Middle Grade Sports Author/Graphic Novelist Amar Shah: FOURSQUARE
"You don't have to be the best athlete to be able to tell a sports story. My advice is to find what's emotionally at your core and expand on that. What's personal to you is going to be universal to everybody else."
By Laura Segal Stegman
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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
LAURA SEGAL STEGMAN
Hi, everybody. I'm Laura Segal Stegman, author of the Summer of L.U.C.K. trilogy, and I'm presenting four author conversations on SCBWI's blog in July.
My guest this week is Amar Shah, middle grade author of the Play the Game basketball trilogy and the graphic memoir, Wish I Was a Baller. He's also a multiple Emmy-winning writer and producer in key roles at ESPN, Fox Sports, NFL Network, and the Orlando Magic. His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, among others. And he still dreams of playing in the NBA one day. Watch for Wish I Was a Baller with a blurb from Newberry Medal winner and New Kid author Jerry Craft, and Time to Win, third in the Play the Game trilogy. They're both coming out in August.
Hello!
AMAR SHAH
Hi, Laura. How are you? It's a pleasure to meet you and see you again.
LS
Thank you. Same here. Thanks for joining me today. We're going to do four quick questions. Let's start with, what book do you wish you'd written and why?
AS
That's a fantastic question. I have to say Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie is the book that I really wish I had written or had the imagination to conjure up. As a South Asian, as an Indian American, Rushdie is in that sort of that halo of Mount Rushmore of writers that I've always looked up to. And that book, which is about the history of India and Pakistan, has got magical realism. It's got this really embedded storytelling, and what he does is both epic in its scale, and it's also intimate in its scope too. And for any writer to be able to do what he did on those pages is incredible. And I still go back to that book for inspiration in everything that I write.
LS
Wow, that sounds fantastic! Along those same lines, if you could have coffee with any author, dead or alive, who would it be?
AS
You know, it's funny. I have a photo of the writer that I've always wanted to meet and unfortunately will never get the chance to. That's going to be F. Scott Fitzgerald. I don't think any other writer has had the impact that Fitzgerald has had on me since I was in high school. In his life, and in his prose, but more importantly in the work that he put together. I mean, to write Gatsby at age twenty-seven, twenty-eight, the way he did, is amazing. I feel very lucky to have read that book at the right time. To get a chance to sit down with Fitzgerald and to pick his brain [and ask] what was inspiration to write these books. How he was inspired by so many other writers, like John Keats. Just to be able to sit down with someone like that and get his philosophy on writing – I would've been very lucky to have had that opportunity. But I do have his books to look back to for that inspiration for whenever I'm caught looking at that blank space on the screen.
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Amar Shah |
LS
I totally get that. I read Gatsby when I was young. And then I read it in the last maybe ten years, and I felt that same love for his words. The way he writes is just beautiful.
AS
With [Gatsby], I don't think there's a single book in American history that is as word-for-word perfect. I don't think there's a wasted opportunity in such succinct prose. It's still beautiful, and it still has resonance today.
LS
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Now, I have two more questions. The first one, do you have a story about a time when someone who read your work got in touch? Tell us what it meant to you.
AS
It was really fantastic when Play the Game–The Hoop Con was in the Scholastic Book Fair. Getting that sort of reach in terms of the book being in all of these different classrooms across the country, and having all of my friends who I grew up with [telling their kids], “Oh. I knew [him] growing up.” And [their kids] being able to pick up that book, and not just take a photo [with it] and send it to me, but to actually read it. For that book to resonate with them, and [for them] to see themselves in those characters – that was a terrific thrill.
I did get a message from a dad whose daughter was at a school where I spoke. My story resonated so much with her that she wanted to become a full-time writer. In high school, she was wavering. And then, all of a sudden, I helped inspire that.
Being able to be able to talk to students, being able to engage with teachers and have that impact, has been amazing. You never know who you're going to be able to touch with your story, especially people that don't necessarily see themselves on the page all the time.
LS
Wow, that's very impactful. I love that story. Thank you for sharing that. Okay, to wrap things up, do you have any suggestions for people who are interested in writing middle grade novels or graphic novels or any kind of books for young readers?
AS
I've been very lucky that I've been able to write in both the prose format and also in the graphic novel format, and I think both are incredibly accessible for young readers. My niche is in sports, and what I love about sports is that it's never about sports. It's about everything else. And sports is simply a metaphor for what's going on.
For writers, if they're looking to get into the world of sports, there's so much now at their disposal and so many different sports, so many things in life and in middle school. You don't have to be the best athlete to be able to tell a sports story. So, my advice is to find what's emotionally at your core and expand on that. What's personal to you is going to be universal to everybody else.
LS
Wonderful! Thank you so much for being here. Amar's website has all kinds of information about his incredibly rich background. It has pieces he's written and lots more. Look for links to his site and socials in the show notes. Thanks again.
AS
Laura, thanks again. I appreciate it.
WEBSITE: amarshahwrites.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/amarshahism/
X/Twitter: https://x.com/amarshahism
Amar Shah is the author of the Play the Game basketball trilogy and the graphic memoir Wish I Was a Baller. A multiple Emmy-winning writer and producer, Amar has held key roles at ESPN, Fox Sports, NFL Network, and the Orlando Magic. His work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Orlando Sentinel, SLAM, and the Washington Post. Amar lives with his family in Orlando, Florida, where he still dreams of playing in the NBA one day. Visit him online at amarshahwrites.com.
Laura Segal Stegman is the author of Summer of L.U.C.K., Ready or Not, and The Chambered Nautilus, a middle-grade trilogy from Young Dragons Press, all with Readers' Favorite Five Star reviews. She has been a presenter/panelist at literary events including NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English), Orange County Children’s Book Festival, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ (SCBWI) SoCal Harvest Day, San Diego Writers Festival, and LitFest in the Dena. She also does school visits and such events as the STEM Teacher Summit and serves as a judge for writing competitions sponsored by Society of Young Inklings, among others. As a long-time publicity consultant, she created PR Tips for Authors, which has been presented by The Writing Barn, SCBWI, and elsewhere. Non-fiction writing credits include work in Los Angeles Times and School Library Journal’s Teen Librarian Toolbox, among others. www.LauraStegman.com
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| Laura Segal Stegman |
