Aiden Thomas on World Building and Representation in Young Adult Media: Boston Book Festival YA Keynote

On Oct. 26, this year’s Boston Book Festival hosted Young Adult keynote speaker Aiden Thomas in Old South Church’s Mary Norton Hall. Thomas is the author of the New York Times Bestselling books, “Cemetery Boys,” “Lost in the Neverwoods,” and “The Sunbearer Trials.”

“The Sunbearer Trials” and its newly added sequel, “Celestial Monsters,” follow three teenagers plunged into a fantastical world inspired by Mexican mythology as they face vicious monsters, trauma, guilt, and developing relationships — all while shaping their own identities.

Alex Schaffner, the event moderator, was excited to be hosting Thomas, speaking highly of his work.

“[Their books] are so good at grappling with the heart of YA, which is finding yourself as you emerge out of childhood and into adulthood and all of his characters have things that they are truly struggling with, but I think all of them are also incredibly true to themselves.”

Thomas spoke about these themes in their keynote, referencing specific characters and their struggles with morals, embracing their identities, and standing on their own two feet.

“What’s going on in this series is talking about the life that you want to live and not the life that’s being forced upon you,” Thomas said.

To this end, they discussed “Celestial Monsters,” specifically their characters that are usually cast aside as “bully characters” by the public.

“You don’t have to be a cog in the system — and what does it look like when you break free from that,” Thomas said.

In addressing this lesson, Thomas shows the characters making their own choices, but still being young enough that they are tightly entwined with their family’s origin.

Debbie Farber, a teaching assistant for grades nine to eleven, has read all of Thomas’s books. She commented on the important themes in their work.

“He explores different themes in his books, social justice and sexuality — I work in a high school and I can recommend books to kids, so I would recommend his books,” Farber said.

Their latest book, “Celestial Monsters,” demonstrates this focus on social justice. He explains that in this new book, their main characters question the world they always knew, reflecting an approach to social justice issues.

“Maybe community-based efforts and knowledge is where actual change and fostering of community and taking care of people comes from,” Thomas said.

Thomas explained his use of “ideal” world-building when constructing his books to promote ideas of justice and equality.

“When it came to the world of Reyno del Sol, I really just wanted to be able to have queer normative, and to have queerness, to be celebrated, but also revered. Because, like our main god, I mean, all of the gods are queer, I would argue,” Thomas said.

Thomas emphasized the importance of creating a queer space in young adult fantasy novels, where their queer young readers could just have fun exploring a world without repercussions around queerness.

One audience member, James Greer, expressed how meaningful it was to see themselves in young adult fiction.

“As a queer teen myself, it’s really nice to see myself represented in fiction, and especially fantasy, which is my favorite genre,” Greer said.

Alongside queerness, Thomas also touches upon neurodivergent representation, explaining that, especially in their duology, they intentionally made a lot of characters read as neurodivergent, referencing a specific character, Julian, being a self-insert character exemplifying their own ADHD.

As a Latinx individual, Thomas hopes to insert their own experience into the books so that they may be relevant to others like him. They explain that with his platform, he tries to uplift other voices, particularly by reading advanced reader copies of other Latinx authors to blurb them and endorse the books.

“People have said before ‘oh you’re paving the way’ or ‘oh whatever,’ what it feels like is I have got my arm in the door and I’m trying to sneak as many people in as I can,” Thomas said.

Thomas’s keynote concluded with a book signing downstairs at the venue. Thomas answered many questions about his writing process, storyline weaving, experiences, and life as a whole during the Q&A. Fans will not have to wait long for new work from the best-selling author: he teased new sci-fi, tentatively titled “Gay Titanic in Space,” and contemporary romance in the next couple of years.