If My Words Had Wings

Description

A life affirming story of rehabilitation and hope after prison. The third novel from multi-award-winning Danielle Jawando, perfect for fans of Angie Thomas and Elizabeth Acevedo. 
When fifteen-year-old Tyrell Forrester gets caught up in a high-profile armed robbery, he's sentenced to eighteen months in a young offenders' prison. Now he's getting out, and he's determined to turn his life around. Despite his release, systemic discrimination makes it difficult for Ty to truly be free. Inspired by a visiting poet while inside, Ty discovers a whole new world through spoken word and is finally finding his voice. But will society ever see him as anything other than a criminal?

Reviews

'Jawando's writing is incredibly raw and real; I felt completely immersed' Alice Oseman, author of the Heartstopper series 

Author description

Danielle Jawando is an author and screenwriter. Her debut YA novel, And the Stars Were Burning Brightly, won best senior novel in the Great Reads Award, and was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, the YA Book Prize, the Jhalak Children's & YA Prize, the Branford Boase Award, and was longlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, the UKLA Book Awards and the Amazing Book Awards. Her previous publications include the non-fiction children's book Maya Angelou (Little Guides to Great Lives), the short stories Paradise 703 (longlisted for the Finishing Line Press Award) and The Deerstalker (selected as one of six finalists for the We Need Diverse Books short story competition), as well as several short plays performed in Manchester and London. Danielle has also worked on Coronation Street as a storyline writer. Her second novel, When Our Worlds Collided, won the 2023 Jhalak Children's and YA Prize and the 2023 YA Book Prize.