia, the protagonist, has a strong, mature voice and perspective. Did you consider writing The Turnaway Girls as a YA novel? What drew you to the Middle Grade genre?
HC: I actually never considered writing The Turnaway Girls as a YA novel. It was always a middle grade book in my mind. As soon as I knew I was interested in writing for younger audiences, I wanted to write middle grade. I was completely taken by other books in the category—books like Skellig by David Almond and Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell and Coraline by Neil Gaiman—and I feel deeply connected to the girl I was at the ages of 10, 11, and 12. It’s such a fascinating age, I think, because you’re very aware of the world around you, of the dark stuff out there, but you’re also not jaded yet. You still have hope. At the moment, I’m working on a draft of a YA book, and I want to write a book for adults, too. But I will always, always return to middle grade. It’s where my heart resides.
AD: Your writing in TTG is wonderfully lyrical; I highlighted an embarrassing number of lines throughout. When writing, do you naturally focus on language on a sentence-level or do you tend to focus more on narrative structure and plot? In other words, what does your writing process look like?
HC: Thank you so much! That’s so wonderful to hear. I’m always thinking about language, even in first drafts. It doesn’t have to be neat in the beginning, but it does have to have a rhythm or a style or an energy. Once I can hear the narrative voice in my mind, I feel like I can move ahead. I love Save the Cat by Blake Snyder and I’ll usually do a rough beat sheet before I start a first draft. But, inevitably, something will happen on the page—in the language—that changes the plot of the book. When that occurs, I’ll let it unfold, and I’ll continue writing. Then I’ll go back and outline some more when I get stuck. I keep going back and forth until I have a readable draft. So the language is always a part of it, but I do try to keep plot in mind. Story structure is such an art.
AD: Do you write daily? Do you have a writing schedule?
HC: Yes, I do. I find that works best for me because it keeps me in the story. I do try to take weekends off, though, otherwise I end up feeling drained and empty. I love reading on days off and watching films and TV. I set deadlines for myself constantly, and then work backwards from that, figuring out how much time I need for drafting and revising. So far, I don’t think I’ve ever missed a deadline, even one I set myself. I take them seriously. It’s a good way of getting things done.
AD: The silencing of women, especially young girls, and the importance of speaking up are prevalent themes in TTG. Did you grapple with similar issues at Delphernia’s age? What influenced you to write about these issues for a young audience?
HC: Definitely. I think almost every twelve-year-old girl in the world has dealt with situations where she feels silenced, or as though her body doesn’t belong to her. When I was 11 or so, I had a music teacher who would pat my leg when I was playing the piano. Sometimes he would pat me on the bottom, too, and once he tried to look up my t-shirt. I remember acutely how powerless I felt. And that sort of thing happened frequently with boys my age, too. I remember the feeling of wanting to say something, wanting to say, “No,” or, “Go away,” and not being able to. I think it’s important to talk about the way girls are silenced from a young age—and not only with teenagers. Because it doesn’t suddenly begin when you’re fifteen; it’s there from the beginning. We need to be talking to girls and to boys about it, right from the start.
AD: Do you recommend any Middle Grade novels that also focus on female empowerment?
HC: Oh, yes! I love The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, which is a book about mothers and daughters and rage as much as it is about magic; Race to the Bottom of the Sea by Lindsay Eagar, which features an eleven-year-old girl who is an explorer and inventor; The Spinner of Dreams by K.A Reynolds, which is about a girl wrestling with anxiety who overcomes actual and metaphorical demons; The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell, which is about a girl who rides wolves through Siberia; The Cartographer’s Daughter by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, which features a girl-cartographer on a journey to rescue her best friend; The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan, which is such a poignant rumination on what it feels like to be a pre-teen girl; Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee, in which the girl saves a boy (and the world) from sure peril; and Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, which is one of the most beautiful books about being a girl I can think of.
AD: What scene or character did you struggle to write? How did you get through it?
HC: It took me a while to get to the right ending, and the final sequence of events was something I worked on over and over to get it right. If I had it my way, my characters would sit in pretty rooms and have interesting conversations all day. Action is really hard for me to write. Luckily, I had my brilliant editor, Miriam Newman, to guide me through it!
AD: If you had a book contract to write a spin-off novel of any of the characters in The Turnaway Girls, which character would you choose and why?
HC: Oh, this is such a fascinating question! Probably the Childer-Queen. I’d love to write about what it was like for her to grow up at Sorrowhall with Mr. Crowwith…
AD: So far, what has been your favorite part of becoming a published author?
HC: There have been so many. A little while ago, I got a message from a reader who said, “I have been drowning from a lack of words. This book saved me.” That really touched me. And recently, The Turnaway Girls was published in South Africa, where I live, and I got to have a book launch. It was so amazing being surrounded by family and friends and getting to talk about my book and share it with others. And seeing it in a bookshop for the first time was incredibly surreal, too!
AD: What can we expect to read from you next?
HC: My next book, The Sisters of Straygarden Place, is a middle grade fantasy novel about three sisters who are cursed with insomnia and abandoned to the care of a magical mansion. When one of them falls grievously ill, they must unravel the mystery of their home’s origins and their parents’ disappearance before she is lost forever. It’s going to be out with Candlewick in fall 2020. I’m working on edits now and I’m so proud of this book. I hope readers love it as much as I do.
The Lyrical Magic Of Words: An Interview With Hayley Chewins
Posted by Elliott Blackwell on May 14, 2020
thumbnail_Hayley Chewins Author Photo
I remember discovering The Turnaway Girls quite by chance in my local bookshop. I must admit, I was first drawn to the cover and out of curiosity opened the book and began to read. Twenty minutes later, I had purchased the book and had made my way to a local park where I sat beneath an old oak and lost myself in the world created by Hayley Chewins. When I had finished this book, I could not help but wonder what this amazing author was going to write next and I knew that, whatever it was, I would want to read it.
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When I was offered the chance to read The Sisters of Straygarden Place, I jumped at the chance. As I wrote in my review of the book, from its opening line I was hooked: The house dressed Mayhap Ballastian in blue on the day her sister disappeared.
When I finished The Sisters of Straygarden Place I felt the same way one does coming out of a magical dream that one does not want to leave. The world around me somehow seemed less real than the one I just finished reading about. Then I did something I had not done since I was a child, I immediately re-read the book.
Now I have the opportunity to speak with Hayley Chewins and ask her about not only The Sisters of Straygarden Place and her debut novel, The Turnaway Girls, but also about her love of reading, her struggles with self-doubt, and about the books and authors she loves.
Hayley, what were your first bookish memories?
My mum is a bibliophile and she read to us early and often. When I was four, my older sister was struggling with reading, and my mum bought a Hooked on Phonics set to help her. I was completely fascinated by the whole thing and sat in on my sister’s lessons. So I learned to read early, and by accident. I’ve always found words to be thrilling and magical.
What were the books and characters who were formative to you?
I loved all the bears: Paddington, Rupert, Winnie the Pooh. I also loved Mrs. Pepperpot and Eloise. The first book I remember not being able to put down was The Naughtiest Girl in School by Enid Blyton.
Who were the authors who not only shaped you as a reader but made you want to become a writer yourself?
I always loved reading and writing, but I actually wanted to be a singer-songwriter until I was eighteen, and I wrote mostly poetry and songs until I got to my early twenties. I’d always wanted to write a novel, but it seemed like this really difficult, scary thing that I would do when I was older and wiser.
Some of the books that made me want to write a book were:
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
And then I read Skellig by David Almond and distinctly remember thinking, I want to write something like this! After that, I discovered Kate DiCamillo, Karen Foxlee, Franny Billingsley, Sarah Crossan, and Claire Legrand, and I was so inspired by their work. From then on, I knew I wanted to write middle grade.
What sparked your latest book The Sisters of Straygarden Place? Was it an image? A character?
It started with an image of sisters lying in a huge bed in some sort of manor house. I was living in England at the time and I missed my own sisters terribly. It took me a few years to figure out which story the sisters belonged in.
This is a book that is lyrical and the language of it is rich in imagery, yet you are able to deftly balance these with character and plot. How difficult was that?
Thank you! That’s so lovely of you to say.
A big part of it is that I have an editor who reins me in during line edits. She’ll say things like, “There are three metaphors on this page. Maybe too much? Choose your favourite and cut the other two.” And I listen to her. Because she’s very, very wise.
I think all writers have things that come naturally to them, and things that don’t. Language—rhythm and voice and flow—is pretty much the only thing that comes naturally to me. I have to work very hard to create plots that fit together like puzzle pieces. Likewise with characters: I write many drafts of each story, and with each draft, I get to know the characters better. It takes time. So part of it is working with my brilliant editor—and my agent, who is very editorial—and part of it is just not giving up until I get it right.
The Sisters of Straygarden Place, as well as The Turnaway Girls, are rich in atmosphere. How do you go about beginning to create the worlds you set your stories in? Certainly, in this second book, there appears to be a strong use of colors. Was that intentional?
I can’t start writing a book until I have a sense of the kind of atmosphere I want to create—a sense of the book’s tone. I realised recently that it comes down to texture. I have to pin down a handful of textures that the book sort of pivots on. So for The Turnaway Girls, it was stone, sea salt, and gold, and in Straygarden, it was velvet, and poodle fur, and marble. This isn’t really something I decide—I have to discover it through writing. But once I discover it, it sort of sticks.
The use of colour wasn’t intentional at all—but I was driven, with this book, to write something beautiful. I found myself really drawn to reading about old mansions and all the beautiful objects they contained. And I love colourful everything, so I’m not surprised that colour seeped in! To me, colour is life-giving. I love that Iris Apfel quote: “Colour can raise the dead.” I believe that. There’s something powerful about beauty, and I feel like I’m only just beginning to explore that…
What did you find most difficult about writing your second book? What did you love the most about writing this one?
The most difficult thing was figuring out the main conflict of the story. For a long time, I had the sisters and the atmosphere, but I had no idea what their story was. It took a number of drafts to get there. What I loved most was writing about sisterhood—exploring the dynamics between the sisters—and creating the world of the book (all the little details inside the house, and the grass and the wanderroot trees).
When writing, are you someone who outlines your story first or do you prefer to let it unfold as you are writing it?
I brainstorm in the beginning, but I’m an intuitive writer and I have to write a story to find out what it is. It feels more like discovering what’s there, what’s hidden, rather than inventing it from scratch. I really believe that when we’re in language—actually writing our stories—our brains are doing something very different from when we’re making mind maps or listing scenes. (I love doing those things, but they’re different to writing for me.) I try to map things out—it makes me feel less scared when I’m about to start a draft. But I usually end up keeping about 1% of the scenes I brainstorm in advance. The rest has to be felt out in language.
Do you have any writing habits or routines?
Yes! When I’m drafting a book, I get up at four in the morning. I call it the dreaminghour. I love it because my brain still has one foot in dreamland, so the writing flows better. And I usually drink black coffee when I write. Besides for that, I’m actually quite disorganised, and I don’t have much of a system. I just work until I get it right
I know there are some authors who prefer to write in silence while others like to have music playing to create a kind of soundtrack to what they are writing. Which are you? And if you listened to music, what were some of the songs that shaped The Sisters of Straygarden Place?
I love writing to music. My touchstone song for Straygarden was “Mother” by Tori Amos. I often listen to the same song on repeat while drafting.
Both The Turnaway Girls and The Sisters of Straygarden Place are rooted in magic worlds. What is it about fantasy that has drawn you to writing in this genre?
To be honest, I feel like a bit of a misfit in the world of fantasy because I didn’t grow up reading much of it. I didn’t read The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter until I was in my twenties. Same with Neil Gaiman and Laini Taylor and Philip Pullman. I only just started reading Ursula Le Guin this year. I still haven’t read any Terry Pratchett—I know, I know! I’m getting there! I came to fantasy late, and I’m still catching up—though, I must add, I have always loved reading fairy tales and folklore.
The book that really made me want to write about magic was The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter. It opened my eyes to the fairy tale as a space to explore the experience of being a girl in a really powerful way. Magic is so powerful because it allows you to make the abstract concrete. Sadness, terror, horror—they all become embodied. So I came to magic—and magical fiction—late. But once I discovered it, I never wanted to let it go. I think I’ll always, always write magical fiction. I can’t imagine not writing about magic and magical girls in particular. And I’m always taking recommendations for fantasy books because I know there are holes in my reading!
I see fantasy as having its origins in fairy tales and folklore. Do you yourself loving reading them and why do you think they continue to impact readers today?
I do love them! I’ll never forget the day I discovered the Fairy Tales and Folklore section in the library at my alma mater. It was like heaven! I think fairy tales are powerful and enduring because they’re essentially survival stories. They’re these little maps or metaphors for how to get through. Plus, they hint at something more—something just beyond this corner, behind that door. They provide a sense of mystery and beauty, which can be such a solace in our world. I think we need fairy tales more than ever.
With your second book, the story revolves around the sisters. Do you, yourself, have sisters or siblings that shaped the relationships in this book?
I have three sisters. I’m the second eldest. I’m really close with my two younger sisters. Things are complicated with my older sister. Sibling relationships can be so complex and difficult, and I wanted to explore that in Straygarden. There can be so much tenderness, so much longing for acceptance and love, and so much rage and fear. I wanted to write about that.
I know you write openly and honestly on your blog and in your emails, especially about the struggles you face as a writer or not being able to write. What have been the biggest obstacles for you to keep writing or overcoming writer’s block?
I don’t think I’ve ever had writer’s block—or at least, I wouldn’t call it that—but I have struggled with burnout and self-doubt, and just being stuck and not knowing what to write next, which can sometimes keep me from writing for days or weeks. I had really bad burnout towards the end of last year, and I took some time off from writing and it really helped. Self-doubt is really difficult to deal with. What I do is tell myself that I can be afraid and feel doubt, but I’m going to write anyway. I try to be gentle and firm with myself. I always find that when I shift my focus to the work itself, the doubt fades into the background, because you can’t actually doubt yourself while you’re doing the thing—because you’re doing it! It’s the before and the after that’s the trouble—the getting going. When I’m struggling with that, I’ll normally put on a timer and tell myself I only have to write for twenty minutes—and I always end up doing more than that. Or I wake up at four in the morning and just dive in before I can start criticizing or doubting myself. Four in the morning is like a magic trick.
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You created one of my favorite podcasts, “For Novelists Who.” What was the genesis for this?
I’m so glad you enjoy it! I’ve always been a naturally optimistic person and when I’m down or stressed I give myself pep talks. For Novelists Who is a way of sharing those pep talks with other writers. I run on hope and I believe it’s as necessary as breathing.
Lastly, who are the authors, and what are the books that continue to inspire you as an author?
Oh, so many! But three I’ve read and loved recently are:
The Forest of Stars by Heather Kassner
Lenny’s Book of Everything by Karen Foxlee
The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason
Straygarden_HJ
Hayley Chewins writes books about magical girls with secrets. Her debut, The Turnaway Girls (Candlewick Press, 2018) was a Kirkus Best Book and made the 2019 Amelia Bloomer Book List. Her second novel, The Sisters of Straygarden Place, is forthcoming from Candlewick Press in September 2020. Hayley lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, with her husband and a very small poodle. She is represented by Patricia Nelson at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Visit Hayley Chewins to find out more!
Hayley Chewins Talks Writing Upper Middle Grade And How to Handle A Revise & Resubmit
October 12, 2020
Mindy: Welcome to Writer Writer Pants on Fire, where authors talk about things that never happened to people who don't exist. We also cover craft, the agent hunt, query trenches, publishing, industry, marketing and more. I'm your host, Mindy McGinnis. You can check out my books and social media at mindymcginnis dot com and make sure to visit the Writer Writer Pants on Fire blog for additional interviews, query critiques and more as well as full transcriptions of each podcast episode. at WriterWriterPants on Fire.com. And don’t forget to check out the Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire Facebook page. Give me feedback, suggest topics you’d like to hear discussed, and let me know if there is someone you’d love to see a a guest.
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Mindy: I'm here with Hayley Chewins, and we're gonna be talking about writing upper middle grade, which can be a really tricky audience age to settle on voice wise. And a little later on, we're also going to be talking about the process of an R and R that's revising and resubmitting, which can be extremely frustrating and high stress. So we're going to cover all those things. But first, Haley, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Hayley: My name is Hayley Chewins. I am an author. I write middle grade fantasy books and my books, like you said, they skew upper middle grade. They're a little bit on the older side of middle grade. On um, they skew a little bit darker, too. So they’re fantasy books, but especially my latest book, is kind of borderline fantasy horror, dark fantasy. And I also coach writers, help writers to write more intuitively and to get in touch with their unique voice to come up with their most original ideas ever. And I just also launched a new online writing course called 100 Ideas in 10 Days, which helps you to come up with original ideas that are fascinating and interesting to you as a writer. So I do a couple of different things. Yeah, I'm really excited to be here so thanks for having me. I’m excited to chat everything middle grade and revising. I've done a lot of revising and resubmitting.
Mindy: It's a frustrating place to be. It's like almost there. So why don't you tell us first a little bit about specifically writing upper middle grade? Because you're right. That is very much an area where you can kind of edge into some darker thematics and even push the envelope a little bit with your content. So why don't you talk about writing for upper middle grade and cross over potential for YA and where you see that age range falling?
Hayley: So it's really interesting because I didn't set out to do it consciously. But my first book, The Turn Away Girls, when it got published, it was kind of like, You know, they put the age on the back of the book, so it was categorized 10 to 14 which is obviously on the older side. Usually, middle grade is like 9 to 12. I guess it depends on the reader. I don't ever like to Generalize and say, like all 12 year olds are like this. So all 14 year olds are like this. Yeah, so it depends on the reader. So, like a 10 year old reader who has a more mature, maybe reading level or just more emotional maturity might get Just as much out of it as a 14 year old reader.
It wasn't a conscious thing I didn't set out to go like I want to write up the middle grade, but I think just the themes that I covered in my books just tend to be a little bit heavier. Like the Turn Away Girls is about an island where music is kind of magical. And boys are allowed to make music, and girls are not. And there's a certain group of girls called the Turn Away girls who are forced to turn music into gold so obviously has, like, feminist themes, But on top of that, it also the main character has anxiety. I didn't intentionally do this, but my books tend to have mental health themes, even though they’re fantasy books. So I think it's because of that that they were kind of categorized on more of the upper end. Um, you know, they're not gory. I don't write about like crushes or first love or anything like that, that's usually, that's more YA. I think it's just kind of the heaviness of the themes, sometimes more so then, like the actual content of the book.
The other thing is that my writing style does tend towards the more lyrical. It's not necessarily the most accessible language for a 10 year old. For a nine year old, it's actually very mysterious to me because I think as a writer we just create the book. And then, in a way, it's like the publisher's job to kind of categorize and market the book. So I didn't query my books as upper middle grade. I just queried them as middle grade, but it ended up being categorized that way.
Mindy: You’re right at that point, you know, marketing is making some decisions. Publishers and book stores are making those decisions, and sometimes even librarians and parents are making those decisions. I like what you said about not forming a hard line for age ranges yourself. You're not necessarily saying I'm writing for 13 year olds. I was a YA librarian for about 14 years. I can tell you, as I'm sure you're aware, too. There's such a broad range. What one 13 year old can handle, the other one simply can't. And so you're right. You would never, You would never say This book is for 13 to 15 or this book is for 10 to 12 because the exposure levels are different, even vocabulary, but also thematics. It could be very different from one child to the next. And I like what you're saying, too, about how you write lyrically. Lyrical writing can't work for every middle grader. Sometimes they need that cemented, rather than being asked to think about larger concepts. I don't know again like you're saying, I really do believe that it all depends on the middle grader themselves and where they're at. And I know a lot of middle graders do rely on those gatekeepers like teachers, librarians and parents to make sure that they're getting what they need. If they need something a little more stimulating than the upper middle grade can sometimes be a great fit.
Hayley: I do think there's a sweet spot that gets kind of missed because of that, and not to generalize about. Like all 13 year olds like this little 12 year olds are like that, but it is kind of like middle grade. And then there's, like, this younger YA that doesn't always get tapped into. And then, Like a lot of YA is like you just plunge straight into, like, really dark stuff, which, of course, teens need, um but yeah, there is, like, this unexplored kind of middle grade area, and it's interesting that we call it upper middle grade. We don't call it lower YA. I don't know if that's just cause lower YA sounds weird. I don't know, but what about younger YA? I totally agree that, you know, Children, just like adults, are individuals. They can't really be categorized in terms of age. And anyone who's ever interacted with you know, a group of Children knows that not every 14 year old is the same. And, like you said, the emotional maturity, the intellectual stuff, what that child has also gone through in their life because I remember being 12 and sometimes feeling like reading some books just felt too, too young for me because they just didn't resonate with me, even though they were technically written for 12 year olds.
I think the other thing with writing middle grade or writing YA, that can be quite tricky is that when you're writing, you kind of write for yourself and you write for the 12 year old or the 14 year old or a 16 year old that you were. I don't write my books from a didactic point of view. I don't write them from the perspective of being a teacher or a parent. I really write them as a writer and as an artist. And of course, I tapped into how I felt when I was 12 or 10. But yeah, I'm not kind of looking to pass on any kind of message, and I'm not really thinking too hard about, you Know, how the book is going to be marketed or categorized, even though, obviously, if you're querying, you have to know that. You have to know I'm writing a middle grade book or I'm writing a YA book. But I think it's something that Children's writers maybe have to navigate that maybe people who write for adults don't really have to navigate that thing. Like you just write the book. You don't have to say who is it for necessarily. It’s that dance between like the artistry of it, Which is like you're writing a book that you would want to read. But then also, of course, keeping in mind the age of your reader at the same time, and sometimes that's a really difficult line to walk, and I don't have any clear answers on it. To be honest.
Mindy: I was actually signing some stock this weekend, and the bookstore owner asked me, Do you have any plans for writing middle grade? And I said No, because, honestly, I think it's too hard, and I mean that. I don't think I could write it. I don't know that I can walk that balance that you're talking about because I write for teens. I write Dark and I write gritty and I'm not making any choices that are self censoring. I write for teens. I don't have any published books for adults, but I have written books that would be marketed to adults that are as of yet unpublished, and it was the same process for me because my reputation, my brand is that I'm always going to push the envelope. I'm gonna be gritty, and I'm gonna maybe cross some lines so I don't have to worry about that when I'm writing. It is part of what my reputation has been built into. So I don't know that I would ever be able to ask myself those questions. I think I would be so cautious that I couldn't be honest in my writing. So I think it takes a very special skill set to write in middle grade.
Hayley: Well, I don't know if it's a skill set or if it's more just that you really connect with that age group. I think that people who write middle grade most of the writers I know, right middle grade. They just have this feeling of like, I want to write about how I felt when I was 10 when I was 12. Like they feel very connected to that version of themselves, and they can remember it vividly, and they have a sense of deep respect for how it felt to be 10 11 12. And it is. It's such a different feeling, too. When you're 14 15 16 or 16 17 18 on, But it's really interesting that you said about about middle grade because I kind of feel like that about - Not that I wouldn't be able to push the envelope like not the same problem - but I often feel like I just don't know how I would do it like I don't know how I would write about being a teenager, and I don't know if that's just me, like I'm not as connected to my teen self or if I don't get book ideas that are, like, suited to YA or what it is. But yeah, I think it's really interesting how some people just gravitate more towards the one or the other. And then other people can do everything, and it seems like they could just shape shift. I'm very jealous of those people.
Mindy: Me too. Me, too. I want to circle back a little bit. You mentioned there's no category such as lower YA. Um, there's not. We do use the term clean YA, sometimes. YA that is a little more sweet, naive, and I don't mean that in a negative way, but sweet and naive where they’re characters or teenagers, But there's no sex that there's no drugs. There's no, you know, usually no language, clean YA. It is something that really kind of started to surface, that distinction has come up like I would say, maybe in the past, like three years or so. YA can be very dark and like maybe 10,15 years ago, that was really celebrated like Look, we're really pushing the envelope here and we can go there for teens now and I think that's wonderful because that's where I live. But then we kinda, and the market in general really leaned that way for a while. And there were a lot of librarians I know and also teens that were like, Hey, where's you know? Where's my sweet romcom? Where's my book that doesn't have someone dying in it. Clean YA has kind of had a resurgence, especially now, during the pandemic. People need an uplifting read. People need to maybe not necessarily read about something depressing when we're all living it. That's my answer for when you ask as far as age range. We do have that distinction of clean YA, which is for any age, but it's more of a content descriptor rather than an age range.
Hayley: How do you feel about the term clean? Which kind of suggests that the other kind of YA is dirty.
Mindy: I don't mind it so much just because as when I was a librarian, I mean, that was part of what I did, because I did all the cataloging. So while I didn't read every single book, obviously in the collection, I would flip through. My eyes were very trained to pick up cursing. I can scan a lot of pages and pick up, you know, drugs, sex, whatever. Ii did that specifically. Just so I knew. And, you know, I had, like, a mental running What kids are going to want this book? What kids are not ready for this book, things like that. Also, to keep myself in good standing with parents and administrators. I don't necessarily have a problem with the word clean because my books are usually called, and I do like the term - gritty, which doesn't necessarily carry dirty with it. But I think the clean distinction is, um, more of an indicator of we're not going there and you know I respect that. And I certainly don't think that clean YA, that the term is denigrating to like what I write. Also most of the people I know write Gritty the way I do. If somebody wanted to call it Dirty we’d be like, Hey, that's fine. That markets very well.
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Hayley: I guess I'm more thinking about the teams who might encounter that term because I'm just thinking about the idea that, like certain kinds of behavior, are dirty or wrong?
Mindy: No, I get it and that's, That's a good consideration. I agree. Like I would never - And I think it's more of something that's of reference for the gatekeepers. Like I would never hand a book to a kid and say, You'll like this. It's clean. You know, I would never hand a book and be like, you’ll like this. It's dirty, you know? It's like I would never make that distinction to them. It would just be something that I was privately holding.
Hayley: I think that's why librarians are so important, especially youth librarians, because, you need to get to know the kids who are coming to your library and then on. You have conversations with them and figure out what books they're going to suit them. Such a specialized and important job.
Mindy: It is, and it's something an algorithm can't do. So there's a shout out from my librarians.
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Mindy: So let's move on to talk about revising and resubmitting for listeners who don't know that's called an R and R. If you get an R and R, what that means is that an agent has read your query they requested pages, usually requested the full, read it and said, Oh, you're so close, but not quite. It isn't necessarily rejection. What it is is an agent telling you these are the weaknesses. I'd like to see you strengthen them and come back around. I want to read it again. So A and R and R can feel a little deflating, but at the same time, it should be encouraging. It's another step in the ladder, so why don't you talk a little bit about that R and R process.
Hayley: So I was clearing The Turnaway Girls. My agent. Her name is Patricia Nelson. She requested pages and then requested the full manuscript. She got back to me and she said, I really loved the voice in this, like I love your writing and I love the concept of the idea. But there were some significant pacing and kind of plotting problems. I still struggle with plotting and painting. I am by no means an expert, but back then, especially, I was kind of still learning how to write, to write a book and to structure a book so well. First, she asked, like, would I be willing to do a revise and resubmit and I was like, Yes, of course I would love to do it. She sent me notes, and she sent me a bunch of books that she recommended. I read them. One of them was Save The Cat by Blake Snyder, which is a great story structure book if you struggle with story structure.
So I read the books and I did the changes. Patricia is amazing and that she always gives notes that she kind of points out, points out what's not working, but she'll never tell me like you have to change it in this way. She kind of did that. She gave me broad structural feedback in terms of, you know, where the pacing was lagging and like how the structure of the story wasn't working. And I actually ended up changing quite a lot about the story, like about the world, too, because I find that when you're revising, oftentimes you change one thing and then you have to change another thing because it's all interlinked that it's all tied together and knotted together.
So I had started during that revise and resubmit for her, and I was very happily doing it. I was really excited to get the notes because I've also heard that, you know, if agents do that - and this is absolutely true - if an agent offers you a revise and resubmit and send you notes and they're taking the time to to really look at your manuscript closely and send your feedback, that means that they really are interested in your book. So it really is, like, so close like you're almost there, but not quite. So I was happily working away on this revise and resubmit, and I ended up getting an offer from another agent on the original manuscript cause I had a couple of fulls out.
So I told Patricia that that had happened and she was like, Okay, just send me like, the first three chapters of what you've revised on. I did that and then she signed me based on those revised chapters. So I actually didn't finish the entire revise and we resubmit. Um, if that hadn't happened, obviously I would have finished it and then sent it to her and hopefully, you know, that sort of happened, Um, she sort of offered me representation. So, yeah, she's been my agent since 2015 and we actually work really collaboratively together to this day, and it was actually a really good thing, I think, that that happened because it gave me a sense of what it would be like to work with her. And I just knew that we clicked on an editorial level. But then I did another R and R later on when we went on sub and got an offer to revise and resubmit from my editor at Candlewick again, a very similar experience.
My editor said she absolutely loved the book, Loved the voice, loved the world and there was some story problems. She wrote me a really in depth revising, resubmit edit letter. I think it was 12 pages long. It was actually really great because it gave me kind of an idea of what it would be like to work with her even before we work together. The reason why I did it also is because in the edit letter and in her email, it was really clear that she really understood the story and loved the heart of the story and just really wanted to help me to make it the best book that it could possibly be. I've had quite good experiences, with revising and resubmitting.
I did another revise and resubmit, actually on the manuscript that I queried before The Turnaway Girls that actually ended up in a rejection. But that also kind of taught me that I think what happened with that, is that I kind of over revised the book. Um, I don't know if you've ever done that, but I kind of revised, like the book out of the book. And it was kind of like, unrecognizable by the time I sent it. But I do believe like, everything happens for a reason. I'm one of those people. So I'm glad that I had that experience because just every experience that you have like that, when you're querying is just like a nugget of gold because you're learning how to query, you’re learning how to interact with agents. You're learning how to structure a story, you're learning how to write the books that you were born to write. And I do think that first book that I queried that I was getting too a sense of who I was as a writer and kind of what I wanted to say and the kind of book that I wanted to write, that I wasn't quite there yet. So I think that's also probably why it wasn't, it didn't end up being a successful revise and resubmit, but it taught me so much.
Mindy: That really is one of the most healthy and positive, and best ways to look at a revise and resubmit is that you just have professional feedback on your work, and that's something you got for Free too. That is something that is invaluable. And even if a revise and resubmit, because the other thing and it can be a frustrating element of the R and R, is that every editor has their own style. So if you revise and resubmit heavily like you were, you were just saying, If you revise and resubmit to really kind of fit a particular editor or you revise so deeply that it doesn't have a lot of resemblance to your original concept or your original voice, sometimes that can be highly frustrating.
I actually had an experience and I won't say which one of my books but it's one of my published books, where it was acquired, and I had gone through an editorial process and had already done a pass, and it was dense - like this was not a simple book. And the editor I had been working with really wanted things to be a little more spoon fed. I did a version that was more of a walk through. They had a little more spoon feeding for my readers. Did that edit, turned it in, and in the meantime, this editor left publishing and I was handed to a different editor. She was a senior editor. She read it. She got back to me. You're really illustrating some things that I don't necessarily need, think, need to be. And I said, Well, that was because I did a revision based on notes from this other editor. And so the senior editor said, Why don't you send me your original manuscript that we bought? And so I did, and she's like, This is the one I'm working with. I like this one better, And I was like, Okay, so I had put in a revision in on a book and it was essentially scrapped. But that was okay, because I preferred the choices that the senior editor was making as well. It was an interesting experience. It was a little bit frustrating, but at the same time, I learned, you know, not to necessarily write to, Please an individual and a specific vision. Yeah, it's very hard to dissect what is yours and what is being imposed upon your work.
Hayley: Exactly. I think especially starting out like when you're first querying or when you know, your first kind of starting out, with a finished manuscript, and you might have critique partners, but at that time, also, you if you don't have a sense, you didn't have, like, a very strong sense of who I was and my voice. And I think this is just actually a general problem. Not necessarily a writing problem, but but, you know, like having a real sense of conviction about your work is quite hard when you're just starting out and you kind of just You just desperately want an agent. You want to get published, you want this dream of yours to come true. And sometimes it feels like Okay, so it. I'll do anything, you know. If you want me to change everything about this book, I'll do it.
I get what you're saying that like even though I always think of like a good answer, is really trying To, see your vision and then try to bring that vision into fruition in the best possible way in that situation where you have someone who's just trying to foster your project and get it to be the best version of itself at the same time, they're also individual people, and they have their own individual taste and they have different ways of solving problems or different ways of approaching the work. So, yeah, it is really It's a really hard line to walk with each project. You kind of have to know what is the heart of this book. What is the one thing that I would not be able to take out because if I took out that thing, it would die basically. And that's a really cool idea.
But then at the same time, it's like, Well, how do I know what that thing is? And I guess sometimes you have to just try and have, like trial and error and see like Is the core feeling still alive, If I take this out? Because some stuff is kind of ornamental, almost. I don't know something that isn't necessarily part of the nuts and bolts of the story at the same time, style can sometimes be. And that's nuts and bolts thing you might say you might feel like, No, this is the voice of the book, and it needs to sound like this. It can't be in very clean, straightforward pros. It has to be like strange, pretty prose, and that's what the book is.
Um, but yeah, it's hard to do that as a young writer, I found it hard. Even now. I mean, I am still quite a young writer. To be honest, my second book is coming out in a week, Um, and it feels super surreal. But yeah, definitely. Like five years ago, it was much harder for me to know, like what is me and what is them and what is like the crystallized center of the book and what is like the stuff that I can change and remove and because I've always liked to think of myself as like happy to be flexible. I also think that ideas are so stretchy and so capacious. If you have an idea for a book and it's not working, you can always find a way to make it work. Sometimes that means changing it quite substantially, But you can make it work. It's really hard.
Mindy: It is. It's very hard to do, and especially when you are a younger writer or you're unsure of yourself and what your own voice might be. Yet it is difficult. Uh, that's the fine line. That's the fine line. And I think you got to go with your gut. I had an interesting experience when I was querying my first book. It's a post apocalyptic survival set in a world with very little water, and I had two agents offering to represent me. I'd been querying for 10 years, dying for some attention, and suddenly I had two agents offering to represent me. One of them had only sold one book, and one of them had sold like 30 that month like it was ridiculous. But the highly highly successful agent was also more of a romance agent. She represented A lot more of like happily ever afters.
And one of the things that we talked about on the phone- my character's love interest dies in the book - spoiler warning, but he dies and that's because that's how I write and I write gritty and I write hard and I write rough and this is a harsh world and you're not going to get a happily ever after. And she didn't want that to happen. She wanted him to live. I talked to the agent that's only sold one book, and she's like, No, I love that you killed him. That was awesome. And I'm like, Well, you're going to be the better fit for me, like that's all there is to it. You know, sometimes you just have to ask yourself like you said, like, What's the thing that you're not going to trade in? And I was not going to trade in a happily ever after like that was not happening for me. Really, it is gut. I think whenever you have feedback from an agent or an editor, even a critique partner, you do need to consider it and ask yourself, Does this go against my prime core for this book? Do I feel very strongly about this and then ask yourself why, it's like, Do I feel strongly about this just because I can't accept criticism? Or do I feel strongly about this? Because it's the essence of the book?
Hayley: Or is it just my ego, Like am I just feeling a bit bruised hearing this criticism. You have that wish for someone would just be like this is amazing. And when they come back and say, Well, actually, this is great, but this isn't quite working for me or that isn't quite working. You do have to be quite self aware and emotionally mature, I think, to be like, Well, is it just me feeling a little bit like Bruised about this? Is it just my ego rearing its head? And what I find often helps is that if you just read it first and then kind of step away, give it some time and then come back because often the first time you read something, it is difficult to read criticism, but if you have a little bit of distance, if you go away for a couple hours and come back, or for a day or two and then come back. You can usually read it a second or third time with a bit more distance, and then maybe you can make more level headed choices about what to accept and what not to accept.
And I also think that it's important. Maybe, and maybe part of the thing of growing as a writer is understanding what your weaknesses are and what your strengths are. So I'm very aware that, like I have certain strengths, but I also have weaknesses. And so if I get feedback about those weak points, I'm like pretty much always like my agent is right or my critique partners are right, because I yeah, there's just some things that come really naturally and then other things that you have to work really hard on. I've never met a writer who doesn't have at least one area that they feel like This is like my problem area, like, I just have to work so hard on getting this right.
Mindy: It is hard to be circumspect about your own writing, but you're completely correct that time and distance is what helps make that possible. Real quick, why don't you tell us a little bit about your class 100 Ideas in how many days?
Hayley: 10 days. I know it sounds a little outrageous. Um, it is actually a self paced tool, so you don't have to do it in 10 days. I just thought it sounded really cool to come up with 100 ideas in 10 days. It's about following your intuition and finding your voice and coming up with your most original ideas ever. And it's about how you can make a book idea, meaning not just a new story idea, but like a new idea for how to move the scene forward or an idea for a character or an idea for world building. You could make an idea pretty much out of anything. This is my belief in life and in writing. And I got to a point when I was studying law and suddenly didn't have time to write, didn't have time to read, and I was like, Oh, God, this is actually a really important thing to me. Like I can't actually live my life without this thing, without writing, And that was when I kind of admitted to myself like that I really wanted to write books, which meant I had to finish a book all the way from the beginning to the end, which meant that I had to somehow have a book idea. And so, even though I had, like, this intense desire to write a book, I didn't really have a sense of my own voice or what I wanted to say, and I didn't feel like I had any ideas. I didn't feel like my point of view was particularly interesting.
At that time I was also reading mainly adult literary fiction, and that's what I thought I wanted to write. And so I wrote thousands and thousands of words, many manuscripts for adults. Before I started writing for Children, I was bored with myself. I had no idea what to write about, and I didn't know how to tap into that and how to like, think of something interesting to write about. So that's kind of why I created this course. 100 Ideas in 10 Days is basically four lectures and 10 lessons, so they're all audio. It's an online classroom. You can log in and do it all in one goal, or you could do it really slowly. You could do it over 10 months or 10 years, or however long, like however you want to pace it. There are reflections about idea, generation and idea development. So, just like general principles. And then there are 10 exercises, and each of the exercises helps you to generate 10 ideas. So by the end of it, you have 100 new story ideas. Even if you start out and you don't really have a vision for your writing by the end of it, you'll have a clear idea of what kind of a writer you wanna be. I just kind of wanted to make something out of love and put it out into the world. And, yeah, I hope that people get something out of it.
Mindy: Let listeners know where they can find you online, where they can find your upcoming book and also how they can take that class.
Hayley: So I'm at HayleyChewins.com. If you go to HayleyChewins.com/100-ideas, you'll find the 100 Ideas in 10 Days Course. And yeah, my book that's coming out in a week is called The Sisters of StrayGarden Place. It's out with Candlewick Press, 13th of October 2020. Kind of like a Gothic dark fantasy, middle grade about sisterhood and forgiveness and family secrets. Yeah, I really hope people like it. That's me. I'm also on Twitter at Hayley_Chewins.
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Hayley Chewins | A girl’s emotions start to manifest as insects when she turns fifteen
March 26, 2025
1–What is the title of your latest release?
I AM THE SWARM
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
I AM THE SWARM follows Nell, a girl from a family of magical women, whose emotions start to manifest as insects when she turns fifteen.
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I didn’t decide, exactly. The book had to take place in Cape Town. The story always felt inextricable from its setting.
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Definitely.
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Sensitive. Strong. Vulnerable.
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That the most productive way for me to plot a book is to listen for which scene comes next, instead of trying to outline in advance. That I’m braver than I thought I was. And that there’s a difference between cement and mortar.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I like to leave the editing for after I have a draft. It allows me to explore, be messy, and make mistakes during the drafting process.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
At the moment I’m really into a locally made Greek yoghurt called The Gourmet Greek. It’s so rich and creamy and decadent!
9–Describe your writing space/office!
I don’t have one at the moment, so I write anywhere and everywhere: at the kitchen table, at coffee shops, on the couch…
10–Who is an author you admire?
Elizabeth Strout.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
FINDING YOUR OWN NORTH STAR by Martha Beck
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
In my case, it was an email from my agent and the subject line read: GOOD NEWS!!!!!! It was a great moment.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
Contemporary literary fiction, and exquisitely written memoir.
14–What’s your favorite movie?
Amélie.
15–What is your favorite season?
Spring.
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Going to the bookshop and buying myself an armful of books. And eating cake, of course.
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I loved The Bear, and Normal People, and Pachinko. My favorite podcast is What Should I Read Next? with Anne Bogel. The last book I loved was Long Island by Colm Tóibín. Movie-wise, I recently loved My Old Ass (2024).
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian
19–What do you do when you have free time?
Read, walk with friends, write songs, and hang out with my husband and daughter.
20–What can readers expect from you next?
I’m hoping I’ll be able to talk about my new middle grade fantasy soon!
I AM THE SWARM by Hayley Chewins
A propulsive YA novel in verse that blends the contemporary magic of Jandy Nelson with the simmering feminist rage of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Shout
As far back as anyone can remember, the women of the Strand family have been magical.
Their gifts manifest when they each turn fifteen, always in different ways. But Nell Strand knows that her family’s magic is a curse. Her mother’s age changes every day; she’s often too young to be the mother Nell needs. Her older sister bleeds music and will do anything to release the songs inside her. Nell sees the way magic rips her family apart again and again.
When Nell’s own magic arrives in the form of ladybugs alighting on the keys of her beloved piano, the first thing she feels is joy. The ladybugs are a piece of her, a harmless and delicate manifestation of her creativity. But soon enough, the rest come. Thick-shelled glossy beetles that creep along her collarbone when her piano teacher stares at her. Soft gray moths that appear and die alongside a rush of disappointment. Worst of all are the wasps. It doesn’t matter how deep she buries her rage, the wasps always come. Nell will have to decide just how much of herself she’s willing to lock away to stop them—or if she can find the strength to feel, no matter the consequences.
An intense, emotional read simmering with rage and magic, I Am the Swarm is a captivating YA novel in verse that beautifully speaks to the complicated nature of growing up as a girl.
Fantasy Magical Realism | Young Adult [Viking Books for Young Readers, On Sale: March 25, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book , ISBN: 9780593623862 / eISBN: 9780593623879]
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About Hayley Chewins
Hayley Chewins
Hayley Chewins is an award-winning author of middle grade fantasy and a published poet. Her debut novel, THE TURNAWAY GIRLS (Candlewick, 2018), received starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly, and was named a Kirkus Best Book of 2018 as well as a 2019 Amelia Bloomer List pick. Her second novel, THE SISTERS OF STRAYGARDEN PLACE (Candlewick, 2020), also received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, and was chosen as the 2020 Foreword Indies Gold Winner for Juvenile Fiction and an Amazon Best Book of the Month. Hayley is also the author of LOKI: SEASON ONE NOVEL (Marvel Press, 2023), a middle grade novelization of Marvel’s LOKI television show starring Tom Hiddleston. Her YA debut, I AM THE SWARM, is forthcoming from Viking Children’s Books in March 2025. Hayley lives with her family in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Turnaway Girls
Hayley Chewins. Candlewick, $16.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-7636-9792-1
Delphernia Undersea, 12, longs to escape the dank cloister where she must silence her singing voice or be "swallowed by the sea." As one of the turnaways, who are neither seen nor heard, Delphernia's only function is to make shimmer: gold molded from the music of the Mastets, which pays the Custodian of Blightsend for their upkeep. Delphernia can't seem to create shimmer, though, and is punished. cruelly for it. Then, while everyone sleeps, Delphernia frees her voice, creating a golden bird with a beating heart. When she is chosen by young Master Bly to leave the cloister to spin gold, she's terrified that her secret--that she can create life with her song--will come out, but wonder and shocking revelations await her on Blightsend, as does a friendship with a fellow outsider, a female Master named Linna Lundd. Writing in Delphernia's wry voice, Chewin, a poet, weaves an unusual, beautiful debut that sings with all the grace of the cloister-wings that Delphernia brings to life with her soaring voice. Entwining themes of rebellion, freedom, identity, and finding one's destiny are at the center of this lovely tale. Ages 10-14.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
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"The Turnaway Girls." Publishers Weekly, vol. 265, no. 49, 27 Nov. 2018, p. 56. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A564607299/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9d50f4ce. Accessed 16 June 2025.
Chewins, Hayley THE TURNAWAY GIRLS Candlewick (Children's Fiction) $16.99 10, 9 ISBN: 978-0-7636-9792-1
In a land where music belongs solely to Masters, a 12-year-old girl dares to sing.
Cloistered with the other turnaway girls, Delphernia Undersea knows her place is to be quiet and invisible and her role to obediently transform the Masters' music into gold--a process called "making shimmer." But somewhere between knowing her place and actually keeping it, Delphernia not only cannot make shimmer, but she flouts Mother Nine's warnings that the sea swallows girls with singer throats and sings secretly at night, molding her voice's bright notes into fluttering golden birds. When a strange Master chooses to take her with him as part of the Festival of Bells, Delphernia is suddenly thrust into a dangerous world of music, royalty, unearthed secrets, and freedom in the form of a pale, defiant trans girl named Linna. Music and secrets, in fact, are in the very bones of this debut novel. Chewins' unhurried, first-person narration by a brown-skinned, curly-haired protagonist deftly reveals a tapestry of magic, power, and rebellion thread by ethereal thread. Questions of stratified gender roles, corruption, and what happens when a society stops asking questions fit with (and even enhance) Chewins' tale of music, magic, and self-discovery. An abrupt conclusion is the only piece that feels out of place, distracting precisely because readers will have been utterly mesmerized by the rest of the narrative.
Hope is ever the thing with feathers, and feathers abound here. (Fantasy. 10-14)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Chewins, Hayley: THE TURNAWAY GIRLS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Sept. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A552175151/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d937c33d. Accessed 16 June 2025.
Chewins, Hayley THE SISTERS OF STRAYGARDEN PLACE Candlewick (Children's None) $16.99 9, 15 ISBN: 978-1-5362-1227-3
In an enchanted house, three sisters face confusing dangers.
Years ago, Mamma and Pappa silently walked out of the large, formal, and daunting Straygarden Place, leaving their daughters a cryptic note: “Do not leave the house. / Do not go into the grass. / Wait for us. / Sleep darkly.” The silver grass outside looms taller than the house itself; always aggressive, it plugs the keyholes, blocks the windows, shakes the walls, and hisses words. It tries to get in. One day, eldest sister Winnow goes outdoors—and when she returns, nothing is the same. The house still nurturingly feeds and clothes the girls using magic, but Winnow sickens and begins to turn silver. Unable to talk, Winnow rages incoherently at middle sister and third-person protagonist Mayhap. The relationships among Mayhap, Winnow, and youngest sister Pavonine tip sideways with anger, bafflement, and terror. Even each girl’s personally bonded droomhund—a small black dog who squeezes physically into its girl’s brain when she needs darkness for sleeping—can’t provide comfort, and Winnow’s droomhund is impossibly missing. Why does the aroma of coffee make Mayhap feel like she’s smothering? Who’s the sudden fourth girl in the house, and what has she woven out of “dirt and bats’ lungs…the darkness of the sky and the silk of the moon…[and]…coffee”? Chewins’ prose is exquisite, her eerie concepts heart-wrenching. All characters are white.
Superb, spooky, and unforgettable. (Fantasy/horror. 10-14)
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"Chewins, Hayley: THE SISTERS OF STRAYGARDEN PLACE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A625183114/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=512c0d8d. Accessed 16 June 2025.
Hayley Chewins; THE SISTERS OF STRAYGARDEN PLACE; Candlewick Press (Children's: Juvenile Fiction) 16.99 ISBN: 9781536212273
Byline: Vivian Turnbull
Hayley Chewins's fantasy novel The Sisters of Straygarden Place is filled with magic and danger -- and love that overcomes all.
The Ballastian sisters seem to have everything they need, including a magic house that feeds them. But they don't have their parents, who left them years ago with strict instructions never to go outside or touch the sinister silver grass. They have obeyed. But then Mayhap sees Winnow leave the house; she returns ill. With the help of magic mistress of the mansion, Mysterissa, Mayhap searches for answers and learns that nothing -- and no one -- is what they seem.
Winnow is in the grass when the book begins, and the story's background comes alongside its action, balancing narrative with movement. Its characters, including Tutto, a helpful hippo, and Seekatrix, an excitable dog, are a delightful addition to Mayhap's serious situation. Tension hangs in the air until the book's final sentence.
The book's language and structure is variously direct and complex, and the effect is poetic. Its shorter sentences mirror Mayhap's conflicting fears and resolve; its longer lines concern what Mayhap previously thought to be true. This effect is further enhanced by the book's effective similes, which help to clarify the Ballastians' unusual world.
Touching lessons regarding the power of family bonds couple with reminders that one's identity is more about whom one chooses to be than where one comes from. Symbolism abounds in the book's magic: the hissing grass represents the burden of unshared power, while the hole in Mayhap's sky-and-bone-woven heart illustrates her desire to be loved.
The Sisters of Straygarden Place weaves its unusual tapestry with elegant prose.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Foreword Magazine, Inc.
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Turnbull, Vivian. "The Sisters of Straygarden Place." ForeWord, 27 June 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A627992068/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2e3b7313. Accessed 16 June 2025.
The Sisters of Straygarden Place
by Hayley Chewins
Intermediate Candlewick 208 pp. g
10/20 978-1-5362-1227-3 $16.99
Mayhap Ballastian and her sisters have lived locked inside Straygarden Place for years, ever since their parents left them. Staying inside keeps them safe from the rapacious silver grass that surrounds the house, and in any case, the house itself looks after them--feeds and clothes them, supplies them with books and information. But when eldest sister Winnow ventures out and returns wounded by the grass,
Mayhap sets out to find how to cure her. Instead, she finds the house's secret inhabitant, the Mysteriessa, whose identity and purpose threaten Mayhap's very being. Chewins's story revolves around guilt and belonging, with a rather cumbersome plot maneuvering readers toward a scene of restoration and acceptance--and a surprising twist ending. But Straygarden Place is pure confection and provides the sparkle to the imagining, with its fancy furniture, food, and clothing; transporting carpets; and self-tucking coverlets. There's confection, too, in Chewins's abundant similes: a door as "black and shiny as Italian vinegar"; roots "as white as marzipan"; bones that felt "as brittle as burned sugar."
g indicates that the book was read in galley or page proof. The publisher's price is the suggested retail price and does not indicate a possible discount to libraries. Grade levels are only suggestions; the individual child is the real criterion.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Baker, Deirdre F. "The Sisters of Straygarden Place." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 96, no. 6, Nov.-Dec. 2020, p. 96. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A641263748/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=326c4fea. Accessed 16 June 2025.
Chewins, Hayley I AM THE SWARM Viking (Teen None) $19.99 3, 25 ISBN: 9780593623862
The arrival of magic forces a Cape Town girl to examine how she faces--and avoids--her intense feelings.
Nell Strand knew that the magic would come for her at 15, just as it had for all the women in her family before her. It arrives differently for each one: Her sister, Mora, has music in her blood; her mother's age changes from one day to the next. Nell wields numbness as a shield against her sister's mental illness, her English father's neglect, and her Afrikaner mother's unpredictability. Her own magic manifests as insects that represent the feelings she so carefully represses. Their arrival starts off harmlessly enough--joyful ladybugs when she plays the piano, black butterflies when she kisses the brown-skinned boy she calls "the antidote." But when her lecherous music teacher stands too close, beetles appear. Gray moths flock when hopelessness sets in--and wasps swarm whenever her rage surfaces. Nell must decide how far she will go to hide from her emotions and whether she can be brave enough to face them. The novel is written in delicate, sparse, almost fragile verse that's also richly literary. Chewins examines each of Nell's emotions as if it's a butterfly preserved in amber, held up to the light for careful study. The elements of magic interwoven with the very real cruelties of girlhood is a case study in successful fabulism
A beautiful, introspective slow burn of a book. (content warning)(Verse fiction. 14-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Chewins, Hayley: I AM THE SWARM." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A823102201/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2c82224d. Accessed 16 June 2025.
By Hayley Chewins
Every girl in the Strand family knows their magic will come when they turn 15 years old. It happened to Nell's mother, causing her age to fluctuate day by day: Sometimes she's a reliable adult, while at other times she's a moody teen. For Nell's older sister, Mora, magic comes in the form of beautiful music that pours from her veins, leading her to self-harm. When the insects appear after she turns 15, Nell isn't surprised. Ladybugs as she plays piano, stick insects during difficult conversations, wasps that match a surge of her anger--the insects become part of Nell. As the start of Grade 10 looms, magic becomes another burden that Nell must carry--as if being a teenage girl, putting up with her piano teacher's leering glances and understanding her own changing body aren't hard enough.
Told in intense verse, I Am the Swarm (Viking, $19.99, 9780593623862) dives deep into the adolescent experience, unafraid to tackle difficult topics like self-harm, sexual harassment and parental neglect. Readers come into contact with these tough realities through Nell's innermost thoughts. Her words, which initially appear straightforward and even meager, hide deep emotion and potent questions bubbling underneath.
Through creative forms of magic, author Hayley Chewins challenges the notion that feelings are unimportant. In their attempts to understand and control their magic, characters demonstrate different ways of dealing with emotions--some devastating, some healthy. I Am the Swarm packs a range of emotional experiences into smooth, simple verses. With a compelling, original depiction of inherited magic, this book is sure to resonate with those seeking thoughtful speculative fiction.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 BookPage
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Orendain, Tami. "I Am the Swarm." BookPage, Apr. 2025, p. 27. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A832405060/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e9f38f4a. Accessed 16 June 2025.
High School Viking 336 pp. 3/25 9780593623862 $19.99
e-book ed. 9780593623879 $10.99
In this Cape Town--set verse novel, each woman in the Strand family gains magical abilities when she turns fifteen. As Nell Strand approaches her fifteenth birthday, she is painfully aware of the potential dangers that can accompany this "gift." Her older sister, Mora, carries songs underneath her skin--and has been hospitalized for trying to cut the music out. Their mother's age changes daily, and there is no guarantee she'll have the maturity on any given day to be the parent Nell or Mora needs. Nell's gift is that her emotions manifest as insects: ladybugs when she feels hopeful, blue stick insects for sadness, beetles and flies during uncomfortable interactions with her piano teacher, and wasps when she becomes angry. Nell's attempts to suppress her feelings result in a vicious cycle of disordered eating, and it will take everything in her to do the one thing she fears most: face the swarm. While the book covers dark themes (parental neglect, molestation, suicidal ideation), positive elements including a budding relationship with a new boy at school help reframe Nell's perspective. Vividly and fluidly written verse ("The moths thrill and flutter, a thousand little shadows / Mama lets go of me. I lose her in all the gray") sets a gradual pace that allows readers to immerse themselves in Nell's complex reality and her path to womanhood in a world both harsh and hopeful.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
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Njoku, Eboni. "I Am the Swarm." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 101, no. 3, May-June 2025, pp. 83+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A839824624/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e57ad25a. Accessed 16 June 2025.