UC Berkeley's Aya de León: "I wanted to write the spy books of girls of color that I would have wanted to read."

November 8, 2024
Chauncey Walker

Aya de León, African American Studies lecturer and Director of Poetry for the People, speaks about her book, Untraceable.

In this interview, Aya de León discusses the inspirations behind Untraceable, a young adult novel that reimagines the classic teen spy genre with girls of color as protagonists. Inspired by themes of identity, social justice, and adventura, de León portrays a spy family whose commitment to justice empowers young heroes to tackle high-stake missions. Through her work, de León offers young readers empowering, critical narratives that promote social change and resilience.

I rarely had an opportunity to read about young people involved in social justice. I wanted to write the spy books of girls of color that I would have wanted to read.
Aya de León

What inspired you to write Untraceable, and what motivated you to further explore the story you began in Undercover Latina?

Both books are inspired by the teen girl spy novels of Robin Benway and Ally Carter. I read them, and they both seemed to be working with the notion of being a spy as a parallel for being a teenage girl. You’re disguising yourself and trading in secrets. You’re trying to get people to confide in you, but you don’t know whom to trust, and you might find yourself behind enemy lines. They both made such convincing cases for teen girl spies with white protagonists. I wondered what girls of color could bring to the table.  From the beginning, I thought that there was an opportunity to have an entire spy organization focused on fighting racism and protecting people of color. And “The Factory” just grew from there. 

At the time I had been writing racy romantic thrillers, but my own kid was in elementary school and way too young for my adult novels. I couldn’t bring her to events or read any excerpts to her. In part, I began to work on kids’ books as a way to integrate my writing more effectively with my parenting, and it worked out great. While I was on tour with Undercover Latina, it was just the right age for my kid. We went to lots of book festivals where she got a ton of advance reader copies of books in her favorite series -- it was win/win. And as I wrote, I read each of my books out loud to her (sometimes more than once) and she was a great editor and thought partner.

I began to work on kids’ books as a way to integrate my writing more effectively with my parenting.
Aya de León

How do you approach blending genre fiction with urgent themes like social activism and climate justice?

I know so many activist types who have “guilty pleasures” of reading genre fiction. So much genre fiction—especially romance and crime fiction—has political themes that are regressive. But it doesn’t need to be that way. Why can’t books be page turners that promote social justice? A beach read and about sea level rise? We have so many urgent crises in the world today, I love to create stories about people who are going about their business, but then get pulled into the climate crisis and decide to take a stand. And if they happen to fall in love or have hot sex in the process? That works for my adult readers. 

As an author addressing real-life, high-stakes themes in books for younger audiences, what key messages or insights do you hope your readers will take away?

My books for younger readers address all the same themes as my books for adults, but are age-appropriate for those audiences. One of the challenges of young adult books has to do with agency of the young protagonist. Many of the books for young readers feature kids whose parents are dead. This is a time-tested strategy to allow the young protagonist to have big, wild adventures. Or if the parents aren’t dead, many authors make them neglectful, or otherwise unavailable. If the parents were alive and/or present, they would protect their children from having to take a lead role in a dangerous situation. In communities of color, kids with dead parents or kids who have to take on adult roles are stories of trauma and grief. In my adult novels, I write about adults recovering from many types of trauma, but for young people, I wanted to write stories of adventure that don’t rely on the tropes of the missing parents. Instead, I write the spy family.

A spy organization is perfect to send a young protagonist on a big adventure. The key is to create a mission where an adult spy simply can’t operate. In Undercover Latina, the protagonist needs to befriend the estranged son of a white nationalist terrorist. In Untraceable, the protagonist eventually needs to play a role that only someone her age could play. In Undisclosed, the sequel coming out next year, the young spies have to infiltrate a teenage music competition. So they have loving families—more than just loving—they have families who fight together for social justice. But due to the entire family’s commitment to social justice, the families sometimes have to allow their kids to take risks. 

So much genre fiction—especially romance and crime fiction—has political themes that are regressive. But it doesn’t need to be that way.
Aya de León

How did your own experiences or involvement in social justice and racial equity inform the portrayal of Amani’s journey as a young Black girl navigating these complex dynamics?

I was a teen activist in the anti-nuclear movement in the '80s, and I did racial justice community organizing in the '90s. I’ve been involved with many different movements over the decades. I rarely had an opportunity to read about young people involved in social justice. I wanted to write the spy books of girls of color that I would have wanted to read.

Are you working on any other research or projects?

In addition to Undisclosed, I have a couple of novels in progress: a time travel novel for young audiences, an adult novel about climate and reproductive justice, and a climate justice movement novel set on the brink of the future, exploring what it would look like if our movements won climate justice. 

What’s currently on your bookshelf or nightstand? (What are you reading for pleasure?)

Sadly, I’m knee-deep in the semester, so I’m not reading anything new for pleasure. But I’m looking forward to Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Freedom and at bedtime, I’m re-listening to Robin Benway’s Emmy and Oliver.