We chat with author Adib Khorram about One Word, Six Letters, which follows two teen boys grappling with identity and accountability and set off a ripple effect within their community after a school assembly is disrupted by a shouted slur.
Hi, Adib! Welcome back! How have you been since we last spoke for the release of I’ll Have What He’s Having?
I’ve been busy! I put out another picture book (Tea Is Love) and another adult novel (It Had To Be Him) in the meantime, as well as taking a trip to Italy. And of course I just survived the Twelve-Year-January. Thankfully, Cheez-Its exist to get me through things.
Your latest novel, One Word, Six Letters, is out March 17th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Second person sad boys book.
What can readers expect?
Readers can expect some big questions about choice, accountability, impact versus intent, punishment versus restorative justice, whether high school German teachers have first names other than “Frau,” and how much money is too much to spend on colognes.
Where did the inspiration for One Word, Six Letters come from?
Back in 2024 I was doing a school visit and a student in the audience shouted out a slur at me. I kind of rolled with it and finished my presentation, but after I was filled with questions: Why did he do that? What will happen to him now? How do his classmates feel? Who’s taking care of the queer students in the school? And maybe a deeper question: What would I want to happen? What would the best outcome be? What would healing look like?
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I actually wrote almost the entire book at the MacDowell Fellowship in rural New Hampshire, in a little cabin all by myself, over the course of two weeks, and so much of that first draft feels a bit like a fever dream. I’ve never had a story pour out of me that way before. It was exhilarating! But because of that, it’s a little hard to narrow down singular moments. I will say, there’s a coming out scene in this book that made me cry as I wrote it, and I am not the kind of writer who cries at my own writing!
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Honestly, I didn’t face any challenges while I was writing, which made me very suspicious that something was wrong with the book. Imagine my surprise when I sent it to my agent and she said she loved it! I was like…really?
After that I was convinced I’d levelled up as a writer and would never have problems writing ever again. If only that had proven to be the truth! But alas, writing is still hard. It was just this one experience that was easy.
What’s your pitch to librarians, booksellers, or parents in getting this in the hands of young adult readers?
One Word, Six Letters is catnip for young readers! It’s short—Less than 50,000 words, which ended up being a little over 200 pages in print form. It’s got two boy narrators, and I know many educators are looking for books with boy protagonists. I’m firmly against gendering books, but I do think it’s useful to have books that explore the specific experience of being a teenaged boy, especially being one today.
It’s in second person, and to be honest I’m still surprised I pulled it off, but it seemed necessary to tell the kind of story I needed to tell, one that plants the reader firmly in the characters’ heads. While Dayton and Farshid both deal with crushes, the book is not a romance and doesn’t have a romantic subplot. And lastly, despite the heavy subject matter, it’s funny!
Most of all, I think it’s a terrific conversation starter, whether it be for parents and children, teachers and students, or librarians and the young (or not so young) people in their community.
What do you hope readers might take away from One Word, Six Letters?
I hope One Word, Six Letters invites readers to reflect on what they would have done if they were in Dayton’s or Farshid’s shoes. The story ends on a question: You’re the one with the power. How are you going to use it? Not only in the context of the story, but in life.
What’s next for you?
I’ve got another adult romance, Isn’t He Romantic, coming out this fall, and then in 2027 I have my first young adult graphic novel: Kiss the Boy, illustrated by Ria Martinez. It’s sort of a gay Splash, except in this one, the human saves the merfolk boy, and they sort of accidentally become soulmates. (I wrote it while I was deep in my The Untamed obsession.) It’s swoony, queer, and delightful.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
Listen. If Julian Winters writes it, I will read it, and this year he’s feeding us with two books: Last First Kiss, an adult romance that came out in January, and Find My Way Down To You, his first romantasy!
I’m of course frothing at the mouth for the next installment of Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries, Platform Decay.
I’ve never read a Rebekah Weatherspoon novel I didn’t love and I’m so excited for her next YA, Summer Official.
And I’m desperate to get my hands on Olivia Abtahi’s Rostam Wrecks the Realm. It’s Persian mythology meets sci-fi. What more could you want?
