Malorie Blackman, author of Noughts & Crosses – Dua’s Monthly Read for July – shares a reading list of the books that inspired her much-loved YA series.
Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare
“Macbeth was the play that made me fall in love with Shakespeare. Before Macbeth, I admit I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about! Reading Romeo and Juliet reinforced that love as I really enjoyed reading the play and I was lucky enough to see it performed at the theatre with my entire class at school. It was one of the first Shakespeare plays I ever saw at the theatre as a young teenager and it fostered a lifelong love of the theatre.”
The Color Purple – Alice Walker
“This was the first novel I ever read written by a Black author about Black characters. It was thanks to this book that I even began to wonder if maybe, just maybe, I could be an author myself. The Color Purple is a story that grips from the first page to the last and celebrates the resilience, humour and joy of Black women relationships.”
Junk – Melvin Burgess
“Junk was one of the first books I ever read as an adult that was aimed specifically at young adults – and it was a real eye opener. In the UK, before Melvin’s book, there were books for children up to the ages of 11-12 and then there were adult books, with very little in between. Junk made me realise the true breadth and depth of the topics YA literature could tackle. It was thanks to Junk that Noughts and Crosses was born.”
Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
“Oliver Twist was one of the first books I read as a child where a beloved character met a tragic, gruesome and unexpected death. Nancy’s death broke my heart when I was reading it. And the story became all the more real to me because of that.”
The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
“The Bluest Eye was the first Toni Morrison book I ever read but it certainly wasn’t the last. Toni was a phenomenal writer and The Bluest Eye was a devastating read in its depiction of a girl, Pecola Breedlove, who finds it impossible to love herself for who and what she is.”
