With McLemore’s signature lush prose, Dark and Deepest Red pairs the forbidding magic of a fairy tale with a modern story of passion and betrayal.
The YA genre has become rich in retellings, which we and many readers absolutely adore! The year of 2020 is bringing us even more, including Anna-Marie McLemore’s retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Red Shoes.
We had the pleasure of chatting to Anna-Marie about Dark and Deepest Red, along with their next projects, Meteor and The Mirror Season!
Hi Anna-Marie! With the new year, what are three things you are looking forward to or hoping to achieve?
2020 will bring some book-related travel that I’m so excited about. I’m looking forward to DARK AND DEEPEST RED’s release, and working on my next couple of books. I’m also looking forward to coming into my own a little more in terms of my gender-identity; I came out as non-binary this year, and I’m just starting to figure out what that means for me, and how I can live life as authentically as possible.
Your new novel, Dark and Deepest Red, releases on January 14th. If you could only describe your book in five words, what would they be?
Red Shoes + Medieval Queers
Now tell us a little more! What can readers expect?
DARK AND DEEPEST RED is a reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Red Shoes through the lens of the 1518 Strasbourg dancing plague (which really happened, and is just as strange as it sounds). Through my research, I found that this fairy tale and that specific medieval event have these sort of secret threads connecting them across centuries. So this book is part historical fiction, part magical realism retelling, part secret history of a fairy tale.
As you mentioned, your novel is a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Red Shoes. What attracted you to this tale?
This beautiful, terrifying fairy tale captures so many of my feelings of growing up as a dancer, one whose curvy, Latinx body didn’t fit what so many hold as the ideal. This one story says so much about beauty, obsession, the constricting ideals about what girls should be, fear of judgement for perceived vanity, and the way something you love can sweep you away.
Is there a favourite scene or character that you enjoyed bringing to life?
No spoilers, but the ending of this book is one of my favourites I’ve ever written. It’s also the queerest.
Were there any challenges you faced while writing?
So much documentation of the 1518 dancing plague was impossible to find without the help of scholars and curators. I’m tremendously grateful to them for giving me access to vital sources about this unbelievable moment in history.
What’s your writing process like?
It changes from project to project, but almost always involves fizzy water, brujeria, and a flurry of sticky notes.
You have co-written Meteor with Tehlor Kay Mejia, which is set to release later this year. Can you give us a little tease about the book?
METEOR is about one girl made of stardust, one girl who’s trying to keep her family’s diner open, and how they take a the beauty pageant that could change both their lives and their town forever.
Other than Meteor, what’s next for you?
My 2021 book, THE MIRROR SEASON, will be a reimagining of “The Snow Queen,” about two teens who were sexually assaulted at the same party, and who find their fates unexpectedly intertwined by vanishing trees and enchanted pan dulce. It’s a story I’m finally ready to tell, with the help of a favourite fairy tale.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for us? Any 2020 releases you’re looking forward to?
I’m so looking forward to THE FELL OF DARK. I cannot wait to read Caleb Roehrig’s take on vampires.
Anna-Marie McLemore (they/them) was born in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and taught by their family to hear la llorona in the Santa Ana winds. They are the author of THE WEIGHT OF FEATHERS, a finalist for the 2016 William C. Morris Debut Award; 2017 Stonewall Honor Book WHEN THE MOON WAS OURS, which was longlisted for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature and winner of the James Tiptree Jr. Award; WILD BEAUTY, a Kirkus Best Book of 2017; and BLANCA & ROJA, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. DARK AND DEEPEST RED, a reimagining of “The Red Shoes” based on true medieval events, will be released in January 2020. You can find Anna-Marie on Twitter and at their website.
