S. Jae-Jones (called JJ) is an artist, an adrenaline junkie, and the author of Wintersong, forthcoming from Thomas Dunne Books in 2017. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she now lives in North Carolina, as well as many other places on the internet.
Heidi Heilig and S. Jae-Jones sit down to talk about the book’s portrayal of bipolar disorder, writing mental illness, and writing with a mental illness.
Diversity in children’s literature is often represented as an either/or, without intersectionality; characters can either be autistic or gay, for example, or a wheelchair user or Black, but rarely both. Why is that?
I can’t tell you how many times people have been dismissive or incredulous about my mental illness, simply because I don’t fulfill their preconceived notions about bipolar individuals.
S. Jae-Jones
