Interview with Ari Tison
Padma Venkatraman interviews Diverse Verse member Ari Tison about her debut, SAINTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD, which has already garnered staggering praise! It was an Amazon Best Book of the Month pick, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and an NPR Weekend Edition feature.
About the book:
Saints of the Household is a haunting contemporary YA about an act of violence in a small-town--beautifully told by a debut Indigenous Costa Rican-American writer--that will take your breath away.
Max and Jay have always depended on one another for their survival. Growing up with a physically abusive father, the two Bribri American brothers have learned that the only way to protect themselves and their mother is to stick to a schedule and keep their heads down.
But when they hear a classmate in trouble in the woods, instinct takes over and they intervene, breaking up a fight and beating their high school's star soccer player to a pulp. This act of violence threatens the brothers' dreams for the future and their beliefs about who they are. As the true details of that fateful afternoon unfold over the course of the novel, Max and Jay grapple with the weight of their actions, their shifting relationship as brothers, and the realization that they may be more like their father than they thought. They'll have to reach back to their Bribri roots to find their way forward.
Told in alternating points of view using vignettes and poems, debut author Ari Tison crafts an emotional, slow-burning drama about brotherhood, abuse, recovery, and doing the right thing.
Imprint Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ISBN: 9780374389499
"Striking, assured debut...remarkably compelling"
-Kirkus, starred review
"Tison's writing is staggering...this book is an elegiac triumph that puts the human heart in the reader's hands"
-BCCB, Starred review
"This vulnerable and magnetic tale of brotherhood belongs on every shelf"
-SLJ, Starred review
"...the sort of book you read in one sitting, completely engrossed in the lives of its complicated and immensely sympathetic protagonists...a fantastic debut"
-NPR
Padma Venkatraman: I love the way SAINTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD is written in both poetry and prose, and how they mix together so seamlessly. You've shared that in your indigenous storytelling tradition, the realities of your stories are expressed in many ways, and it's wonderful to see that you chose to tell the story this way to honor your tradition. But as a writer, I must wonder...how did you achieve this remarkable and unique blend of form? Did it all just show up a certain way in your creative mind or were there times when you wondered how to tell a specific part of the story? Anything you re-wrote or tried different ways before you settled on something and if so, why?
ARI TISON: I appreciate this thoughtful question! Saints first started in vignettes in Jay’s point of view, but the manuscript was very slim. I am often an underwriter! As I thought about how to expand and deepen the story, I was really drawn to Max and his story. It was clear to me right away his voice would need to be in poetry and its ability to play with space since he is a painter. I think I got lucky with this one! Other projects have taken much more experimentation. My forthcoming book, I’ve written the format in maybe five different ways? But Saints very much came the way it ended up.
Padma Venkatraman: When I read your powerful and exquisite novel, I was reminded of the way Sandra Cisneros uses language. Would you share the names of poets (and novelists and storytellers, but as this is on Diverse Verse, especially poets) whose work might have inspired you?
ARI TISON: I always love the way DV honors our elders in the field and those who came before.
Sandra Cisneros’s House on Mango Street was very influential so that means a lot you brought her up. As for poets/experimental writing and this book—Margarita Engle, Jason Reynolds, Jane Mead, Joy Harjo, Lucille Clifton, An Na, Nikki Grimes, and Matthea Harvey.
Padma Venkatraman: Thanks, Ari. I think it’s so important to honor those who came before us - and to uplift those who come after us, too! I am so excited for you, in that regard!
If this novel is shared in a classroom setting - and I very much hope that high school teachers everywhere will embrace it - do you have any hopes / thoughts / suggestions on specific themes you'd like readers to emphasize and discuss - or any activities that they might consider doing, inspired by the book?
ARI TISON: I was just told that a high school class is reading Saints next school year and this means so much! I could talk about themes all day because I LOVE ABOUTNESS in stories. But I’ll resist and keep it poetry-focused. My other obsession! I think concrete poetry is such a fun and challenging form of poetry. I’d love to see students get the opportunity to experiment with the form like Max does. He uses concrete poetry to exhibit his art and internal life in the book. I think concrete poetry gets to use different poetic tools and use blank space with even more control. Concrete poetry often asks how does the shape of a work inform the meaning of a work?
Padma Venkatraman: Thanks, Ari, for taking the time to chat. Congratulations on all the marvelous news you’ve already received and I can’t wait to celebrate the accolades I’m sure will be heaped on this novel.
Ari Tison
Ari Tison is an award-winning Bribri (Indigenous Costa Rican) American poet and author of YA hybrid novel SAINTS OF THE HOUSEHOLD (2023) + Untitled YA (2025) with FSG/BFYR. Her short stories have been published or are forthcoming with OUR SHADOWS HAVE CLAWS with Algonquin Young Readers (2022) and RELIT with Harper Collins. Her poetry and essays have been published in various literary journals including POETRY's first issue for young people. She has her MFA in writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University and now serves on faculty. She also serves as the coordinator for Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop's mentorship program and is a member of Las Musas and a founding member of Diverse Verse. Ari is represented by Sara Crowe and lives in a valley farm in Wisconsin with her son and husband.
Padma Venkatraman (Credit: Connecticut Head Shots)
