We chat with author Lauren Seal about Light Enough To Float, which is a deeply moving and authentic debut novel in verse and follows teenage Evie through her eating disorder treatment and recovery.
Hi, Lauren! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello everyone! I’m a writer and poet living in Alberta, Canada. I was the third Poet Laureate of St. Albert, am the assistant director and mentor of SWYC, the Spoken Word Youth Choir, and have worked as a hospital librarian, children’s library programmer, and school librarian. I love popcorn, Studio Ghibli films, and my dog Maximus, who I write too many poems about.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I’ve always been a big reader. Both my parents are readers, and my mom’s a teacher, so my love of books was highly encouraged. Creating my own stories was a natural progression. It started when I was 5. I’d steal cardstock from my dad’s office, fold it to be book-shaped, and draw pictures that I’d “read” to my parents and siblings.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales written by Jon Scieszka and brilliantly illustrated by Lane Smith
- The one that made you want to become an author: I don’t think there was one book, but every book I read. The book I that made me think, “Maybe I could do that” was Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough. It’s a beautiful novel-in-verse about Renaissance artist Artemisia Gentileschi. I was writing primarily poetry when I read it, and I realized I could string poems together in the same way to create a narrative.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Can I cheat and do two? A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin and The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez, which is the most stunning and intricately layered fantasy I’ve read in a long while.
Your debut novel, Light Enough to Float, is out October 8th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Recovery is a labyrinthine road.
What can readers expect?
Light Enough to Float is a novel-in-verse that deals with some heavy topics. It follows 14-year-old Evie while she’s forcibly hospitalized on an eating disorder ward. The book is her first-person point of view, so readers are in her head as she grapples with her anorexia, anxiety, depression, and isolation. They’re there with her when she’s forced to eat, forced to gain weight, and forced to examine her toxic thought patterns. But I’ve also tried to add in moments of lightness, of joy, and of hope.
Where did the inspiration for Light Enough to Float come from?
When I was 14, I developed a serious eating disorder and had to be hospitalized. It was one of the hardest experiences of my life. I remember spending every day reading just to escape the reality I was living, but also wishing I could find a book that reflected my experience back to me.
A decade later, I wrote a poem about the integral role reading and escapism played in my eating disorder recovery and hospitalization. I performed and published the poem but couldn’t shake the feeling it was the start of something. So, I thought, Well, I wrote one poem about anorexia. I bet I could write a full book of poems telling the story of a young girl going through something similar.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Character-wise, I loved Evie’s mom, fellow patient Jayda, and Anna, the therapist. All three have very pivotal, complex, and important relationships with Evie, and exploring the shifting dynamics of those relationships was really rewarding.
I loved every moment I wrote with Evie and her dog, Harlow. Harlow is the safest someone Evie has to love, and be loved by, and their relationship was comforting to write.
This is your debut published novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
Oh gosh, this was a rocky journey. I want to issue readers a warning for cancer and surgery.
I had a stretch of many, many years where I didn’t write at all because I didn’t think I was good enough. It was a miserable time and eventually, I couldn’t stand it anymore and started writing again. Then 5 years ago, when I was stumbling through the first draft of what was to be Light Enough to Float, I found out I had a large brain tumour that was pushing on the language centre of my brain. I had to get it surgically removed, and was told the biggest risk of the surgery was waking up unable to speak or write. Thankfully, I made it through with my speech intact. That night, while in the recovery room, I promised myself I’d take a chance on writing.
Things snowballed from there. I kept writing and submitting poems to journals and they kept getting published (and rejected). I applied for the Humber Summer Writing Program, a weeklong writing retreat, and was accepted. I was chosen to take part in the Writer’s Guild of Alberta’s mentorship program and worked with poet Rayanne Haines to edit my manuscript. I went out into the query trenches. I was nominated for and became St. Albert’s third Poet Laureate. Then after a year and a half of querying, I signed with my agent, who 4 months later got me a book deal with Rocky Pond Books.
Everything started happening when I learned to take chances on myself, to open myself up to both failure and success.
What’s next for you?
Hopefully lots! I’m working on another YA project about ambiguous loss, and writing it in full sentences and paragraphs, for now. Of course, I’m still writing poetry when I’m able, and continuing to volunteer with the young adult poetry choir I work with and volunteer on the board of YouthWrite, an Alberta-based teen writing camp.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
I work in libraries, so I’m constantly reading lots of different genres and age-ranges. I adored Kayla Czaga’s recent poetry collection Midway, Telephone of the Tree by Alison McGhee, Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, The Boy with Flowers in his Hair by Jarvis, The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall, All Systems Red by Martha Wells, Ever Since by Alena Bruzas, the Saga comics by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, and the previously mentioned The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez.
The books I’m excited to read are Pick the Lock by A.S. King, A Constellation of Minor Bears by Jen Ferguson, The Incandescent by Emily Tesh, What Kind of Daughter? the new poetry collection by Rayanne Haines, (S)kin by Ibi Zoboi, and I Am the Swarm by Hayley Chewins.
