You're listening to a podcast from the BBC World Service. This is Hard Talk with me, Stephen Sacker.

Thanks for downloading this edition of the program. I do hope you enjoy it. My guest today is a young writer who persevered through hundreds of rejections to see her first novel become a sensational success in the United States and then around the world.

Angie Thomas beat long odds.

As a young black woman from Mississippi in the Deep American South,

she had to fight hard to be heard,

and her subject matter was never going to be a comfortable read.

In her first novel, The Hate You Give,

she portrayed a teenage girl trying to navigate through a world of police violence, ingrained

discrimination, and communities corroded by gang culture and drugs. The book hit a nerve in an

America still struggling to come to terms with the realities

of race and racism. Now, Angie Thomas has written a second novel, On the Come Up, about another

black teenager trying to find her voice and using music as her vehicle. At a time when

America's political divisions seem more entrenched than ever, does Angie Thomas believe hope can win out over fear and hate?

Well, she joins me now. A very warm welcome to Hard Talk.

Thank you for having me.

Your books have been described as fiction for young adults. I mean, you're a young adult yourself. I just wonder if you

set out to write with a vision of your reader, your audience in your mind. You know, I initially

did, but I have to say that the audience I have acquired is far wider than I ever would have

imagined. When I write my books, I think of those kids in my old neighborhood who often say they hate reading.

And it's essentially because they aren't used to seeing books about people like them.

So that's usually my target.

But it's gone beyond my target.

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