In Jonny Garza Villa’s books, the protagonists battle a range of familiar issues–from social media to ICE agents coming knocking–that lead to both enrapturing love and brutal heartbreaks. But amidst the flurries and the rollercoasters they create, Villa wants to achieve one thing–make Latines, especially queer Mexican-Americans, feel seen and represented on the page.
But not all students in public schools across America have access to read such representation. PEN America’s recent reports found that romance novels are increasingly censored for including sexual content. Popular romance fiction can be a great resource for teenagers to learn about love and desire, and spark productive, and often pivotal, conversations about boundaries and consent. With Shelf Love, an interview series with romance authors, PEN America, in collaboration with Authors Against Book Bans, is celebrating the love for writing and reading about love.
For the third installment, we talked to Villa about writing YA novels and the importance of romance in literature.
1. What was the first romance novel you ever read?
If I’m being honest with myself and our readers, it was Twilight. But, honorable mention, the first romance novel that really left a lasting impression on me? Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.
2. Why do you write romance novels? Who do you write them for?
I think there’s something so powerful about love and falling in love and intimate connection with another person, especially queer love, and even more especially, queer BIPOC love. And writing those connections for and about teens, I think there’s a real chance for empowerment there–in seeing these characters as protagonists and love interests. And not just empowerment of the self, but also with those we are close to and crushing on and get to experience life with.
3. Why do you think YA romance matters in particular?
For me, personally, I think writing especially queer, BIPOC romance shows young people that they deserve love, they deserve to have people they can love back, and the way they love is beautiful and powerful. It also shows a universality in the experience: no matter who or what or where, romance and crushes and falling in love is going to be awkward and a little scary, just as it will be joyfully and worthy.
4. How is writing for a YA audience different?
Some great advice I received once is that, in YA, there needs to be a feeling of newness. Maybe it’s falling in love for the first time or maybe it’s a character who’s fallen in love before but this time it’s an incomparable connection that catches them by surprise in how deep this love feels. That possibility of discovery is something that is so YA.
5. Why is it important for books to tackle sex and sexual desire?
When I get this question, I always asterisk that this sort of topic could take days of thoughtful conversation but, simply put, because, for many of us, sex and sexual desire is simply part of life. There does not need to be shame about it. We don’t have to make it weird. And while not every romance book for young adult readers needs to have physical intimacy as part of the narrative, stories about a character who is fully on page incredibly horny for a love interest is no less moral than one who simply wants their first kiss.
And, as a storyteller who writes YA books with scenes that include sex and physical intimacy, I can also say that, for me, these are simply methods of showing so much more about my characters. It’s about consent, communication, bodily autonomy, respect for yourself and someone else you care about, navigating a potentially first experience and all the nerves that come with it, and young people (and, again, especially queer young people) deserve to see that reflected in characters they can relate to.
6. Why do you think the romance genre has seen such a resurgence in pop culture?
The world sucks and maybe we’ve all agreed that we could use just a little more love to get by.
7. What value does romance bring to literature writ large?
There’s something really special about how romance can fit anywhere. Slice-of-life and low plot stories, heartbreaking contemporaries, the highest of fantasies, the most awesome science fiction books. Besides maybe birth, death, and food, romance and falling in love is one of the most universal experiences out there. That’s valuable.
8. What is the most valuable lesson you have learned from your readers?
What community feels like. What being able to interact with and share space with someone who has, for the very first time, read a coming-of-age story or a romance that doesn’t have to be white-centric, that can be of a person and place that they can relate to, and felt something in their heart and soul; something that feels like home. Writing and being a professional author isn’t always easy or fun or glamorous, but knowing I have made just one person feel love and worth through storytelling, nothing could possibly compare.
9. What has been the most rewarding part of being a romance writer?
Getting to write romances specifically and unapologetically about queer Mexican and BIPOC teens. Being able to fill these characters’ love stories with culture and community.
Jonny Garza Villa (they/them) is an author of contemporary young adult literature with characters and settings inspired by their own Tejane, Chicane, and queer identities, including the Pura Belpré Honor Book Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun and Ander & Santi Were Here, a Bookshop.org Best YA of 2023 selection. Whatever the storyline, Jonny ultimately hopes Latines, and, more specifically, queer Mexican American young people will feel seen in their writing. When not writing, Jonny enjoys reading, playing Dungeons and Dragons, visiting taquerías, listening to Selena, and caring for their many cacti children. They live in San Antonio.
